It's Monday, it's gray out, and I don't really know what to blog about.... so let's take a tip from my blog title and ramble a little.
MarPrilWrimo a.k.a. the 30k in 30 (one) days challenge officially concluded on 04/10. I'd say it was a success! We didn't all make it to 30k, but many thousands of words were collectively written that might not have been. At least two of us are going to stick around the Facebook group that was created to try and finish our current first drafts. If anyone wants to jump on board for the comradery, you're more than welcome to. We could always create another "finish that manuscript" group or something.
I ended up writing 31k by 04/10, which brought my total to 35k (I had written a little over 4k before we began) so now I'm aiming to conclude this first draft with another 20-25k and then worry about editing and expanding where needed. Don't know how it will go but my goal is to finish draft one by 05/15!
A reading bug caught me late last week. I finished THE BOOK THIEF, and then burned through THE BOOK OF NONSENSE (thanks PJ!), THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, and THE GIVER over the next three days. I started WICKED LOVELY yesterday, which is the last of the pile I bought after my last book poll. So it looks like I need to go shopping!
What else?
Sarah Garrigues, who's building up a very informative blog, posted an article called The Art of 'Showing' Vs. 'Telling' that I thought was particularly well done (read the comments, too.) I can't tell you how many articles I've read on this subject! What a great refresher.
Be an Agent for a Day is heating up today over at Nathan Bransford's blog. What a blast! I'm drafting up a "rejection" right now.
Amazon is facing the loss of thousands of customers due to their epic Amazonfail - a supposed "glitch."
"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature..."
Hum, censorship anyone? If you'd like to sign a petition, you can do so here.
Also, Queryshark shared this helpful link on Edittorrent for crafting log lines. A neat little process!
I think that's all I have right now. Feel free to do your own rambling in the comments.
6 comments:
Casey,
Did you notice my shout-out to your blog on my most recent post? Here it is: http://sarahgarrigues.blogspot.com/2009/04/link-slushpile-3.html.
Congrats on your recent challenge (30K in 30 days)! Well done.
I must say I am a HUGE 'The Giver' fan...have been for over ten years. It's in my top ten of all time. 'The Book Thief' and 'Thirteen Reasons Why' are on my to-be-read list. Right now I am working on 'Story of a Girl' by Sara Zarr.
Looks like we frequent several of the same blogs...I've already visited Nathan's Agent for a Day and Edittorrent's helpful post (via Queryshark). Great links.
~Sarah
http://sarahgarrigues.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the honorable mention, Casey. I am glad that you found my 'Showing Vs. Telling' post helpful. It's one of those topics worth coming back to time and time again. Just writing the article was a great refresher for me, not to mention the wonderful dialogue it sparked on the Children's Writers and Illustrators Message Board.
Happy Monday all!
~Sarah
Glad you read Book of Nonsense! And I loved Wicked Lovely. Enjoy your reading time!
Enjoy reading.. And congrats on your challenge! ;)
I heard about Amazon... It will be interesting to watch this unfold.
Good luck with Nathan's contest!
Sarah, THE BOOK THIEF and THIRTEEN REASONS WHY are amazing. You won't regret reading them. THE GIVER has been percolating in my brain since I read it - stellar story.
Thanks PJ! I'm really enjoying WICKED LOVELY so far!
Thanks Keri - the Amazon thing is definitely fishy.
Thanks so much T. Anne! Nathan's competition was a blast.
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