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

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/

Writer’s Corner: Doing the NaNoWriMo Thing

Posted: December 3, 2024 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Book Promotion, Books, NaNoWriMo, Science Fiction, Time travel, WordCrafter Press, Writing | Tags: Books, Creative Writing, Kaye Lynne Booth, NaNoWriMo, Novel, The Rock Star & the Outlaw, WordCrafter Press, Writer's Corner, Writing, Writing to be Read | 12 Comments

Caricature of a woman typing on a computer at a very messy desk.
Text: Writer's Corner with Kaye Lynne Booth

This was my third year participating in NaNoWriMo. The first year I gained confidence when I learned that I was more than capable of making the daily word count goal, something I was unsure of when starting out. At that time, 1,667 sounded like an awfully lot of words, but I did it most of the days in November, and when I didn’t do it, I made up for it on the days I wrote two thousand or more, and by the end of the month of November, I had exceeded the overall word count goal of 50,000. (For the sake of transparency, I started with a partial manuscript, so although technically I was successful, I did not write enough new material to make the goal.)

Last year, 2023, I was well on my way to being successful, this time for real, and it was coming down to the last week, when my computer crashed and I was digitally down, making it impossible to complete the challenge. From this, I learned that it isn;t the end of the world to not finish, and I still feel that if my computer hadn’t crashed, I would have successfully met the challenge. I was making or exceeding the daily word counts each day and was on schedule to finish early, before the end of the month.

This year I went into NaNoWriMo with a very positive attitude. I knew I could make the daily word count, so I didn’t stress about it, but I did paln for it. I approached with a plan to implement strategies which had been successful in the past, and a good working plot outline, so I would be clear on where the story was going. Last year, I had abandoned the time blocking strategy which I’d implemented the first year, for an “ass-in-chair, write-the-book” strategy which I’d learned from one of my graduate school professors. (Don’t get me wrong, time blocking is a valid strategy for some people. It just wasn’t effective for me.)

At first, things seemed to go pretty smoothly, until life got in the way during the first week out, when where I live received almost four feet of snow and I was snowbound for four straight days. I didn’t think it would ever stop. It just kept coming. But even with all the shoveling I had to do, and the firewood I had to split to stay warm, I was able to meet my daily word count goal in the evenings. It started snowing on Wednesday, and when I was finally able to get out, on Monday, the 11th, I had to go to work at my day job. I was so tired, that I wasn’t able to make my word count for the first time. I fell asleep in front of my computer at 8:30 p.m. that night with only 634 words for the day.

But, I found that it wasn’t the end of the world that I didn’t get the badge for making the word count goal every day. And I made up the words I’d missed getting down the very next day, with a total word count for the day of 2624. It’s amazing what a decent night’s sleep will do for you. I really do write better if I take care of myself properly, and that proved it. It is also important to take time out for yourself, even though you may be pushing to make a word count goal or a deadline on a writing project. I’ve been looking forward to each new episode of Tulsa King, with Sylvester Stallone, each Sunday, after my shift at work, and I’ve learned that I can watch an hour or two of television and still get my word count done. This is something I had to teach myself. For the first two years I took the challenge, I took every moment I had to write, like a driven person, and now I’m finding that I’m more productive when I block out time for other things, too.

In the end, I didn’t make it. My Internet went down on the last day, so I didn’t get to log my last days totals anyway. (That is also why this Monday blog segment isn’t coming out on Monday. I just got my Internet back up and running this evening.) My total on November 30th was around 43,000 words. Not quite making the goal, but you know what?

It’s okay, because I’m still working on it everyday and I currently have 45,630 words of my story. I started out from a blank page this year. That’s not bad for a month’s time. And it’s a fantastic start toward the completion of the novel.

What I Learned

I learned that if I just keep at it, the book will take shape
I learned that my style of edit as you go is okay. It’s a part of my writing process and it works for me and I end up with a much cleaner first draft. It’s necessary for me in order to obtain the proper foreshadowing and also when planting the little easter eggs which helps connect the books for series readers.
I learned that thinking about time travel sometimes makes my head hurt. It’sa lot to wrap your head around, and it’s easy to get your plot lines twisted when writing about it. Also another reason to edit as I go. With time travel, changing one thing may change several others, jumping from chapter to chapter for revisions became common place for me with this book.
I learned to use multiple P.O.V.s to make the plot flow smoothly. This was the most P.O.V.s I’ve ever used in a story.
I learned how to write in multiple subplots – again, the most I have ever tried to use – and multiple time periods.

About the Book

There is not a lot I can tell you about the second Time Travel Adventure Series book without throwing out huge spoilers to those who haven’t read book 1, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Although each book can be read as a stand alone, book 2 has references to events in the first book and they are complimentary to one another. Book 2 picks up where the first book leaves off, which is why I can’t explain further without giving away the ending of the first book.

I’m having a lot of fun writing this book, maybe even moreso than I did with the first. Like the first, this one has musical inspiration, with song titles for chapter titles and a playlist in the front of the book. By having mutlple P.O.V.s, it opened this one up to even more music artists and songs. And by dealing with temporal loops, it allowed me the opportunity to change events which occured in the first book, creating a whole new story stemming from the same events. It is a crazy, wild ride and you never know where the characters will end up.

