Gearing up for NaNoWriMo 2012!

Today, I officially signed up for my month log flogging session... Also known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I first participated in NaNoWriMo back in 2008, where I began my paranormal romance novel (then titled) "A Ghost of a Chance," which later was published by the Wild Rose Press (with a title change) as "DESPITE THE GHOSTS." So, given that my NaNo project resulted in my first publishing contract, I'm obviously a big fan of the project.

So, what is NaNoWriMo?
It's a FREE web challenge dedicated to getting writers in the habit of writing every single day of November, such that by month's end, you've written 50,000 words...or a small novel. For those of you non-Math majors, like me, that breaks down to writing around 1,667 words a day every single day of November.

Yep. Even Thanksgiving.

To help you along, the fantastic writers and guest 'speakers' of NaNoWriMo send you amazing pep-talk posts and you get to commiserate with other like-minded writers in local and regional forums.

Or you can be like me and just be miserable by yourself as you slog through November. Whatever works.

Not for the faint of heart, NaNo will push you to your writer-ly limits...but in a good way. The best thing I get as a "WriMo" every year is a re-dedication to the BIC rule.

Don't know the BIC rule?
That's the most IMPORTANT rule as a writer: Keep your BIC--Butt in a Chair.

Yep. That's really all the writer-ly magic boils down to, right there. 

Applying butt glue and persevering. 

So join me, writers, and dedicate yourself to the BIC rule by signing up for National Novel Writing Month with me this November!! (We'll worry about our flattened rump in December.)

With my Butt in the Chair....I'll write my way to....
Happily My Ever After,

Dylan

Unless you didn't catch the multiple NaNoWriMo links in my above post, you can sign up for the November writing challenge by going here. It's free. And I guarantee if you complete the challenge, you'll be a better writer for it...not that my guarantee means a whole lot. That and $3.24 will get you a Dunkin' Donuts Chai Latte. Yummmm....

Mmmm...the Smell of New Books!

My shipment of books arrived from my publisher today--just in time for the busy round of author events and speaking engagements lined up for the fall!

Look....aren't they pretty??
I swear, there is nothing better than the smell of a box of new books.

Unless it is a box of your OWN books.

"Despite the Ghosts" has been out for two years now, and every time my publisher sends me a box of my novels--the covers so crisp and unblemished, the virginal pages--I get a thrill of excitement. It is still hard to believe, some days, that I wrote and got a contract for, the book.

But...I have not been resting on my laurels. Or laurel--only one book published, after all. While my blog went eerily silent the past few months, I've been working like a beast.

1. I've finished my second novel (title TBD, but it's a paranormal romance about female werewolf with a bad attitude and a Unibrow complex that gets rooked into a dangerous mission to track down this hottie's son and loses her heart in the process), and have sent it to my A-list of agents for consideration.

2. I am in the final stages of edits for my YA paranormal novel--preparing to send it out to my fabulous Beta Readers for edits and feedback.

3. And I resurrected a dark paranormal novella titled, "Any Witch Way." Not surprisingly, it features a witch, a cursed MBA student and the Wiccan holiday of Samhain (our Halloween, and the pagan New Year). That novella's query letter got me a full manuscript read at my publisher, and is currently in for consideration for next year's publishing schedule. (Yay!)

4. Started my brand new project--a three-book paranormal suspense series titled "Lipsticks and Lucifer." Intrigued? I hope so! The first novel of three I have planned is called, "Makeovers and Minions," and I'm thus far 13,000 words into it with an expected length of around 100,000. Think Stephanie Plum meets Mary Kay and they hunt demons--albeit not very effectively--and you've got the basis for my heroine, Haven Nieves. (Is that not the most killer heroine's name, or what?!?)

So....forgive my lapse in blogging. It's not 'cuz I don't LOVE you all! I promise to get here more often in the next few weeks and keep you updated on my four exciting projects above.

Lighting up the keyboard for my Happily Ever After....

Dylan


Curious to see how I do on the four projects above? Think I'll get a contract by year end...or end up with a face full of rejection letters? Only one way to find out! Hit "Follow Happily (my) Ever After" hyperlink above on the right and stay tuned!