This is more an announcement than a blog post--I have just experienced the thrill of seeing my own words offered for sale on a world-wide market website! My novel "Obituary", written in November 2008, is now available for sale on Amazon.com!
What a great feeling it is to see my name in print--literally in print! I mean, I'm no stranger to the public view, or even to a very, very, tiny modicum of fame (locally, of course) and I've had many dealings with other famous people--but it's somehow different when you see your own works are up as a literary offering for others to read.
Is this a great novel? Hell no. It's a good one. But I have no illusions. I'm not Fay Weldon, I'm not Anne Tyler, I'm not a writer who can bend words and make you cry. I might touch a chord here or there with this book, but it's really not supposed to be a good novel--it was written to be something else entirely, and just turned out good enough to publish.
I wrote the book for NANOWRIMO--and for you aspiring writers out there, you really ought to try this challenge, which happens every November. If you are up to it, you can find your writing muscle is a lot more developed than you thought. If you're not, then you don't suffer for it. It's sort of the ideal way to see about getting that book done. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is, as I've said already, November every year. You sign up for free--the website is nanowrimo.org. The challenge is simple: write a book in the month of November. You start on November 1, and end at midnight on November 30, and somewhere in that 30 day period, you should be able to write a 50K-word (minimum) novel. No, you don't have to stop at 50,000 words. (I didn't--mine extended to around 64K. Most go over a bit.) You aren't supposed to edit, or rewrite--just do a first draft, upload your encoded novel for official word-counting, and if you like, participate in the forums and community there as well. There are weekly/monthly/even daily pep talks by the Nanowrimo staff and guest writers, and tips and tricks to get you started, keep you going and keep you motivated. There is a place to notify your friends, join a local network, even meet up with local writers for face-to-face feedback and encouragement. It's a really great place to try to get a book done, and get help when you get stuck!
I loved the challenge, and found it easier than I had imagined. I also found that the end product I turned out was surprisingly good. That's why I took advantage of the publishing tools at Createspace.com to publish and offer it for sale. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of doing that, as well.
Even if you think you have only part of a book inside you--even if you don't know what's there, but think you might like to try, I urge you to give Nanowrimo a try. I did, and it paid off tremendously! And maybe even will keep paying off--if the book actually sells!
Go look, go order, go review! Here's the link:
What a great feeling it is to see my name in print--literally in print! I mean, I'm no stranger to the public view, or even to a very, very, tiny modicum of fame (locally, of course) and I've had many dealings with other famous people--but it's somehow different when you see your own works are up as a literary offering for others to read.
Is this a great novel? Hell no. It's a good one. But I have no illusions. I'm not Fay Weldon, I'm not Anne Tyler, I'm not a writer who can bend words and make you cry. I might touch a chord here or there with this book, but it's really not supposed to be a good novel--it was written to be something else entirely, and just turned out good enough to publish.
I wrote the book for NANOWRIMO--and for you aspiring writers out there, you really ought to try this challenge, which happens every November. If you are up to it, you can find your writing muscle is a lot more developed than you thought. If you're not, then you don't suffer for it. It's sort of the ideal way to see about getting that book done. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is, as I've said already, November every year. You sign up for free--the website is nanowrimo.org. The challenge is simple: write a book in the month of November. You start on November 1, and end at midnight on November 30, and somewhere in that 30 day period, you should be able to write a 50K-word (minimum) novel. No, you don't have to stop at 50,000 words. (I didn't--mine extended to around 64K. Most go over a bit.) You aren't supposed to edit, or rewrite--just do a first draft, upload your encoded novel for official word-counting, and if you like, participate in the forums and community there as well. There are weekly/monthly/even daily pep talks by the Nanowrimo staff and guest writers, and tips and tricks to get you started, keep you going and keep you motivated. There is a place to notify your friends, join a local network, even meet up with local writers for face-to-face feedback and encouragement. It's a really great place to try to get a book done, and get help when you get stuck!
I loved the challenge, and found it easier than I had imagined. I also found that the end product I turned out was surprisingly good. That's why I took advantage of the publishing tools at Createspace.com to publish and offer it for sale. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of doing that, as well.
Even if you think you have only part of a book inside you--even if you don't know what's there, but think you might like to try, I urge you to give Nanowrimo a try. I did, and it paid off tremendously! And maybe even will keep paying off--if the book actually sells!
Go look, go order, go review! Here's the link:
No comments:
Post a Comment