Writer’s Corner: NaNoWriMo No Mo

Posted: December 1, 2025 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Books, Historical Fiction, NaNoWriMo, Western, Women in History, Women's Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tags: Kaye Lynne Booth, Marta, NaNoWriMo, Women in the West, Writer's Corner, Writing Challenge, Writing to be Read | 2 Comments

I look forward each year to participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge in November. In fact, I depend on it to get a major portion of one novel completed and I schedule it into my production calendar. Even if I do not make the word count for the set goal at the end of the month, I’m still that much closer to a finished novel, so it is a win-win situation.

November 2022 produced The Rock Star & The Outlaw, book 1 in my Time Travel adventure series. In 2023, I used it to get a start on Sarah, book 2 in my Women in the West adventure series. 2024 brought a good start for the second book in my Time Travel series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Doubles Visions, which will be released early in 2026. This year’s NaNoWriMo was scheduled to create the third book in the Women in the West series, also scheduled for release in 2026.

So, you can imagine my surprise when a few days before Halloween, I’d done my research, I had my outline, and I went to sign up for the challenge and found that NaNoWriMo is no more. Apparently, the traditional challenge which has been around for over a decade and attracted writers from near and far, had an incident involving AI material last year, unbeknownst to me, which turned the whole event topsy-turvy. I still am not sure what the problem was, or why it was so serious as to shut down the whole event permanently. I was too busy panicking as I searched the web for my favorite month-long writing event, to read any more in depth than that.

What I did find was a new event called Novel November which looked to similar to NaNo, so I signed up. After I had begun setting up my dashboard, it became apparent that they were expecting me to upload my manuscript so they could keep track of my word count, instead of self-monitoring, like NaNo. So… ProWritingAid will have direct access to the words I write? That made me pause.

All of the articles I’ve read about the hullaballoo over AI snatching authors’ works illegally for training, etc…, I had to wonder how smart that would be. Then, add to that, the fact that something happened which involved AI writing, which shut down NaNo after last year’s challenge, and doing the challenge through this site seemed like a a really bad idea. So, that’s as far as I got with that.

I started thinking about the aspects of NaNo which I found valuable. It was always fun to earn their little badges, but that and the word count was all I really used. For me, NaNoWriMo was a motivator that offered achievable goals and helped me keep track of my progress. I never really used the community aspects of the challenge, although I did adopt a writing buddy one year and we held each other accountable, sort of. I realized that both of the aspects I used most during the challenge, the ones I depended on, were actually things I could do myself pretty easily.

So, this past November, I ran my own personal writing challenge. It was the same challenge NaNo set; 50,000 in 30 days. That’s a good start on any novel, and it’s enough to enable me to finish the book within the next few months. And there was nothing stopping me from setting my own goal and keeping track of my own word count.

So, that’s what I did. On November first, I began writing on Marta. I’m keeping track of my word count on a sheet of notebook paper. I am maybe not quite as disciplined as I have been in past years during NaNo, but I’m following the same principles. I sit down to write every single day, utilizing every spare minute that I can to write.

I’m a realist, however, and I learned long ago that you can’t always put life on hold, so my writing times are spread out with ten minutes here, thirty minutes there. Of course, I try to get in as many hour, or two hour, stretches as I can. So, on days when I have to go out and work in the real world, and can’t stay in my world of fiction, I may not get as many words in. I don’t always make my daily word count goal, and I might be lagging behind in the overall goal, even on the days when I do make it. But, again, any number of words I get down adds to my overall word count and moves my story forward.

I am writing this post on November 26, the day before Thanksgiving, and to date, I have 39, 298 words down. If I had made the word count every single day, the expected word count by the end of this day is 43, 342, so I still have a ways to go, but the story line is coming along nicely. Where the first two books in the Women in the West series had long periods when the protagonists must survive alone in the wilderness, with inner dialog to carry the story, Marta is surrounded by a full cast of characters on her journey with lots of external dialog. The characters are diverse and colorful, and they find themselves in some unusual situations.

I don’t know how many words I will have by the time this post is published, on December first, or how many words I will have left to type. I’m sure this story will not be completed at 50,000 words, since they haven’t yet reached their destination with over 40,000 words. Whether I reach my goal or not, Marta will be scheduled to be released in June of 2026.

**Update: It is December 1st and I did not reach my writing goal for November, but I do have 47,651 words toward the story of Marta. That’s not a bad start. As I’ve said before, any way you look at it, a 50,000 word challenge is a win-win for me. 🙂

About Kaye Lynne Booth

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.

Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.

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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by the Robbie’s Inspiration blog site, where you can find ideas on writing and baking with hostess, Robbie Cheadle.