I can’t say too much about the new book, but I can share the book trailer for book 1, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, which is also a wild ride through time, for those who haven’t read it yet.

The Rock Star & The Outlaw

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This post is sponsored by WordCrafter Press

WordCrafter News: NaNoWriMo Update, the 2024 Novel Writing Bundle & Planning for the Coming Year

Posted: November 25, 2024 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Blog Sponsors, Book Promotion, Book Release, Book Sales, Fiction, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Nonfiction, Publishing, Robbie Reads and Cooks, Story Bundle, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Writing, Writing Challenge, writing craft, Writing to be Read | Tags: 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, Midnight Oil, NaNoWriMo, Poetry Treasures 5: Simple Pleasures, Read and Cook, Robbie Cheadle, Story Bundle, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Writing to be Read | 4 Comments

2024 NaNoWriMo

I crossed the 10,000 word mark on November 5, well ahead of schedule. What a great feeling. And I only missed making the daily word count goal once. Unfortunately, life got in my way, as it usually does. This time, it was a huge snowstorm that dumped about 42″ of snow on my front steps. The snow made even the daily chores more difficult, and then there was all that snow to shovel! But even with moving all that snow I managed to make the word count on most days. That is until it all caught up with me and at the end of the day, I was so tired I couldn’t think straight, and then, my word count started to fall.

I have managed to at least write something to log into the updates daily, and I’m sitting at around 34,500 words to date. That means I just have a little over 15,000 words to reach my goal and six days to do it in. I think I can do it. What do you think? Wish me luck. 😉

2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle

There’s still time to get in on the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, but grab it while you can. It only runs through the end of November. After December 1st, it will no longer be available.

This year’s Writing Tools StoryBundle, curated by bestselling author and publisher Kevin J. Anderson, is another treasure chest of vital handbooks covering aspects of the writer’s craft, business, and way of life. We have thirteen titles on a range of subjects, plus a 12-month subscription to Indie Author Magazine, your best source to stay up-to-date on the industry.

On writing craft, there’s The Illustrated Super Secrets of Writing, Vol. 1—Wulf Moon’s award-winning system on how to write stories and does so with creativity, fun, and humor. Tara Grace Ericson presents Romance Character Tropes—far more than your average trope list; this is an encyclopedia packed with info to help you use and leverage each trope successfully.

Freelance editor Joshua Essoe teaches about Mood and Atmosphere in his series of special-edition writing guides, each examining the most-common issues he encounters from writers he works with. Word by Word by award-winning author Kerrie Flanagan, shows you how to unlock your creativity and transform your writing. This is an essential guide for writers that offers inspiration, genre-specific strategies, and practical tips.

Jana S. Brown gives you Steps to Self-Editing. You’ve finished your novel! Now learn the self-editing steps to smooth off the rough edges and really make it shine!

And in the new revised edition of On Being a Dictator: Revised Edition, by Kevin J. Anderson, Martin Shoemaker, and Greg Vose—available exclusively in this StoryBundle,—you’ll learn how to use dictation to increase your productivity. One of the foundational books on a popular writing method, On Being a Dictator will help you think outside the box and up your game in the fast-paced ever-changing world of publishing.

Now, on to the writing business. Dollar by Dollar by Kerrie Flanagan is a comprehensive guide packed with proven strategies to help writers boost book sales, increase income from writing, and succeed in both traditional and self-publishing. Mark Leslie’s Author’s Guide to Branding for Success shows you how to make your Author Brand into one of your best long-term Intellectual Property assets!

Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn provide guidance and inspiration to share your message with the world from the stage in Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker.

And Booking the Libraries by Jessica Brawner is tailored for authors, speakers, storytellers, musicians, puppeteers, and all living-wage entertainers. This guide is your key to unlocking fresh markets, cultivating a dedicated fanbase, and revolutionizing your livelihood.

And finally, on the writing life, these titles will help you stay inspired and remain strong as a creative.

The D.I.Y. Author by Kaye Lynne Booth shows you the ropes in the business of being an author.

Wit and Wisdom by Craig Martelle—exclusive first release in this StoryBundle—is chock full of quips and snippets to help authors stay focused on the right things to accelerate their business.

And Falling to Fly by Todd Fahnestock is a deeply personal exploration into the creative process and the publishing industry. This is truly the book to read before you give up on your writing dreams.

In addition in this StoryBundle, you will receive full year’s subscription to Indie Author Magazine, your go-to resource for news, tips, and advice on self-publishing. Stay up-to-date on the latest trends in the industry.

A note on the designated charity for this StoryBundle, the Neil Peart Brain Cancer Research Fund from Cedars Sinai. In 2020 we lost Neil Peart, legendary drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush, to glioblastoma. He was my mentor, friend, and collaborator on numerous books, and his loss affected me deeply. Neil’s friends and colleagues and fans worldwide have contributed to this glioblastoma research fund in Neil’s name, and we are proud to add our efforts on this Writing Tools StoryBundle as well. – Kevin J. Anderson

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For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in .epub format—WORLDWIDE.

