Wednesday, October 16, 2013

An Update

I haven't done a blog post in a while. So here's what I've been up to.

1. Did WFMAD- Write Fifteen Minutes a Day- in September following Laurie Halse Anderson's posts on her blog. This was the shot in the arm my writing needed. I think I only missed one day but by the middle of the challenge I was definitely writing more than 15 minutes a day. 

2.Prepping for NaNoWriMo. I am trying to outline this year. Getting as much info down as possible and having some idea of where my story is going. I have a fair number of crappy first drafts but I want to someday have a novel that is publishable so I'm trying to make some changes in my process because obviously being a pantster isn't working for me.

3. Researching nonfiction Picture Book subjects. This is my second year participating in the 12x12 challenge on Julie Hedlund's blog. As part of the membership level I signed up for I have the opportunity to submit to an agent every month. Learning about the agents and reading books that they represented has been really informative. There was one agent who was really interested in biography and nonfiction and even though that agent was featured a few months ago her wish list and reading list really resparked and interest in nonfiction and biography type picture books.

4. Getting a second job. My job has been slow. I have less work this year than I have had in previous years. I'm sort of experiencing the crunch in two ways which basically means I'll probably make $10,000 less than I have the last two or three years. It was just time to get a part time job. I'm lifeguarding which is a prefect flexible part time job, plus I get a gym membership. It works out pretty well.

What about you. Did you do WFMAD? How did it go? Are you doing NaNoWriMo? What are you working on?