National Novel Writing Month

Ten Reasons Why This is my NaNoWriMo Year

by Richard Flores IV on 2013-10-21 4 Comments

Last year I wrote a humorous blog post on the ten reasons I would not be doing NaNoWriMo. For those that don’t know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. And I am fully ready for November to start so that I can begin, and finish a novel in one month. So I thought that I would do a 180 on last year’s post and tell you the reasons why I chose this year to start.

1. You can only say NaNoWriMo so many times.

It is a lot of fun to say. And you can only say it so many times before you wonder why you aren’t doing it. I’ve been saying NaNoWriMo for about three years now, and I’ve yet to do it. So the way I see it, I’ve used up my free chances to say it, and now I either have to participate or stop saying it. I’d rather participate.

2. This is the year I am accomplishing writing goals I put off.

For two years I kept stalling on going to a WorldCon. I missed Reno, I missed Chicago, and I almost passed on San Antonio. But, something made me say I needed to do it this year, and I finally attended my first WorldCon. I had such a blast that I can’t wait to get to more conventions. It really kick started my writing in a way I had never imagined.

So, if I had such a blast with that. Why not keep up the good work? I’ve been putting off NaNoWriMo with so many excuses, and well this is the year. So I am going to try it. And I may very well like it. And it is just the kick in the pants I need to work on some other projects.

3. The timing is right this year.

I just finished the second draft on Broken Trust and it is off to Beta Readers. That means I currently have no writing projects that are going on for the month of November. So it is the perfect time for me to start a new project and work on something fun.

4. Dissolution of Peace needs the sequel.

Reader feedback tells me that if I don’t get a sequel to Dissolution of Peace out soon, I’ll be strung up by my toes. So the sequel in my NaNoWriMo project, and that could mean an early 2014 release. Maybe…

5. I have too much stress going on right now.

On the face value, that may seem like a reason not to participate. But, for me writing started as a stress reliever. That was how the original manuscript for Dissolution of Peace was written. So taking a break from some of the stress factors in my life may be exactly what I need to relax for the holiday season.

6. I have to justify the purchase of my Tablet.

I recently purchased the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. I got it for a variety of reasons, the main being use for the business and my writing. Right now I write in my office, which eliminates a lot of writing time. Now that I can write virtually anywhere, I can finally accomplish a lot of writing. So I am excited about using it. Plus, I have to justify the expense to my wife.

7. I have more staff to help me with Plasma Frequency.

November is still a production month. Issue 9 will be released on December 5th. But I know have much large staff to assist me, and I am recruiting more staff members. So that means that I can better divide my attention between my writing and my magazine.

8. It is time I connect with more Writers

I need to connect with more writers, I enjoy their company and I really want to connect with more. I missed out on a lot of chances to network when I was in San Antonio. But, NaNoWriMo is a chance to network with all kinds of writers from all different genres and locations. They even have regional connections so I can find a few writers in my area. You can find my profile too and I can connect with you.

9. I plan to be a writer by career.

In order to make money as a fiction writer, you have to publish fiction. I write novels now, though I may tackle a few shorts later, so that means writing novels. If I can tackle a novel in one month, like I plan to do with NaNoWriMo, than maybe I can do it again in say February. And maybe again in May, July, September, and then I am back at NaNoWriMo again. That may seem a bit ambitious. But if I write the first draft in one month, I figure that once editing and beta reading is done, I can publish three novels a year. And if I can do that, then I hope that someday I can get enough books out there to be recognized. And with that comes a little bit of money. And who knows in five more years, I can just focus on being what I always wanted to be… a writer!

10. I have the perfect outfit.

Last year I just simply could not figure out what I would wear to NaNoWriMo. I didn’t know the dress code. But this year I learned that I can come dressed whatever way I want. They even have a store if I want to wear NaNoWriMo gear. I’ve also lost a few pounds so maybe it won’t be so bad if I attended naked… on second thought I’ll bring pants.

Project Announcements

Writing

by Richard Flores IV on 2013-10-07 1 Comment

As always, I have several projects going on in my life. There are some things that I can’t wait to share with you, so I am going to give you a few updates on some projects. I’ll ask for a little bit of your on input on some of these. So please feel free to leave a few comments with your thoughts. I’d love the feedback.