Romance Character Tropes by Tara Grace Ericson and Jessica Barber
Dollar by Dollar by Kerrie Flanagan
Essoe’s Guides to Writing: Mood and Atmosphere by Joshua Essoe
Booking the Library by Jessica Brawner

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus 9 more books, for a total of 13 (with 5 StoryBundle Exclusives), plus a year’s subscription to Indie Author Magazine!

Super Secrets: Illustrated by Wulf Moon
Falling to Fly by Todd Fahnestock
From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn
A Writer’s Guide to Branding for Success by Mark Leslie Lefebvre (StoryBundle Exclusive)
On Being a Dictator by Kevin J. Anderson (StoryBundle Exclusive)
Word by Word by Kerrie Flanagan
The D.I.Y. Author by Kaye Lynne Booth
Steps to Self-Editing by Jana S. Brown
Wit and Wisdom by Craig Martelle (StoryBundle Exclusive)
Indie Author Magazine: One Year Subscription by Indie Author Magazine

This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get a DRM-free .epub for all books!

It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

Find out how you can get your book into a Story Bundle of even how you can curate your own on “Writer’s Corner” in my interview with Story Bundle founder, Jason Chen.

Planning for 2025

Story Bundles: Let’s Sell Some Books

I’m planning to currate a few Story Bundles of my own next year. I’m looking for authors with books in the women’s fiction, dark fiction, science fiction/fantasy, or paranormal genres. I already have a few authors interested from the paranormal genre. So, if you have a book in the above mentioned genres, I want to hear from you.Mention it in the comments or drop me a line at KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com and let’s see if your book would be a good fit.

**2025 WordCrafter Press Releases**

With NaNoWriMo, I’ve got a good start on the second book in my Time-Travel Adventure Series, and I’ll be working hard to complete it throughout the months of December and January, with a hopeful March release. Of course, Book 3 in the Women in the West Adventure Series, Marta is also planned for release in 2025, and a short fiction collection of my own, titled “Little Ditties” to be released in time for Christmas.

With the creation of the Midnight Anthology Series, next year’s anthology is set to be dark fiction again, for volume 3, Midnight Oil. (I recently had a great story idea for this anthology. It’s very dark and scary, and I’m excited to see if I can meet the challenge of writing in a speculative fiction genre I’ve never attempted to write in before.) Submissions will be open in January and the call will post at the beginning of the year.

2025 Writing to be Read

Also, I believe Robbie may already be working on the next volume of Poetry Treasures, with a theme of Simple Pleasures. Guests on this past year’s “Treasuring Poetry” series should be getting their invites soon, if they haven’t already. I look forward to bringing forth another volume of this wonderful series of poetry books.

On Writing to be Read, plan to see more of Robbie’s new blog series, “Read and Cook with Robbie Cheadle”, which received a good reception so far this year. Catch “Read and Cook” on the second Wednesday of every month. I plan to continue my “Chatting with the Pros” and “Chatting with New Blood” series on the second and forth Saturdays, as well, and of course first or second Monday will see a “Writer’s Corner” post. Monday’s will also see segments of “Review in Practice” and my latest movie review series, “Everyone is a Critic”. And you can catch Robbie’s “Treasuring Poetry on the third Wednesday, and “In Touch with Nature” on the fourth Wednesday, as always. Art Rosch’s monthly “Mind Fields will also appear wherever I can fit them in, as he doesn’t have a set day right now.

I’m also hoping to get some new sponsors in the coming year. 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. Please consider sponsoring a blog series, or even a single post and help me to keep Writing to be Read up and running.

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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 is sponsored by The Rock Star & The Outlaw and WordCrafter Press.

Digital and Print Copies of The Rock Star & The Outlaw Book Cover: Sundial and planet in the background. Black leather clad woman and Man dressed in western garbstand beind giant electric guitar in foreground. Text: The Rock Star & The Outlaw, When a women with a guitar meets a cowboy with a gun, it's time to travel, Kaye Lynne Booth

A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.

In 1887, LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.

In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.

LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.

They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.

Purchase your copy today: https://books2read.com/RockStarOutlaw

WordCrafter News: Gearing up for NaNoWriMo & the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle

Posted: October 28, 2024 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Book Promotion, NaNoWriMo, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, Story Bundle, Time travel, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Writing Resource | Tags: 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, Kaye Lynne Booth, NaNoWriMo, The D.I. Y. Author, The Rock Star & the Outlaw, Time travel, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Writing Resource | Leave a comment

2024 NaNoWriMo

One of the methods I use of becoming more prolific in my writing is to use NaNoWriMo each November as a sort of spring board to get a good start on a novel, and hopefully, complete and publish it the following year. I’ve found it to be an effective way to help meet my writing goals. I have my own method of time blocking, which is more like grab every minute you can to write because I have a busy life, but even when I don’t reach my daily wordcount goals, I get on writing streaks where I more than make them up. And even in situations like last year, when my computer crashed with a week and a half left to go, so I was unable to make the 50,000 word goal, I come out with a healthy start to my novel, offering me a descent foundation to build on. (You can learn more about my NaNoWriMo strategies in my writing reference, The D.I.Y Author.)

