Found: Love

It's all you need.

Self-inflicted Deadlines for The Masses

Well, I've done something outrageous--truly, truly, truly outrageous.

Like legions of crammers, procrastinators, and dreamers before me, I've registered for NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is just what it sounds like--a group of crazy writers linked by a series of tubes attempting to write 50,000-word novels in 30 days. My writing style gels well with NaNoWriMo, as I am a binge-and-purge kind of writer.

Aside from providing me with extra guilt for the non-writing moments of my life, NaNoWriMo provides all kinds of glorious wonderfulness:

• The NaNoWriMo site boasts a procrastination station. Having to search for my own diversions is time-consuming, so this is handy.

• Freedom to genre jump. I know most of you take zero issue with genre jumping. When I wrote about the ties that bind me to one genre, many of you commented that you have no genre loyalty. That got me feeling adventurous, so I may try writing a middle grade novel or some hardcore dark YA during NaNoWriMo.

• My Betas joined too. Writing is more fun with those ladies around.

In the spirit of Booknapped, I read over the NaNoWriMo site this morning and found this gem:

"Win or lose, you rock for even trying."

Nice words to write by, no? Are you joining NaNoWriMo? How come? Got any tips for a newb?

Found: Awesomely True Writing

I have this friend who writes an amazingly honest blog about her and her partner's quest to have a baby. If you're looking to read a future best-selling memoir while it's still in blog-form, check out A Vas Difference. I dare you not to cry.

From: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

"Go ahead and fail. But fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style. A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success. Embrace failure! Seek it out. Learn to love it. That may be the only way any of us will ever be free."

Tom Robbins
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

P.S.: Thanks to real-life friend Trilby for suggesting this quote for a booknapping.

What I Learned from the Murderati

Murderati is mostly for mystery and crime writers, but they write stuff that appeals to authors of every genre. Toni McGee Causey recently wrote my favorite kind of post: relevant, introspective, and original.

I love when someone views writing from a fresh perspective. In this post about the space of writing, Causey views fiction through the lens of architecture. It's on the long side, perfect if you have time to let your mind loll around and consider new ideas.

One of my favorite parts:

"[P]ositive space—not just positive thinking, but positive space—is as necessary to our mental health and our survival as that negative space—that moving, ever onward. We need the connections around us, the grounding in the here and now, the raft of joy in the midst of a chaotic world, to replenish the soul and the well of creativity. You can go a lot of years without doing this, and still function. I can attest to that. But you’ll be missing so much."

Man, that just speaks to me, ya know? Thanks to literary agent Janet Reid for leading me to this post.

Now, go writers. Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.

Blognapped: Creative Intelligence

This post for aspiring writers by author Orna Ross is Right On. Here's my favorite part:

"If you want to be a writer... [y]ou’ve got to do the work. Lay down sentences and paragraphs, like an athlete lays down miles. Put words through your fingers, like a musician drums scales. Go on your metaphorical knees to the mystery of inspiration, like a priest before an altar."

I heart simile.

From: Ballads of Suburbia

"Liam and I snuck out to concerts on a weekly basis. We went to the Metro, the Aragon, the Riv, anything on an "L" line because we didn't want to deal with getting permission and rides from our parents--though we did help ourselves to their wallets when allowance money ran out. We saw famous bands, local bands, whoever happened to be playing an all-ages show whenever we happened to need to get the hell out of the house. That was the ballad of suburbia: give me loud to drown out the silence."

Ballads of Suburbia
Stephanie Kuehnert