Dissolution of Peace Second Edition

As most of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know, I have hired another editor to do over the manuscript of Dissolution of Peace and fix the mistakes that were missed by me despite my first editor’s best efforts. I am a difficult person to be an editor for because I simply don’t get it. There are many grammar and spelling rules that I simply don’t understand. And even when they are explained to me a thousand times, I just don’t get it. So even though my first editor was amazing, I still missed a lot of stuff.

I hired a new editor for Volition Agent, and I have since hired her to look over Dissolution of Peace again. The main reason I felt compelled to get this done right away is that I got a big explosion of reviews. And, while all the reviews seem to love the story, a lot pointed out distracting grammar mistakes. And, I listed to my readers and feel that fixing those will be a simple thing to do. My new editor Tiffany Carrera is a great match for my books. She is patient with me and my lack of knowledge, she deals with me constantly asking “how much longer”, and she has a passion for assisting writers with getting their work to be as perfect as possible. Tiffany is also a prior member of the military, which is handy since I write a lot of stories with a Military and/or Police element to them.

At last update from Tiffany, she was a little over halfway through it. My hope was to get it out by the one year anniversary of the book, but that doesn’t look likely. Maybe by my birthday in November (feel free to send gifts) I will have it out. I am going to ask Amazon to notify all of those who bought the kindle edition, so that they can download the updated version. Hopefully that won’t be a problem. But that will be up to Amazon. Of course I will update on Twitter, Facebook, and here.

The Next Novel

I am really excited about my next novel. I recently asked my social media followers to give their ideas on a few titles for the next book. I am terrible with titles and I always will be. I originally billed this as being a Post Apocalyptic/ Dystopian novel. But I think I will cross off the Dystopian part. In fact, it has more to do with rebuilding than any dystopia. There are two titles out of the list that I really like. Broken Trust and The Council’s Mistake. I am leaning more towards Broken Trust because it plays on several levels of the story and in several different story lines. Though the story is also propelled by several of the Council’s mistakes, the title doesn’t work for me is some way. I would like to know what you think of the titles, let me know.

I have also put together a blurb for the book. Tell me what you think:

Liam Fisher never wanted to be a leader. But after finding the survivors, protecting them, and founding the city-state of Lagoon Hills; the people demanded he be their leader. Instead, Liam agreed to sit on a Council with four other leaders, each of them with a specialty.

Together with Talya Brooks, the person who saved his life after the collapse, Liam runs the militia of Lagoon Hills. And though it was tough early on, the people of the city now live in relative comfort and safety.

But Liam is fighting his own personal demons: The loss of his wife and unborn son. Rachel, his long lost love has suddenly arrived in the city. And a neighboring city-state is threatening war.

The people of Lagoon Hills are counting on Liam for their safety. Can he keep himself together and be the leader everyone wants him to be? Or will the people closest to him be the greatest threat of all?

I feel like it captures a lot of the essence of this book.

So what is the next step for this book? Well I am currently about 25% of the way through the second draft. I don’t waste time of creating a second draft. I mentioned before that I don’t find much use for a “cooling off period” and so I tend to dive right in.

Once completed with the second draft I will be asking for beta readers. If you are interested please let me know. Beta readers are a very important part of the writing process. All too ofter I have trouble finding Beta readers, and even more trouble getting them to respond in a timely manner. I am hoping to have it ready for Beta reading by the middle to end of the month. All of November I will be working on NaNoWriMo, but I would like to work on Beta edits for this book in December. I hope to get it to Tiffany in January and maybe see a release by March. Maybe… Anyway, if you want to Beta Read, please let me know, just make sure a November reading works for you.

Also I am looking for cover art. Either premade or custom made. So feel free to leave your artist suggestions too.

NaNoWriMo

I am going to make a first time honest effort to do NaNoWriMo this November. I already know what I am going to write and I am already working on the plot points in my head. I will be writing the sequel to Dissolution of Peace and I am excited to get this project started. I’ve talked before about why NaNoWriMo is so tough for me. But I really want to do it this year, so here is hoping I am up for the challenge. I know I am excited about it. I may actually have a title for the sequel too. But, I am not sure what to call this series. I need to give it a series name for the sake of my own sanity. I have been tossing around ideas for some time now. If you have some ideas, please let me know. You can probably expect some other NaNo updates as November comes along.