This year is no exception and I’ve been busily outlining the sequel to The Rock Star & the Oulaw in preparation for next month’s NaNoWriMo challege to pound out at least 50,000 words of a new novel. Come next Monday, I will be up to my elbows in the writing of book 2, and I can already tell you, it’s going to be a wild ride. The ending of the first book was such that there has to be a second. My readers will be expecting and anticipating it. In this book, Amarylis will be expanding her horizons as she changes and grows, and my inspiration will expand beyond the music of The Pretty Reckless, which served as inspiration for her character in the first book.

I have most of my November blog posts written and scheduled, so my writing efforts can be focused on the book. The dark anthologies are launched in time for the Halloween season and their initial promotions have come to an end. In order to meet those daily wordcounts, I will be doing a minimal amount of promoting, so I won’t be as visible on social media as I usually am, and it may take me a bit longer to respond to email correspondence. The only promotions I will be making are my normal promotions of blog posts on Writing to be Read, and the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle, which includes The D.I.Y. Author and runs through the end of November.

The 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle – Currated by Kevin J. Anderson

Jana S. Brown gives you Steps to Self-Editing. You’ve finished your novel! Now learn the self-editing steps to smooth off the rough edges and really make it shine!

Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn provide guidance and inspiration to share your message with the world from the stage in Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker.

And finally, on the writing life, these titles will help you stay inspired and remain strong as a creative.

The D.I.Y. Author by Kaye Lynne Booth shows you the ropes in the business of being an author.

Wit and Wisdom by Craig Martelle—exclusive first release in this StoryBundle—is chock full of quips and snippets to help authors stay focused on the right things to accelerate their business.

* * *

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in .epub format—WORLDWIDE.

Romance Character Tropes by Tara Grace Ericson and Jessica Barber
Dollar by Dollar by Kerrie Flanagan
Essoe’s Guides to Writing: Mood and Atmosphere by Joshua Essoe
Booking the Library by Jessica Brawner

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus 9 more books, for a total of 13 (with 3 StoryBundle Exclusives), plus a year’s subscription to Indie Author Magazine!

Super Secrets: Illustrated by Wulf Moon
Falling to Fly by Todd Fahnestock
From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn
A Writer’s Guide to Branding for Success by Mark Leslie Lefebvre (StoryBundle Exclusive)
On Being a Dictator by Kevin J. Anderson (StoryBundle Exclusive)
Word by Word by Kerrie Flanagan
The D.I.Y. Author by Kaye Lynne Booth
Steps to Self-Editing by Jana S. Brown
Wit and Wisdom by Craig Martelle (StoryBundle Exclusive)
Indie Author Magazine: One Year Subscription by Indie Author Magazine

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You can learn more about Story Bundle on “Writer’s Corner” in my interview with Story Bundle founder, Jason Chen.

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About Kaye Lynne Booth

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This post is sponsored by The Rock Star & The Outlaw and WordCrafter Press.

A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.

In 1887, LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.

They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.

Purchase your copy today: https://books2read.com/RockStarOutlaw

Writer’s Corner: Using the NaNoWriMo challenge to get the book done

Posted: December 18, 2023 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Fiction, NaNoWriMo, Western, Writer's Corner, Writing, Writing Challenge, Writing Process, Writing to be Read | Tags: Historic Fiction, NaNoWriMo, Sarah, Western, Women in History, Women in the West adventure series, Writer's Corner, Writing to be Read | 2 Comments

Caracature of a woman typing on a keyboard at a very messy desk. Text: Writer's Corner with Kaye Lynne Booth

NaNoWriMo 2023 – Writing a novel in 30 Days

This year, for NaNoWriMo, I chose to work on the second book in my Women in the West series, Sarah. In 2022, I chose a book that I had already been working on, so even though I completed the 50,000 word goal, I wasn’t truly a winner. So this year, I had to ask myself, “Can I truly meet the NaNoWriMo challenge?” I began with nothing but an outline and a partial opening chapter, just to see if I could do it.

NaNoWriMo isn’t designed to help you write fast, not well. That part is up to you. The idea isn’t to emerge after thirty days with a perfect novel, but with a rough draft, a place to start and build from.

Week One

During the first week, I met my writing goal of 1,667 words every single day and the writing was coming along fine. I stuck to my outline, for the most part. A couple of times I had to push to get those words out, but they were out there on the page.

In 2022, I tried to use methods suggested in Booked to the Gills, by Aisley Oliphant, such as time blocking. This was only one of the tips offered to get in 1,667 words per day to culminate into 50,000 words in 30 days. (You can read my review of Booked to the Gills here.)

Time blocking is an excellent strategy for getting words to page, if you can stick to it. I couldn’t. I found that, for me, time blocking only worked when events in my life were going smoothly. Too often things came up that prevented me from writing at my scheduled times, including working unscheduled shifts or other emergencies that just can’t wait.

This year my life is not structured enough to make time blocking feasible for me. I’m not working, but that leads to other situations that must be dealt with, things that can’t be scheduled around. But, I knew they would come and so I decided instead to move ahead with my natural stubborn bullheadedness, and endeavor to persevere. I simply sat at my laptop and wrote every chance I had.

