Well, I love scrapbooking so for fun I created a digital scrapbook of Drift on my favourite website Mixbook: www.mixbook.com
It wasn't as easy as making a personal scrapbook because I didn't have Fern's photo albumn (becuase she is a fictional character) so I had to search the web for free pictures.
Finding the right 'free' picture wasn't easy either as I didn't want to take away from the reader how they may have imagined the scenes or characters I've written about. Therefore, I tried really hard to find universal pictures that illustrated the point I was making without giving away too much.
I also don't want to give away the plot of the story... as I'd like it to be like a visual blurb. Now I've got a few pictures I'm happy with, I'm thinking about trying to make a trailer next as this is somethign a lot of other authors have done and it looks like fun.
I've decided to give NaNoWriMo a try this year. All I have to do is write 50,000 words in 30 days. I've done it before but this time.... I get a certificate at the end which brings a whole new level to my geekyness.
My mind has already started buzzing with ideas but I'm holding back as I don't want to run out of words - word count stars on 1 November 2010. I've also decided I'm going to aim to write 2,000 words a day which would mean I achieve by 25 November 2010.
This isn't going to be easy though! I work full time and I'm going away for my birthday in November but I'm not going to let real life hinder me. Next month, I'm going to like my imagination rule. I've done it before, back in January when I caught the writing bug, doing around 3,000 words a night. Might as well end the year as I started it.
Guess this means no more online gaming and I'll have to take a break from keeping fit in the freezing cold pool. If I'm going to be successful, I'll need to get obsessed again but this time I'll be better prepared and remember to tell Rob I love him before I disappear into my own little world for a whole month.
I'm really looking forward to it - itching to start now. I promise to take some breaks for real life so the cats don't forget who I am and to ensure I don't start foaming a novel at the mouth. Plus work is mandatory so I'll still see people 9 to 5.
If your nuts about writing, you can join too at:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/Just 50,000 words in 30 days!
I've signed up as Redfae
i finally figured out how to use this website thanks to some guidance from a member named RichardBard. The top tips he sared is:
- I need to upload at least 10,000 words to appear in searches. I had uploaded my first 3 chapers which came to 9,750. Thanks to this top tip, I added chapter 4 and now people are reading and backing my story.
- Adding a book to your watchlist doesn't boost their ratings. They need to at least feature on your shelf. this involves rotating your faves so they all get points and supporting people who have backed you.
- People who have gathered lots of points for backing popular stories get a higher status and therefore reward with triple points.
I am feeling really positive now. Since last night I am on someones bookshelf and on a few watchlists. i have recieved a positive comment from someone who has read it. I think I will definitely keep visiting this site.
It's also really enlightening to be able to view the other peoples work that they are sending for publication. I wish I had more time to read them as there are some really interesting blubs.
Today, I went to Castle Lodge to meet Maureen Blundell. She is an editor but runs workshops every so often.
She agreed to meet me and look over the first 2,000 words of Drift. It was really useful sitting with someone and discussing my work. Although, Maureen was constructive in her criticism, she still managed to be motivating about my writing and ambitions and offered excellent industry advice about publishers that would be interested in my chosen genre.
Despite coming away feeling like I had a lot of work to do, I felt really confident and positive. I know I am one step closer to my dream.
The general feedback was regarding my tenses - a known problem. It was interseting to find that I over explain some things. Her insight on what information was important at the start and what wasn't was useful. We discussed how I could include the removed parts later on if they were important. She suggested that the story needed to make it more clear that 'Fern isn't your average girl' and we discussed ways of doing this without slowing the pace of the story. Sometimes it felt like brainstorming. My head was buzzing by the end, with so many ideas that I almost didn't attend the evening social.
I would definitley have a one-to-one with Maureen again. And, I would definitely recommend her to other serious writers.
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