Comments on: Happy NaNoWriMo!

By: Kidlit.com · What Time of Year Do I Query?

Kidlit.com · What Time of Year Do I Query? — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:43:21 +0000

[...] coming in after 12:01 a.m. on December 1st will also be for NaNo novels. As I mentioned in my NaNoWriMo post earlier this month, a lot of NaNo novels are not finished come November 30th. They haven’t [...]

By: Ez

Ez — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:32:26 +0000

Please please! I would love tp read tips and thoughts about revising. It feels like there are a lot of books and advice out there on novel writing, but most of them ignore or gloss over the revision process.

By: Ashley Cooper

Ashley Cooper — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:59:34 +0000

Part of the NaNo fun is writing without editing, but shew, I would die of embarassment if anyone read my work that way. Scary. I’m looking forward to your revision posts (and will surely need them).

By: Iona McAvoy

Iona McAvoy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:00:14 +0000

This was perfect timing and great advice. None of my first drafts of anything (I do a lot of writing for work) ever make it without serious edits and revisions. So I’m going into Nanowoofwoof (my version of the contest ) with the idea of doing free fly writing and then spending a good portion of recovery time after a knee replacement to edit/revise and all that fun. Shoot I don’t even send out a form cover letter until I’ve reviewed and rewrote it; this post was validation plus. THANKS! Enjoy the time before the deluge. Howls from Houston, Iona

By: Patricia Puddle

Patricia Puddle — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:31:42 +0000

I never have the time to do NaNoWriMo, I’m always revising my series of junior fiction. I never run out of ideas and don’t have the time to get them all down. There’s too much editing to do on the stories I’ve already written. This is a great post, Mary. You’ve made me realise that I‘d better get my queries out before the end of November. I’m so glad that it’s all ready to go.

Thanks for the reminder, Mary.

By: Jessica Capelle

Jessica Capelle — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:22:06 +0000

Thanks for the great post. I did NaNo last year and just finished final edits on my NaNo novel. I had a diamond in the rough when I finished- it needed LOTS of polishing and cutting. I added to “wimpy” parts and cut a lot of junk. It’s 65K instead of 50K now, but a large amount of the original 50K has been replaced. I love the challenge of having a deadline and it works well to write that draft and then tear it apart like. I would never have queried when I finished on November 30!

I’m hurrying to get my queries out by mid-month so I don’t get lost in the post NaNo shuffle. Looking forward to your posts on revising to help with this year’s NaNo book!

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:36:28 +0000

Thank you for your honest post! I was actually thinking there were a ton of people out there who would think that they were “done” when they finished that first draft. Sounds like my 8th graders after they write their papers–hey, spell-check said it was okay, so it’s got to be good, right? (Nope!)

Better hustle with my query letters and get them out during November so I won’t fall in with the post-NaNo-ers and be consigned to the circular file!

By: Jade

Jade — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:52:40 +0000

A friend and I were recently discussing querying in December (not our NaNo projects) and we had a suspicion that agents would get a huge amount of NaNo queries. Now it’s confirmed. Perhaps I’ll hold off until next year.

I can’t wait for your revision posts either. Ah, revision. Both friend and foe.

By: Fleur Bradley

Fleur Bradley — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:38:57 +0000

I’ve seen quite a few agent submission guidelines with a NaNo-clause written in I feel for you agents in December…

By: Shaun Hutchinson

Shaun Hutchinson — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Maybe all agents should update their guidelines at midnight on November 30th to state that no novels written for NaNo will be accepted for at least sixth months Sort of like a line at the bottom of your guidelines that says, “Hey, if you just wrote this for NaNo, congratulations, but it’s not ready yet.” Good luck with the slush, I’m off to catch my words for the day