Week Two

The second week was filled with those immediate distractions, things which couldn’t be ignored, and I’m sad to say, I had the first day that I didn’t meet my daily goal. On Tuesday of that week, I only got in about 160 words. But the good part is that I exceeded my daily goal enough in the previous week, that it didn’t take much to catch back up, and I finished off the week being right where I should be or maybe even a little better.

Most of my writing sessions were in shorter time blocks, with longer stretches once or twice a day. I was willing to take what I could get, and I seemed to be getting enough time in to meet my daily goal most of the time.

Week Three

I had two days in a row during the third week where I didn’t quite meet my daily goal, but came close. One extra good day with over 2000 words, and a couple where I made it over my daily goal by smaller amounts kept me floating right about where I should be in the overall word count, at over 35000 words. So overall, I was fairly pleased with my results.

I continued with my write every chance you get strategy, and it seemed to be producing the results I needed. I used modified time blocking by taking advantage of extended time blocks of several hours at a time, breaking them into 15, 20, 30, or 45 minute segments as life demanded.

During longer blocks of time, I often found myself stopping to research the details for certain scenes. Since this book is historical western fiction, I needed to be historically correct to the best of my abilities. I had to watch myself, and on few occasions, found myself falling down a research rabbit hole. Research is a necessary part of the writing process, so I didn’t fault myself for these excursions. At first I tried putting disputed facts in brackets, but leaving whole setting descriptions blank wasn’t helping my word count, and my word count wasn’t suffering for it, so I continued in that manner.

Week Four

I got a bad start to week four. My laptop has seen better days, and on Tuesday the 21st, I was unable to back up my work, because it quit registering my USB drive, and then I lost my screen image. Let me tell you you can’t write, or do anything else, on a blank screen with no curser. This was a set back that could, and in fact did, end my chances for a successful NaNoWriMo.

It was quite a disappointment. I had gone into town to shop for Thanksgiving dinner, and on the way back, I had worked out what would happen in the final scenes of Sarah. I was at over 35,000 words, closing in on the end of the challenge goal of 50,000. I knew what needed to happen, so I was ready to pound it out into the page. And suddenly, I was at a dead stop.

Alas, I have a guardian angel, in the flesh. My oldest and dearest friend has always watched out for me. When she heard I needed a computer, she sent me one. It doesn’t have the storage space my old one did, so I’m still trying to figure out how to access all my files, but it will do in a pinch, until I can afford to get a new one. It didn’t arrive in time for me to meet the NaNoWriMo goal, but it is allowing me to finish the book, and that is what is important.

I made the 50,000 word goal on December 10th, ten days after the NaNoWriMo deadline, so I might have made the goal for the challenge had I had a functioning computer. I’m happy to say that Sarah is back pretty much on schedule and should be ready for editing in January, as planned.

What I Learned

Even though I wasn’t able to finish the challenge and declare myself a “winner”, I now have a story with over 50,000 words completed, which is a darn good start, and I still learned a lot about my writing process from the experience.

I used to be a binge writer. I could focus on my story and tap away at the keys, blocking out everything around me. I learned that I don’t write like that anymore. As I’ve gotten older, I find I need those fifteen minute breaks every so often. This helped me to get the other things in life that I needed to tend to done, as well. Daily tasks and obligations are good excuses to put the writing down and take care of business.
Along with that, I learned that grabbing shorter time segments whenever I can works well for me. Even if it’s only 15 minutes, it gets a few words on the page, and those 15 and 30 minute segments add up when you look at the word count.
I also learned, not for the first time, that the best advice for me as an author is, “Butt in chair, write the damn book.” Those short segments did add up. I made the daily word count this way all but one day, prior to my computer quitting on me.

Conclusions

I am using the NaNoWriMo challenge to help me become a more prolific writer. I found the whole month of November to be a learning experience, because writing processes change. I learned that the way I used to write doesn’t work for me anymore, and I developed a few writing strategies that seemed to be more successful for me. Overall, I enjoyed doing the NaNoWriMo challenge, grew as a writer, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to test themselves or improve their writing process through trying out new strategies.

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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; and book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah. 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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Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.

WordCrafter News: Giveaway Winners, A Halloween Book Event, NaNoWriMo and a New Blog Series

Posted: October 30, 2023 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Anthology, Blog Tour, Book Event, Books, Dark Fantasy, Dark Humor, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Giveaways, Horror, NaNoWriMo, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Stories, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Black Cauldron Book Event, Giveaway Winners, Midnight Roost, NaNoWriMo, Sarah, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | 8 Comments

Wrapping up the WordCrafter Midnight Roost Book Blog Tour

We had a great tour for Midnight Roost and many of you visited one or more tour stops and commented, for a chance to win a free digital copy of Midnight Roost. We were giving away three copies for this tour, and all that’s left to do now is to give you the winners. So, without further ado…

(Drumroll please.)

And the winners are…

BeetleyPete
Vera Day
Lauren Scott

If your name appears on the above list, please contact me at KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com to claim your free digital copy of Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories.

