Summer in a Nut Shell

Hello bloggy friends!  Sorry I've been a little MIA, just got back from a trip to DC for the kiddo's week long speech camp.  It was a great, but exhausting week, and I'm so proud of E for working so hard to learn new words and learning how to put them into phrases.  Here's the kiddo after his graduation where he received a medal for all his hard work, with his speech therapist and the creator of the camp, Jodi Kumar.

Before that, I was participating in Camp NaNoWriMo.  This is the summertime version of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where you can set your own writing count goals for the month of July.  I wrote a whole 5,746 words before camp.  Didn't have time to write during camp and haven't hit my writing groove yet, so I don't think I'll make the minimum goal of 10,000 words, but it's all good.  I knew realistically I couldn't make 10,000 words and was shooting for between 5-7,000 words.  I'm 5,746 words closer than I was, and I still have a few days to go... :)


Anyway, for my writerly bloggy friends, I wanted to make sure you are informed about WriteOnCon.  It's an awesome online conference for writers that'll take place August 13-14.  Check it out. :)


Oh, and anyone else excited about seeing Catching Fire?  The trailer is pretty awesome!!

So, how's your summer going?

Fellow Writers, Look What I Found!

All right, so here's a list of a few of my new favorite writerly things....

1)  Well, baby #2 is due in August, and the hubster and I are packing up our belongings and our little boys and moving out of state end of September.  I've been participating in NaNoWriMo for years, and was sad to think that I wouldn't be able to this year with a new baby and moving and all.  I think I'll be a little busy and REALLY tired in November.  Cue Camp NaNoWriMo!

Think NaNoWriMo, but for the summer, rather than for November.  When you sign up for Camp NaNoWriMo you can choose if you want to participate in June or August.  Betcha can't guess which month I'm signed up for? ;)


2)  So, I'm a list person.  I also like writing notes and ideas for my stories in notebooks.  The problem with this is I sometimes lose my lists.  Or forget which notebook I wrote my story outline in.  Or put the wrong notebook in my bag for my solo trip to Starbucks.

But thanks to Evernote, I've been so much more organized!  Seriously, downloading this free thing to write notes, make checklists (complete with check boxes I can check off on my computer or with the Evernote app on my phone) has been awesome!  Love, love, love having all my notes in one place, they're easy to edit, and I feel so much more organized without notebooks and pieces of paper in random places around the house.

3)  I had heard that Kristen Lamb is the go-to gal on social media for writers.  And she definitely is.  I bought both of her books, "We Are Not Alone: The Writer's Guide to Social Media" and also "Are You There Blog? It's Me, Writer."  I learned a few things from the first book, and was inspired by a few others in the latter.  I would recommend you check out We Are Not Alone, if you want to learn more about using Twitter, Facebook Fan Pages, Blogs, etc to build your writing platform.  If you just want to be inspired to continue writing and to keep up with your blog, check out Are You There Blog?  Both books are available for $4.99 for the Kindle on Amazon, and I think that's a great price for the nuggets of gold you'll glean from these books.  And if you don't want to read the entire book/s, then check out her blog, full of helpful social media and writing advice.

4) If you're a writer and you haven't read Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, then you are truly missing out!  That book is awesome for helping you plan out a story line if you're in the brainstorming/outlining process, or fabulous for helping you tackle your revisions to help you understand what your story may be missing.

Apparently, I've been missing out too.  I learned today that Snyder wrote a second book, Save the Cat! Strikes Back which I just ordered.  I can't tell you yet if it's as awesome as the first book, but I'm definitely excited about what I'll learn from it.

Or have you used/participated in/read any of these things I've mentioned?  Or plan to?  Any writerly finds you've made recently?

NaNoWriMo Anybody?

So, who's participating in NaNoWriMo this year?  I've participated three years in a row but never won.  The reason?  My novels never end up being 50,000 words.  They usually end up between 35,000 and 43,000 words.  And I don't want to cheat.

So, this year I'll be taking a break from NaNoWriMo.  I'll admit I'm a little sad.  But I'm always more disappointed come December 1st when I have a novel (one that needs major revisions, but a novel nonetheless) but no NaNoWriMo winner badge.

I'll still be writing.  And spending time with my little son.  And reading.  But what about you?  Are you NaNoWriMoing this year?  If you are, make sure you get your nifty web badge.