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12 Days of Christmas Reflection on 2018 Successes

Children’s author Julie Hedlund, challenged participants of her 12 Days of Christmas for Writers (http://www.juliehedlund.com/12days) series to post SUCCESSES (rather than resolutions) on our blogs this year. I noted in my blog, TO RESOLVE OR NOT; NOT THE RIGHT QUESTION, that Julie belongs to a (hopefully growing) group of people who believe the way New Year’s resolutions are traditionally made come from a place of negativity.  We tend to resolve based on what we did NOT get done or did NOT achieve in the previous year.  Instead, she suggests we set goals for the New Year that BUILD on our achievements from the previous one. I decided to participate in this Anti-Resolution Revolution! Here is my list for 2018:

January 2018:  I wrote.  I attended my monthly critique meeting (while being a full-time mother, full-time Optometrist, and wife).

February 2018:  I celebrated the launch of a friend’s book at a bookshop.  This visit led to my meeting Vivian Kirkfield, a truly fabulous person, in March.

March 2018:  I met Vivian for the first time and asked her tons of questions about how to become a published writer…. she introduced me to 12×12.  I was a finalist (12th) in #50PreciousWords.

April 2018:  I went to the NESCBWI, where NO SHOES STANLEY was born.

May 2018:  I read GET KNOWN BEFORE THE BOOK DEAL and BUILD YOUR AUTHOR PLATFORM. I also attended my first “The Craft of Writing” critique meeting.

June 2018:  I launched my writer’s website!  I also participated in my first #PitMad. July 2018:  I participated in my first critique meeting where we read 25 pages of our novels… I introduced the group to my YA, BLOODY AUTUMN.

August 2018:  I met with Vivian to interview her for our three-part, get-to-know-Vivian blog series on my new website.  An agent who signs 1 out of every 20 writers whose ms she reads told me she wants to read the first several pages of BLOODY AUTUMN. 

September 2018:  I participated in #PitMad.  I interviewed Vivian and then wrote the second installment of our get-to-know-Vivian blog.  I was featured on Susanna Hill’s “Would You Read It? Wednesday” blog.  I read GUIDE TO MAGAZINE ARTICLE WRITING and submitted “Honeybee-leaving” to Skipping Stones Magazine.

October 2018:  I participated in Susanna Hill’s Halloweensie Contest.  I was featured on Susanna Hill’s “Would You Read It? Wednesday” blog.  Skipping Stones emailed to say they’d publish my “Honeybee-leaving” article!!!  I finished writing my first draft of my first YA novel, BLOODY AUTUMN.

November 2018:  I was featured in Susanna Hill’s “Would You Read It? Wednesday” blog.  I bought my 2019 WRITER’S MARKET.  I started and completed my first draft of my second YA novel, SPECTRUM BREAKDOWN (NaNoWriMo).  I interviewed Maryann Cocca-Leffler and wrote an article about her for our critique group’s secret surprise.

December 2018:  I participated in Julie Hedlund’s 12 Days of Christmas for Writers.  Skipping Stones told me that my copies of their magazine are in the mail.  I participated in Susanna Hill’s Christmas Story Contest.  I submitted about 100 PB queries over the course of the year.

I wonder what next year will hold?  I can’t wait!  Let the journey continue!

What do your 2018 (writing) successes look like?

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What I Learned from My First NaNoWriMo Experience

It was quite a trip, literally and figuratively.  I did “win” my first NaNoWriMo experience, with better-than-expected results.  Allow me to share what I learned.

1.There will usually be something more appealing to do, especially after the first week.

Once I hit that 15,000-word mark, I kept finding more important things to do.  Did I mention I had a 10-day work-ation planned in the middle of November?!  I packed and cleaned.  Traveling, I typed in cars and plotting on airplanes.  I always made time to keep writing.

2.There will sometimes be something more compelling to write.

Let me count the different ideas, tasks, and writing deadlines which surfaced in November.  I had to work on my first children’s publication deadline:  a magazine article for Skipping Stones Magazine.  After receiving a great suggestion for an agent seeking monster MCs from a writing critique buddy, I sent in the appropriate PB query.  I had to write up a (nine-page!) summary from a conference I attended on behalf of a professional organization I’m a part of (think: day job).  And, as Denise Jaden promised, around week three, I thought up a stellar idea for a new YA novel that sounded way more appealing to work on than my current NaNoWriMo novel.  I resisted. (And I persisted)

5.If you don’t feel like writing, giving yourself permission usually works.

When I really didn’t feel like typing, I would tell myself that I could type for 200 words, and if I wanted to stop after that, it was okay.  I would also tell myself that I could type total baloney.  The result of giving myself these two indulgences was that I usually typed at least 500 words, even on a bad day, and the “baloney” usually turned out better than I imagined.

4.Preparation goes a long way.

I read FAST FICTION, by Denise Jaden, before NaNoWriMo began. Inside, there were exercises for determining character names and traits, structuring the three acts of my story, brainstorming theme, and many, many more extremely helpful practices.  The result was that by day one of NaNoWriMo, I was ready to type, nearly nonstop, 2000 words a day, for at least the first 15,000 words of my novel.  After that, I used a practice shared on Facebook:  I loosely planned every 10,000 words, and then inserted the main characters into situations and saw how they reacted.  The result?  I didn’t hit a real, double-bricked wall until about 35,000 words.

3.The last part of the novel will feel like it drags on and takes twice as long to type.

When I hit that double-bricked wall at 35,000 words, I hit it hard.  I feel like I began to cheat on my characters, inventing bizarre situations and taking certain traits and actions to the extreme.  I even killed-off a character.  What was my lesson learned?  Perseverance.  I figuratively grit my teeth and set my jaw and sat down and made myself type to the end. And now I have a 50,000-word novel to go back to and revise.

Will I participate in the NaNoWriMo madness next year?  I don’t know.  Right now, I’m still ready to figuratively hurl my 50,000 MS across the room and out the window… but we’ll see, it might boomerang back, and I might – just maybe – write that fabulous YA idea (see #2 above)!

Thanks for reading.  Please share your writing experiences!  I welcome any advice, especially a good book to help me edit my NaNoWriMo novel.

Sarah A. Hetu-Radny