In Case You Missed the Tour

Midnight Roost is a truly creepy anthology from 20 talented authors that you won’t want to miss. But, if you missed the tour, you can still get a copy here: https://books2read.com/u/318L0l

About Midnight Roost

Book Cover Dark and scary graveyard background Text: Midnight Roost, Weird and Creepy Stories, A WordCrafterr Anthology, Edited by Kaye Lynne Booth

20 authors bring your nightmares to life in 23 stories of ghosts, paranormal phenomenon, and the horror from the dark crevasses of their minds. Stories of stalkers, both human and supernatural, possession and occult rituals, alien visitations of the strange kind, and ghostly tales that will give you goosebumps. These are the tales that will make you fear the dark. Read them at the Midnight Roost… if you dare.

Halloween Book Event

Tomorrow is Halloween. My favorite holiday. To celebrate, WordCrafter is cohosting the author takeover during Sonoran Dawn’s Black Cauldron All Hallow’s Eve Book Event all Halloween day. Join us for promos, games, and giveaways, Halloween music and a whole lot more. Sign up and join in at the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/events/876710947358939/

Author takeover spots are available. If interested in promoting your books, artwork, or other creative projects, contact me at KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com and put Author Takeover in the subject line.

November NaNoWriMo

I’m so excited about participating in National Novel Writing Month this year because I’m itching to delve into Sarah. I’m still not prolific enough to think I’ll write the whole novel in a month, but I know from last year, with The Rock Star & The Outlaw, that participating in NaNoWriMo can offer one heck of a start.

For those who don’t know, Sarah is book 2 in the Women in the West Adventure series. Last January I ran a Kickstarter campaign for book 1, Delilah. I plan to run another Kickstarter campaign for Sarah this coming January, so it is time to write the book. In preparation, I’ve done my research and have a working outline ready. I’ve already had a lot of fun fleshing out the two supporting characters that backers got to name from Delilah’s campaign, Lillian Alura Bennett, and Owoz Crebo. One historical female character which will make an appearance in Sarah, which is a trademark of the series, is Kate Elder, a.k.a. Big Nose Kate, Doc Holiday’s infamous companion. So, I have everything I need at the starting gate, and I’m just waiting for the starting gate to open on November 1st.

New Blog Series Starting in November

I’m so pleased to be able to make this particular announcement. The first Wednesday in November, Jeff Bowles will be returning to the blog with a new blog series about pop culture, “Pop with Jeff Bowles”. He’ll be talking about the many areas of pop culture: comics and comic hero movies, video games, television, music, and more. Drop by Writing to be Read the first Wednesday of each month and check it out.

Note: Also in November and December, you may notice some extra reviews coming out on Saturdays as I try and get in all of my 2023 reads, so I can start fresh in 2024. For requested reviews, I like to post in a timely manner, and I don’t want to wait into the new year to post, as I’ve probably already passed their release date due to my back log. So, if you have requested a review and sent me an ARC copy this year, be watching, because they all should be coming up.

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Writer’s Corner: What I learned from NaNoWriMo

Posted: February 6, 2023 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Books, Fiction, Writer's Corner, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tags: Kaye Lynne Booth, NaNoWriMo, The Rock Star & the Outlaw, Writer's Corner, Writing Challenge, Writing to be Read | 3 Comments

November is National Novel Writing Month

The first time I tried my hand at NaNoWriMo was back in 2010. I had only recently discovered the opportunities for authors and writers offered on the internet, and had decided to try once more to make a go of writing, so I was exploring my options, but didn’t really know what I was doing as a writer at that point. And I had no idea how to go about writing a book, or how to go about writing a book very quickly, and I failed miserably.

Since then, I’ve put an M.F.A. and an M.A. under my belt in the creative writing arena, and so I gave it a second shot in November of 2022. I chose to write The Rock Star & the Outlaw, a western time-travel romance adventure. This time I was better prepared, with my project outlined and actually had a 21,000 word start before the writing challenge began. I also had recently read Booked to the Gills, by Aisley Oliphant, which offers strategies like time blocking and reserving out time for self-care in order to be easier to live with during the challenge, and prioritizing, and I was anxious to see if I could apply some of these strategies in my own writing. You can read my full “Review in Practice” here.

The challenge, for those who do not know, is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, which is no easy task. I figured if I succeeded, I would have a 71,000 word novel, but even if I didn’t complete it, I wouldn’t be far from a completed novel. What you’re about to read is a summary of my experience with the 2022 NaNoWriMo and what I learned from it.