Author Features

I’ve had a few successful author feature posts over the last two months. I am really enjoying doing these. You should sign up if you’d like me to assist you in promoting your works. I have dates in November and December open for all of the feature types. You can find out more about those by going to the Author Feature page (under contact me).

Plasma Frequency Anthology

After so much work, the Plasma Frequency Anthology has been released and is available on Amazon for your Kindle or in Paperback. The cover art is amazing and was done by Laura Givens, who has done number of art works for our magazine. Please consider checking it out. The money raised from selling the anthology goes right back to the magazine.

On the topic of the magazine, Issue 8 released earlier this month. We made some major changes to Plasma Frequency after all the knowledge I picked up at WorldCon. We revamped the website, we revamped the magazine, and we changed how we distribute the magazine. Working with Amazon and Weightless Books should prove to be a good thing for our publication.

We are also looking for good people to help us with our magazine. Namely in the marketing and social media and in the need for additional readers. If you are interested, you can find out more on our website.

WorldCon 2014

I had such a blast at WorldCon this year that I really wanted to go to London. But, the deck has been stacked against me. The final straw was when I found out that LonCon 3 will take place right at the same time by kids start school. And 2014 will be my youngest first day of school ever. Somethings are more important than conventions, and family is one of those. So I won’t be going to London, unless something changes, but it is unlikely.

I will however be going to the NaSFIC in Detroit this year. I am excited about going to this and have already upgraded to an attending membership. I’ve also already submitted my participant ideas and suggestions. The odds of me being chosen to speak on any panels is probably slim, but I wanted to try. As many of my regular blog followers know, I have no problem sharing my opinion and giving tips and tricks that I learned along the way.

I wonder what other conventions would some of you suggest I attend? I am knew the convention scene and only really know of WorldCon/NaSFIC. I don’t really know of many others. What others are great for writers like myself? What about conventions that would be good for my to attend as an Editor for a magazine? Let me know what you suggest. I think I could get used to attending a few convention a year.

Other Events

What other events can you think of? When Dissolution of Peace is ready for the second edition, I plan to contact a few local book stores for a book signing. We have a small shop in downtown here. I think there are some other small town bookstores around. I don’t know how much interest a Barnes and Noble would have in me. Any suggestions on that? What other places might be a good spot for a book signing? As I release more books, (maybe I will even have four out by the time I go to Detroit) I hope to attend more signings and events. So I would love to hear your suggestions.

Narrowing Down my Ambitions

I wrote a post a little bit ago about getting focused on what I want. And besides being so busy with all the stuff above, I have tried to limit all the other distractions. There are people in my family who don’t seem to understand that I am working to a goal and therefore may spend a lot of time in my office. And I think next week I will write a blog on the difficulties of choosing a “hobby” as a career. That should be an interesting post. See you next week.

Ten Reasons Why I Won’t be Doing NaNoWriMo

by Richard Flores IV on 2012-10-29 3 Comments

Every one in my writing communities is asking me if I will be doing NaNoWriMo this year. For those that don’t know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you start, and complete a novel in November. It is actually a great idea. Especially if you need a quick kick in the ass to get writing that novel you’ve been telling yourself you’d write for years.

I won’t be participating this year. When I tell my fellow authors that, they all want to know: Why? I can even hear some of them looking down upon me for my choice to exclude myself. So I put together my ten reasons why I won’t be doing NaNoWriMo. You may call them “excuses” but the word “reasons” makes me feel better about myself. Besides, every now and then I like to put something together that is a little tongue in cheek.

1. November is a production month for Plasma Frequency:

Yep, that is right. I run this magazine and Issue 3 has to be ready December 5th. That means that I will be spending much of my non-day job hours working on getting Plasma Frequency laid out and ready for print. Not to mention designing ads for the issue (you should get an ad to advertise the novel you finish during NaNoWriMo). And since I likely will be paying for most or all of Plasma Frequency‘s stories and artwork out of my own pocket, I’ll also need to pick up some extra hours at my day job.

2. I have to work my day job.

Believe it or not my writing doesn’t pay all my bills. I have to work a day job to try to pay my bills. A day job that doesn’t even pay enough to pay my monthly rent. So that also means I will be needing to pick up any extra hours I can. Since I have to pay my rent, phone, internet, power, water, and Plasma Frequency‘s running costs. In all, I have to put up a lot of hours at work to try to make ends meet. Those extra hours are all hours I normally reserve for writing, editing, and family time.

