~ ONE JOURNEY ~

~ There is only one journey: going inside yourself. ~
- Rainer Maria Rilke

NaNoWriMo ~ Friday, October 27, 2006

I hope to actually follow through with writing it this year. It may prove to be a challenge, as I have surgery on the 9th, and may be a little while in recovering. However, the theory is that if I'm confined to bed, maybe I'll be able to make the most of it by writing. Of course, in practice, I seem to recall that, post-op, I'm confined to bed for a good reason: namely, I'm not good for much else.

Alas.

But, we all live in hope. And at worst, I simply don't manage to finish in a month. I think I will. I hope I will. I intend to, at least.

And, I'm hyped about it, even though I'll be taking the harder road with this. I came up with a really cutesy romance idea that I know would be fun to worldbuild for and then write during NaNo, but prior to that, I had the notion of writing an account of all the craziness of last year, as a fictionalized memoir.

I hope to succeed. Happenstance seems to have supported me in my bid--I chanced upon a nice adaptation of the structural myth I intend to use in the bargain section of Chapters (having chanced upon several references to the aforesaid myth in the course of my prior readings).

I've also had such an encouraging time at the conference. I heard all kinds of assurances that made me feel a little better about where I find myself at the moment--as well as giving me the get-go to keep at it, with the added challenge of writing freelance stuff as well. I'm hoping that if I gather momentum for that, it will also help to push forward my fiction marketing plans and the like.

So, I'll finish the _Spirit of Life_ edits and tweaks on the plane (must print out the stuff Rhoda sent me, and make a note of the other changes I need to make) and hopefully begin sketching out the plan for NaNoWriMo on the flight, so that I'll be ready to take the plunge, come November 1st.
::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 3:28 AM::::
3 comments








There is only one conference at this point, for me. The Surrey International Writers Conference. It totally rules, and I'm totally priveleged to be a volunteer there.

And I'm not just saying that. The conference is excellent. This year, I sat in on an excellent ghostwriting talk. I also listened to some really great sessions from editors and agents, including some panels that proved quite illuminating.

I ended up giving Mary Balogh and Anne Perry a ride to a signing, and ended up hitting it off so well with the two of them that we went for dinner after and had a great conversation. I hoped to catch up with Mary Balogh again afterwards, but didn't get the chance--everything was just way too busy.

I did end up chatting with Anne Perry again on the way to the airport, and that, too, was very interesting. They're both really neat women and it's cool to have connected with them. I also had a nice talk with Lilly Ghahremani, a literary agent who did an excellent talk on creating a platform from which to market your work. She says she'll be posting tips from her talk on her blog over the next while, so here's that link:

http://fullcirclelit.blogspot.com/

Alas, she does not represent what I write. I came away from her talk--and indeed, from the entire conference, full of enthusiasm and get-go. I hope I can sustain that once I'm back home and faced with the daunting prospect of reality--and rejection. I know I've gotta keep submitting stuff, and persisting (I'm looking into freelance non-fiction as well at this point). I just have to actually follow through with that. I have a tentative schedule in mind for how I might retain some focus on that end once I'm back home and in danger of falling into my own routine.

The above photo is: me, Diana Gabaldon, Michael Slade and Jack Whyte. Below is Mary Balogh, me and Anne Perry. Alas, the former is a little shadowy, as I think it was taken from too far away for the flash to have worked effectively.


::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 3:21 AM::::
1 comments