Lessons learned

Time blocking – this was a strategy suggested by Aisley Oliphant in Booked to the Gills. It involves planning out your schedule and making blocks of time specifically dedicated to the writing of your story. It’s good advice, which is helpful in getting the story written in the allotted amount of time. I found that with my busy and unpredictable life, it was better for me to block out shorter time frames, sometimes only 15 minutes, to squeeze writing in between everything else. It was nice when I could dedicate a few hours to a stretch, of course, but that wasn’t possible every day, espesially days I had to work my day job. I tried blocking out writing times during different times during the day, and I didn’t hesitate to create an unscheduled block at three a.m. when I couldn’t sleep.
Prioritze self-care – also highly suggested by Ms. Oliphant in order to maintain friendships and family during and following the challenge. Self-care should be a priority and not allotting time for tending mental, physical and spiritual needs can make one cranky and unbearable to be around. I made sure I took time out for personal pleasures, such as going out to dinner, allowing myself to clear my mind and gather my thoughts, along with all the other activities I have going on in my life. This was another reason that shorter time blocks seemed to work better for me.
Get adaquet sleep – This is a necessity. While I could write into the wee hours of the morning when I was younger, I find that these days, I can barely stay awake past 10 p.m. I now find myself falling asleep at the keyboard. Also, I find that when I’m tired, my thoughts become muddled and I have difficulty focusing. This was another reason that I wasn’t very productive on days when I worked the day job.
Be prepared – This one wasn’t a strategy offered up by Ms. Oliphant. This was one I learned on my own. Going into a writing challenge like this, with a 21,000 word head start, I assumed I was ready to do this. But on November 1, I realized that I should have matched up what I had written with my working outline. When I did that on the first day I found a couple of places where it didn’t match up, creating plot holes which needed fixing before I could move forward, so my whole first week was spent smoothing those out and it wasn’t until Day 8 that I was able to exceed the daily goal of 1,667. To truly succeed with the NANoWriMo challenge, I think it is important to be ready to hit the ground running.
Choose a project you are passionate about – This may be the most important lesson for me, because I don’t think I would have done as well as I did, had I not been so exciting about writing this story. Inspired by the music of my favorite rock band, The Pretty Reckless and other artists, I had began writing this story two years prior, and was writing on it full speed ahead when I ran into a road block concerning music copyrights. But I never forgot about it. In fact, over the past year I came up with a work-around to my roadblock, so it was never far from my mind. Even two years later, pulling it out still stirred the excitement within me, and that’s how I knew this was the project I wanted to use for this challenge. To write prolifically, such as the 1,667 words per day required for this challenge, I believe one must have this passion for the project to be properly motivated.

Final outcome

There were good days, when I was able to exceed the daily word count, and there were days when I didn’t even come remotely close. Although I tried to clear my November schedule as much as possible, scheduling blog posts a month ahead of time, etc…, I still had to struggle through life’s trials, and go through the motions of daily life, making the blocking of writing time tricky at times. At the end of November, when all was said and done, I had a manuscript of 52,000 words, but I did not truly meet the challenge, because of my original 21,000 words. The NaNoWriMo gang congratuated me when I hit the 50,000 mark and gave me a winner’s certificate. My real word count at that point was 29,000 words, and I knew that, but I claimed the winner’s certificate anyway, because in my mind, I was a winner in my own challenge. I was walking away from this challenge 29,000 words closer to having a completed story, and I managed to bang out another 2,000 words before the month came to a close.

I kept working on the story through the month of December. Although I couldn’t dedicate as much time to it, as I prepared for the Kickstarter for Delilah in January, I finished off the month with 59,000, but the story still wasn’t finished. I hope to have the first draft done by the end of February. Of course, even then, it won’t be publish-worthy. It will need to have a first edit by me, then go to beta readers,then another editing pass by me with revisions, then to another set of eyes for an edit, then back for a last pass by me. The idea for NaNoWriMo wasn’t to produce a polished manuscript, but just to get the words down on the page. The polishing comes later. I’m estimating a release date for The Rock Star & the Outlaw toward the end of 2023.

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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. 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.

________________________________________________________________

Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER will sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.

Lessons learned from NaNoWriMo

Posted: November 30, 2022 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Books, Fiction, Writing, Writing Challenge | Tags: Kaye Lynne Booth, NaNoWriMo, The Rock Star & the Outlaw, Writing to be Read | 7 Comments

Let me start by saying, I did not write 50,000 words in November. I can’t say that I accomplished the goal, but I did come out with a manuscript of over 50,000 words, so I didn’t walk away empty handed.

For NaNoWriMo this year, I decided to work on my Western time-travel romance adventure, The Rock Star & the Outlaw. I already had a start on this story of 21,175 words, so I figured if I did manage to do 50,000 words, I would damn near have a full novel. And I did that, so I’m pleased with the results of this experience.

I’ve known that I am not a prolific writer like some authors I know. I will never crank out four or five novels in a year’s time, and I’m okay with that. But NaNoWriMo did teach me a few things about my own writing process which help to explain why I’m not prolific, which is like to share with you.

Time Management

I began this endeavor with the idea of trying out some of the writing strategies offered in Booked to the Gills, by Aisley Oliphant. It’s one of the books included in the valuable Writer’s Career Toolkit Bundle, curated by Kevin J. Anderson. (By the way, this is the lady day that you can get that bundle here.)

Her time blocking strategy was of particular interest to me, and I did find it to be useful. I found that when I put in the time without distractions, I was able to get a lot of words on the page, which was cool. But for me, the time blocks didn’t always work because life kept getting in the way, and things kept coming up that had to be tended to, so my blocks got cut short, or canceled. I found that it worked better for me, if I used smaller time blocks, with short breaks to do non-writing activities in between.