WordCrafter News: Midnight Oil Release & NaNoWriMo

Posted: October 27, 2025 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Anthology, Blog Tour, Book Release, Books, Dark fiction, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Horror, NaNoWriMo, Paranormal, Short Fiction, Stories, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Writing | Tags: Marta, Midnight Anthology Series, Midnight Oil, NaNoWriMo, Women in the West, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | Leave a comment

Midnight Oil Release & Tour

Midnight Oil: Stories to Fuel Your Nightmares releases tomorrow, October 28, and the tour starts today and runs through Friday.

Michelle Ayon Navajas starts us off hosting the opening day in a triple stop over on Poetry by Mich, Hotel by Masticadores & Masticadores Phillipines with guest posts from me about my story, “Sangoma, Zombie Elephants, and Tokoloshe, Oh, My!”, and Christa Planko about her story, “Such a Time as This”.

Tomorrow, will find us here, on Writing to be Read, with a reading by Joseph Carrabis from his story, “Jeremiah”, and Wednesday we’ll be over at Book Places, where Kay Castenada will bring us a short post and promos from Roberta Eaton Cheadle about her story, “Just Deserts”. Thursday will find us on Carla Loves to Read where Carla Johnson-Hicks shares a guest post by Paul Kane on his story, “The Whistling” and then, we will wrap things up right back here on Writing to be Read with a reading of “The Initiation”, by DL Mullan and I’ll be interviewing Denise Aparo, author of the winning story in the 2025 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Contest, “The Vanishing”.

It’s a great anthology and it’s going to be a great tour, with five chances to win a digital copy of Midnight Oil, if you follow along and visit each stop. It’s available for pre-order all day today, and then, of course it will be available for purchase after the release tomorrow at the purchase link below.

About Midnight Oil: Stories to Fuel Your Nightmares

Book Cover: Midnight Oil A candle lit lantern sitting in a garden at night with an owl perched on a branch. Text: Midnight Oil: Stories to Fuel Your Nightmares, A WordCrafter Midnight Anthology, Edited by Kaye Lynne Booth

14 authors bring you 16 dark tales that explore your deepest fears. These are the stories which nightmares are made of. Tales of monsters, mayhem, and madness which will make you shiver in the dark. Read them while you burn the Midnight Oil… if you dare.

Contributing authors include Mario Acevedo, Joseph Carrabis, Jon Shannon, Rebecca M. Senesse, DL Mullan, Zack Ellafy, Christa Planko, C.R. Johansson, Kaye Lynne Booth, Robert White, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Chris Barili, Paul Kane, and author of the winning story in the 2025 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, Denise Aparo.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/Midnight-Oil

November is National Novel Writing Month

Every year at this time, I like to use the NaNoWriMo challenge to get at least 50,000 words down toward my next book. This year, I had planned to put that 50,000 words toward my trunk series Playground for the Gods, because I still hold ideas about getting that series off the ground. However, being without a computer for several months last spring set my production schedule behind, and so, this November will find me working on the long overdue book 3 of my Women in the West Adventure Series, Marta. I have the completed outline in hand and I’m ready to begin writing my way to that first 50,000 words during the month of November.

Western town background. Books in foreground: (L to R) Sarah, Delilah, Marta
Text: Women in the West Adventure Series

This third book is the story of Marta Olmstead, a Mormon woman who we meet in the first book, Delilah, who is captured in an Indian raid and taken to live among the Utes, but she ends up in Leadville, Colorado. This is her story.

Marta is a strong heroine in a different way from our first two heroines. She is not driven, like Delilah, or sassy, like Sarah. Marta has a strong sense of right and wrong and is determined to walk the straight and narrow. Her journey takes her out of Colorado, all the way to El Paso, Texas, which in 1889, was a rough and rowdy border town and she meets some very colorful characters along the way.

WordCrafter Halloween Hauntings Sale

Don’t forget that all through October we’re running the WordCrafter Halloween Hauntings Sale, so you can get all paranormal and dark fiction anthologies from the WordCrafter Press backlist at hugely discounted prices. But hurry. At Midnight on October 31st, these prices will all turn into pumpkins. 🎃

Midnight Dark Fiction Anthology Series

Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Tales – $3.50: https://books2read.com/MidnightRoost
Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow – $3.50: https://books2read.com/MidnightGardenAnthology

Narrating the Paranormal Series

Whispers of the Past – .99 cents: https://books2read.com/WhispersPast
Spirits of the West – .99 cents: https://books2read.com/SpiritsoftheWest
Where Spirits Linger – .99 cents: https://books2read.com/WhereSpiritsLinger1
Lingering Spirit Whispers: Three Volume Set – $2.99: https://books2read.com/LingeringSpiritWhispers

Stand Alone Anthologies

Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Fairy Tales & Folklore – $2.99: https://books2read.com/OnceUponanEverAfter
Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception – $2.99: https://books2read.com/RefractedReflections
Visions – $2.99: https://books2read.com/VisionsAnthology
Tales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy – $2.99: https://books2read.com/Hanging-Tree

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This post sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.

Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.

Stop by and see what we have to offer today: https://writingtoberead.com/readings-for-writers/wordcrafter-quality-writing-author-services/

WordCrafter News: “Shadowblade” Re-release from Chris Barili

Posted: June 30, 2025 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Book Release, Book Sales, Fantasy, Fiction, Smashwords, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Chris Barili, Curses, Kaye Lynne Booth, Marta, Midnight Anthology Series, Midnight Oil, Shadow Blade, Women in the West, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | Leave a comment

WordCrafter Press July Release

WordCrafter Press is proud to announce the re-release of Shadow Blade, by Chris Barili, coming July 22, 2025. Chris was in my cohort at Western State and today, he is a talented author. As an Ask the Authors series contributor, he participated in both rounds of interviews for the blog series, and the only author to contribute to both books. Chris is a contributing author to the Midnight Anthology series.

I reviewed Shadow Blade just after its release through WordFire Press, back in 2019. You can read my review of Shadow Blade here. I so enjoyed the book, that it pleases me to no end to be able to re-publish it under the WordCrafter Press label now. The WordCrafter Press edition will also include a free bonus story , the prequel to Shadow Blade, Baiting the Hook.

About Shadow Blade

Ashai Larish is an assassin from the brutal Denari Lai order. Religious zealots, Denari Lai are kept loyal through an addiction to the same magic that makes them unstoppable. They have become the primary weapon for the nation of Nishi’iti, and in a hundred years, they have never failed.

Until now. Ashai must kill Pushtani King Abadas Damar and his daughter/heir, Makari. He infiltrates the king’s inner circle, putting him in the perfect place to strike, with only Captain Bauti of the Royal Guard at all suspicious of Ashai’s intent.

Except Ashai has fallen for Makari and cannot complete the hit. When a second Denari Lai kills the King, Ashai finds himself fighting for Makari’s life instead of taking it. To make matters worse, the order cuts him off from his magic, leaving him weakened and in withdrawal.

Meanwhile, far north in the Pushtani mines that border Nishi’iti, a slave named Pachat learns that his love, a hand slave to Makari, died at the hands of a Denari Lai assassin. His grief ignites a slave rebellion, and Pachat becomes the unwilling leader of the revolt. Urged on by Nishi’iti guerrillas, the rebellion sweeps across the borderlands, threatening to erupt into all-out war. Yet all Pachat wants is to avenge his beloved’s death by killing the assassin, so he walks away from the rebellion to seek when it needs him most.

As Pachat makes off for the capital of Dar Tallus, Ashai is forced to rely on that city’s organized crime gang to hide from the second assassin, and from Bauti’s guards. Despite his best efforts to hide it, Makari discovers Ashai’s true identity, and suddenly, he finds himself without her love, without his faith, and without the Denari Lai. At rock bottom, he doubts he can do anything but cause more damage.

Can Ashai kill the second assassin and win back Makari’s love? Will Pachat gain the revenge he so lustily seeks?

About Chris Barili

Currently oppressed by his day job, Chris has his sights set on retiring after 42 years in the Intelligence Community and writing full-time. Chris Barii writes all kinds of stories, and has published fantasy, science fiction, horror, western, paranormal romance, and most recently crime, with a noir story in the inaugural print edition of Toe Six Magazine. He is author of the self-published, weird western Hell’s Butcher series, and also writes under the pen names B.T. Clearwater (Supernatural romance) and T.C. Barlow (western). Chris is a retired intelligence officer, having served over 45 years between active duty, contractor, and government employee roles. He lives in Colorado with his wife.

The WordCrafter Shadow Blade Book Blog Tour

To celebrate the re-release and launch Shadow Blade off right, the WordCrafter Shadow Blade Book Blog Tour will run July 21-25. Be sure to drop in and join us as author Chris Barili shares guest posts and readings. Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a free digital copy of this unique and original story, and its prequel.

Meanwhile Back at WordCrafter Press…

2025 WordCrafter Anthologies

Book Cover: A garden at night lit by several small lights and a lantern with a candle in the center. Text: Midnight Oil: Stories to fuel your nightmares, A WordCrafter Midnight Anthology, Edited by Kaye Lynne Booth

After making the difficult decision to let the second book in the Time Travel adventure series simmer on the back burner, for a while, it has freed me up to work on other projects, such as Chris Barili’s book above. In July, I’ll be working on the compilation of Curses and Midnight Oil. My own stories for these anthologies will be passed by my beta reader and final revisions done, as well. Curses is scheduled for release in August, and Midnight Oil is scheduled for October.