3. My family needs me too.

Yep, I am throwing them under the bus here. But it is true. And there are a lot of family events happening in November. My birthday and Thanksgiving being two of them. These are often all day events in my family so that means two more lost days in the tight schedule.

And since my birthday is in November, I don’t have to do NaNoWriMo. I think it is in the rules. If it isn’t in the rules, than I am adding it to my own personal NaNoWriMo rules.

4. I have volunteer commitments

I volunteer on the Board of Directors for my local soccer league. And, I coach in that league. And, two of my three boys play in that league. The season ends in November. So there are two year end parties to attend. And there is one weekend ate up to the end of season tournament. So there are four more days that NaNoWriMo can’t have.

5. I already started a Novel.

I have already started a novel. My second novel is already in the works. And in NaNoWriMo you are supposed to start and finish in November. So if I participated, I would be cheating. And no one likes cheaters. I could start the sequel for Dissolution of Peace, but I am not a person that can write two novels at once. I can edit one and write another. I can even write a short story while doing a novel. But I just can’t do two novels at once. It is my writing style.

6. I didn’t participate last year.

I didn’t do NaNoWriMo last year, in fact I have never done it. I don’t need to explain myself for past years, those are past years. But, I am far to busy to start something new in November.

7. I don’t want to sacrifice quality for speed.

I get that you don’t have to have a print ready manuscript by the end of November. The point is to have the first draft done. But the first draft is the foundation for that final manuscript. You have to have something to work with or the story is lost. At least that is my opinion. And as you can see I already have a lot of things taking up my time. I bet I probably could still throw 50,000 words down in the time I have left, but I don’t think they would be worth the paper, or disk space, they are written on. I would feel like I am sacrificing quality just to get it done on time because of my crowded schedule.

8. I don’t want to be another blogger spending all of November blogging about NaNoWriMo.

Every year the writing blogs fill up with constant talk about NaNoWriMo. Or even worse, they virtually shut down for a month. Both, I don’t wish to do. Sometimes my schedule is so crowded that these posts are the only writing I get done for weeks or months. And I don’t want to take a break for writing my novel, to tell you about how NaNoWriMo is going. I’d prefer to be the destination my followers can come to read a post or two that is away from the topic of NaNoWriMo. Don’t get me wrong, if you participate in NaNoWriMo, you may want to read about the progress of others. I just don’t feel like blogging about it, and/or not blogging for a month.

“But Richard,” you say. “You are blogging about NaNo right now.” To those people I say, this doesn’t count. It is still October.

9. I have a current novel to promote

We have established that my schedule is tight. Well, Dissolution of Peace needs to sell. And it won’t sell with out someone marketing it. That someone is me. My October sales have slowed drastically, and I hope to kick it into high gear for November and December. That means more free time used to find reviewers, advertising, and self marketing. Maybe even trying to set up a book signing or two. That all takes time. So rather then starting a third novel (just yet), I need to market the first one.

10. I have nothing to wear.

You heard me correctly. No one wants to see me sitting around naked in my office writing a novel. What does one wear to a virtual writing gathering anyway? Is it a virtual black tie? Or is virtual business casual okay? Perhaps a virtual suit is sufficient. That’s the thing, I simply don’t know. And to save myself the embarrassment, I simply won’t attend. Besides, I heard it was a Sadie Hawkins event and no one has asked me.

NaNoWriMo is a good thing

Sure, I am not attending. But NaNoWriMo is a great event. And perhaps one year I will be able to do it. But that year is not 2012. If you have time and want to do it, I suggest you check out the website. There is no better way to stimulate your writing glands and put together something great. If you are stalling to start writing, but just haven’t done it, NaNoWriMo is a great way to jump in. At the very least, check it out. Every year I do. And as I said before, one year I will do it.

Perhaps I will have my own personal NaNoWriMo. Who says November has to be the only month you write a novel in? If you are like me, perhaps you make January your month, or even July. And even though I joked about the NaNoWriMo related blogs, I tend to learn a lot more about writing when NaNo is going on than I do other times of year. Authors are always willing to help each other out. So even if you don’t participate, you are bound to learn something this November.