Although I did make the daily wordcount once on a workday by waking in the early morning hours before going to work, for the most part I found that I shouldn’t expect too much productive writing for these days. I found that these days, I’m generally too tired in the evenings to manage much in the way of productive writing, often only managing somewhere undr 500 words per day. Trying to time block my evenings on workdays didn’t work well and I was forced to accept that lower word counts were the norm on these days.

I was surprised to realize this, because I used to be able to write after work into the late night or early morning hours, and I did so frequently when I was earning my degrees in genre fiction and screenwriting. I must be getting old. Other things I used to be able to do, that no longer work for me include writing in the car while someone else is driving. I now get car sick when I try this tactic. Also, writing in bed. I can no longer stay awake into the late night hours, so I end up dozing off with my computer in my lap. But I also found that I am often awakening in the early morning hours and not being able to go back to sleep, and I am able to use those times to effectively write.

I also found Ms. Oliphant’s suggestion to take frequent breaks helpful. I used to be able to sit at my computer for hours on end, but it wears on me more as I get older. Frequent breaks to do other things allowed me to keep my head clutter free and improved my focus when I was writing. And I was surprised that most of these lessons are more about time management than they are about writing.

Writing Process

After compiling two Ask the Authors anthologies and organizing two virtual writing conferences, and working with over fifty authors, there’s one thing I’m sure of. Not every writer’s process is the same, and it is important for you to understand your own process. Some writer’s are pantsers, writing blind and allowing the story to develop organically, while others are plotters who outline down to the last detail, but most are somewhere in between. Some writers need quiet while writing, and others like to write while their favorite playlist plays in the background. Some writers are binge writers, who lock themselvews in a room and don’t come out until the book is finished, or they set crazy word counts for themselves each day and write like mad, while others take their time pecking out every word and editing as they go.

Now I know that for NaNoWriMo the idea is to get out a first draft, which is supposed to be rough. I get that. It doesn’t have to be perfect. There will be time to refine it later. However, my writing process doesn’t work like that. Try as I might, I repeatedly ran into scenes where I had to go back and add in foreshadowing for the story to work. Binge writing without editing as I go simply is not part of my writing process. I’m not wired that way. This could be a part of the reason that I am not prolific, but for me, editing as I go is essential.

I started with a rough outline for this story that I hadn’t looked at in almost two years, and 21,175 words already written, so I really only wrote about 24,000 words when I reached the 50,000 word mark. What I ran into early on was that my outline had a logic error which I had to go back and fix, so this quickly became a working outline, which changed as the story progressed. But that meant that any time I changed something in the story, I had to go back and change the outline, too. Again, this takes extra time away from the actual writing, but it was necessary to keep my story moving smoothly.

It also made the second half of the month a blind writing process, requiring time to think through things and figure out what came next. You can’t write fast when you don’t know what you are writing. And many of the events added later required me to go back and foreshadow the new event, or change things which had come before and no longer worked.

Although the goal was to write 1,677 or more words per day, very seldom was I able to meet that goal. Binge writing works for some, but it doesn’t work for me. However, it did help to make the story a priority. Not one day went by that I didn’t add at least a little, even on workdays. My lowest day was 123 words.

When I set out to get my M.F.A. in 2012, I thought I was a pantser, mainly because I hated outlines and prefered to just write. Unfortunately, that process left me with several stories which went no where. Then, I learned that outlined could offer my story direction which I didn’t have otherwise, and it helped to have some idea of where my story is going. So, it turns out that maybe I’m a plotter, and I’ve gone along believing that ever since, which is why I already had an outline for The Rock Star & The Outlaw.

Fortunately, outlines can be changed, since the trajectories for my stories frequently change. My characters often do things that were unexpected, which change the direction of the story, and I must go back and change things in both the story and in the outline. I now view my outlines as working outlines and change them as the story changes, and I changed this one frequently. I guess that makes me a plantser, which is somewhere in between a plotter and a pantser, because I plan, but remain flexible enough to adjust things as I go. It probably takes more time, but that’s how I roll.

Although this story was inspired by the music of The Pretty Reckless and others, I did not try listening to music while I wrote. I did however, listen while I was commuting or cleaning, or ironing, because this is when I do my pre-writing, thinking out the story as I did these mostly automatic tasks. Music is what inspired this story, and it plays a huge role, but if I try to listen while I write, I often catch myself singing along instead of writing.

The Main Take Away

I think what is important to take away from all of this, is that you have to do what works best for you. Every writer’s process is different, and what works for one writer may not necessarily work for the next. The advice offered in Booked to the Gills is valuable, but some of it just didn’t fit my lifestyle. However, I was able to find ways to adapt it by creating smaller blocks that worked better with my busy life and many obligations. Binge writing didn’t work for me either, but I was able to apply some of the same dedication that binge writing requires. And I adjusted my process when my outline wasn’t getting me to where I needed to be, and I went back and revised the story when I felt it necessary, because that is the way my writing process works.

Every author needs to explore different avenues until they find the methods which work with their life and writing styles. Then they can develop a writing process that works for them. There is no right or wrong way to write. Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, or somewhere in between, whether you’re a binge writer or edit as you go, whether you listen to music or talk your books on a mountain trail. Whatever works for you is the right way for you, and don’t be afraid to try new methods and strategies.

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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. 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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