Women in the West: Marta, book 3

Also, I’ve been fine tuning my outline and completing my research for Marta, the third book in my Women in the West Adventure series. In July, I hope to begin the actual writing of the story.

Where Delilah and Sarah both did a lot of solo traveling of necessity, Marta travels in the company of others, expanding the cast of characters and the number of plot lines. And, while the first two books take place in the mining camps and towns of Colorado, Marta will be venturing into new and unexplored, at least by this author, territories with some colorful old west characters in 1890, presenting me with new challenges and a ton of research. I’m looking forward to venturing into this new story world.

However, Marta was originally scheduled for a September release. However, this is another of the projects that got pushed back when I struggled with the second Rock Star book, and I’m still working with disadvantages in the technology realm, so I’m doubtful that I’ll make the original deadlines. I’ll keep you posted.

WordCrafter Press Books on Sale on Smashwords in July

I’m excited to announce that many of the books in the WordCrafter Press catalog will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! WordCrafter Press books will be discounted at 50% or free all through the month of July, so look for all the WordCrafter books that are sitting on your TBR and take advantage of the Smashword store pricing while it lasts. This is a chance to get WordCrafter Press books, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading.

You will find the promo here starting on July 1, so save the link:
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/

Please share this promo with friends and family, and all the avid readers in your life!

Thank you for your help and support!

Happy reading!

About Kaye Lynne Booth

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.

Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

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This post sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.

Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.

Stop by and see what we have to offer today: https://writingtoberead.com/readings-for-writers/wordcrafter-quality-writing-author-services/

WordCrafter News: Happy New Year!

Posted: December 30, 2024 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Book Sales, Books, Fiction, Science Fiction, Time travel, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Curses, Kaye Lynne Booth, Marta, Midnight Oil, Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures, Smashwords 2024 End of Year Book Sale, Story Bundle, The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2:Seeing Double, WordCrafter Press | 9 Comments

We’re approaching a new year once again, and folks are busy making New Year’s resolutions and planning for the year to come. Things are no different for WordCrafter Press and Writing to be Read. I’ve been planning and preparing for projects I want to accomplish in 2025, including two dark fiction anthologies – Curses and Midnight Oil: Stories to Fuel Your Nightmares, the annual poetry anthology – Treasuring Poetry 5: Small Pleasures, and I’m hoping to curate a couple of Story Bundles, if I can pull it all together. (Watch for the “Call for Submissions” for the annual WordCrafter Press Short Fiction Contest in my post on January 4th.The winning story will be featured in the Midnight Oil Anthology.) And I plan to have Marta, Book 3 in the Women in the West Adventure Series, out by the end of the year.

In addition, I’ve been working hard to finish the second book in my Time Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Seeing Double, which will also be coming out in 2025.

The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Seeing Doubles

In 1887, after clearing his name, LeRoy McAllister is once again a reluctant outlaw, trying to save the people he cares about and win the heart of the woman he loves.

In 2030, the once thrill-seeking rock star, running on the fast track, Amaryllis Sanchez has lost her Cowboy during a time jump, which changed things in her present. Now she must go back to find her man and try to fix her future, crossing time lines to do it.

In 1887, things turn crazy fast, when Amaryllis tries to change events in a previous timeline. And, the outlaws try to bring LeRoy back into the fold by placing Sissy in peril.

To make matters worse, Nick, the time travel tester who started it all, is back, along with two temporal regulator agents, and they are all after the time module which Amaryllis has in her possession.

Amaryllis and LeRoy are both seeing doubles, and sometimes triples, by the time this story unravels. It seems there’s dopplegangers everywhere when you go to the past to try to change the future.

Happy New Year!

This year my resolution is the same as it is every year. I’m not big on resolutions, mainly because they are usuall broken, and I like to finish what I start. However, I always make one resolution, every single year. I resolve to do better and be more successful in my writing endeavors than I was the year before, with the ultimate goal being the ability to write full time and give up the day job. That hasn’t happened yet, so I guess I just keep working on the baby steps. With several releases planned for 2025, (mentioned above), hopefully I’ll be able to see it through again this coming year.

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This post is sponsored by WordCrafter Press, with a reminder that there’s still time to get all WordCrafter Press books at a 50% discounts during the Smashwords 2024 End of Year Sale. But time is running out. The sale ends January 1st. So get them while you can: https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/