My Journey to Publication - Part 6

Gee, did I drop the ball on this one. My last post was on June 29, 2010. Whoops!

To refresh your memories, it was 2006. I had participated in my first Muse Online Writers Conference and secured my first paid writing gig. There was all this talk about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) at the conference, and I figured it would be a great way to get my career moving in the right direction.

I performed whatever research I could, and geared up to get writing on November 1st. There are a lot of reasons I didn't win NaNoWriMo that year, but the main one is the same reason I don't plan to participate this year--I don't enjoy writing that way. If you ask me, NaNoWriMo is similar to blogging: either you love it or you don't. I love blogging. I don't love NaNoWriMo.

I truly needed more time to perform research for the novel I wanted to write. In addition, I just didn't write that fast. Thousands of words a day were not what I produced. Now that I've switched to the children's market, I find myself more productive.

In 2006, however, I still felt I would be writing for adults. And while I haven't given up on projects for people above the age of 16, I'm enjoying writing for kids. I was at my daughter's school a few weeks ago giving a writing workshop. Her teacher mentioned how I could easily have been a teacher. When I was younger that's actually one of the careers I wanted to work toward. Life changed and my goals changed with it.

So, I muddled along with NaNoWriMo. My online friends said they would be glad when it was over because my whole personality changed with the pressure of trying to write in a way that was unnatural to me. I managed close to 7,000 words before I said something like, "Forget it. This ain't for me." I was concerned, because at that point I felt if I couldn't manage NaNoWriMo, there was no way I would ever become a published author.

That was proved wrong, however. My first published book would be four years into the future, but not winning NaNoWriMo wasn't the reason it took so long.


Read Part 5 here!

Final NaNoWriMo Update

Today I planned to write some to at least reach 10K for NaNoWriMo, but it doesn't look likely. I worked on virtual book tours most of the day and caught up on some reviews at my kids book blog.

While I am slightly disappointed I didn't even make it halfway, I am pleased that I have been writing every free moment I had in November and hope to be able to work on it more in December thanks to the reduced tour schedule.

If any of my readers participated in NaNoWriMo I would love to hear how you did and what you learned from your experience.

Congratulations to all the NaNoWriMo winners!

NaNoWriMo Update

This has been a painful but fun expereince so far. Only 6,444 words in and will never have time to come close to my goal, but I did work on Amelia's Mission for a little while today. It's so exciting to watch these characters develop and engage in conversations I never imagined when I first thought them up.

While I won't win NaNoWriMo, I am still proud of myself for sticking to it and I want to finish the first draft by early 2010 so I can get the story edited and submitted.

Wish me luck!

NaNoWriMo Update

Well, National Blog Posting Month is certainly going better than National Novel Writing Month. I should be over halfway to my goal of 50,000 words and I barely have over 6,000. I am slightly bummed, but I am writing every chance I get. Work and family life have made writing a challenge, as did many of the unexpected things that have popped up this month.

I'll be busy all weekend, so I don't know how much I will get to write, but we'll see what happens. At least I am further ahead than when I started.

NaNoWrioMo Update

And I thought my 2006 NaNoWriMo project went slow. I should be at around 25,000 words right now and I am close to 5,000 words--just a tiny bit short, hey?

Part of me is still kicking myself in the behind for trying to tackle this when I have a million other things going on, but the other part is patting me on the back for trying to tackle this when I have a million other things going on.

I've only missed two writing days since NaNo started, but last night I only managed a few hundred words before I had to hop into bed. We were gone all day today, so no writing because I am exhausted and only managing this because I am participating in National Blog Posting Month too.

Feel free to share your NaNo progress. I would love to hear how you're doing.

Look for another recipe for tomorrow's blog post.

NaNoWriMo Update

Well, the first week of NaNoWriMo has not gone as well as I expected. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but unexpected things really crept in, in a major way. But, in the larger scheme of things I am writing something new of my own and I now have 3391 words more than when I started, so that's good to me.

So, how's your NaNo project going? Keep plugging away my fellow NaNoers.

Recipes from Patricia Mendez, Author of Easy Entertaining for Beginners

Since November is a busy time of year for everyone--especially we writers who are partcipating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)--I figured it would be an excellent time to try something new by offering recipes on dates when I am not hosting authors. This will also help me with National Blog Posting Month, which we are participating in again.

Our first two recipes come from Patricia Mendez, author of Easy Entertaining for Beginners: You Can Throw a Fabulous Party, from Holiday Fiesta to a Romantic Evening for Two that won the 2009 Mom's Choice Award.

I own this book--which we reviewed here--and have used it on more than one occasion. What I like best about this cookbook is that it has things I actually would make instead of a bunch of gourmet recipes that I would never use in a million years.

Recipes by: Patricia Mendez copyright 2009



Sweet n’ Crunchy Apple Salad
Serves 12

4 cups apples, red & green, chopped, unpeeled
2 tablespoons bottled or fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup candied pecans, purchased, chopped
1/2 cup washed, seedless green grapes, halved
1 1/3 cup low-fat whipped topping, thawed
1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
Ground nutmeg

1. In bowl, toss chopped apples with lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown. Stir in celery, nuts and grapes.

2. For dressing, fold mayonnaise into the whipped topping. Spread dressing over top of apple mixture. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Cover tightly and chill for up to 3 hours.



Pumpkin Scones with Maple Icing
Makes 6-8

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
¾ cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

Maple Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon real Maple syrup
1 tablespoon milk, plus up to 2 teaspoons more

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Add butter, cut with pastry cutter or two butter knives in a criss-cross motion to form pea-size crumbs.

In a separate bowl, mix pumpkin and milk together. Add to flour mixture and stir until moistened. Knead on floured board about 5 times. Do not over mix or the scones will not be tender. Form dough into 6 inch round, about 1 ½ inches thick and cut into 6 equal-sized wedges. Bake on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray for 18-20 minutes.

Cool and prepare icing by mixing ingredients in small bowl. Drizzle on cooled scones and serve.


Patricia Mendez has catered and coordinated special events since the early 1990’s. She has taught cooking classes and is a public speaker. A natural teacher, she has mentored many aspiring hosts and hostesses. She writes articles for magazines and internet sites and lives in Southern California. She is also the “Easy Entertaining” Spokesperson for Lifetime Products. When she’s not writing or teaching, she is a home chef who loves to throw fun parties.

You can visit Patricia online at http://ezentertaining.net/.

NaNoWriMo, Here I Come!

It's about 11 p.m. here and I have yet to be able to sit down and write for this first day of NaNoWriMo. I guess I could get upset that my day quickly turned into one where I spent little time at home and couldn't even manage to find five minutes at a normal hour to type out even the title, but today is not a beat myself up day. As long as I write a few words before turning in tonight, I will consider my first day of NaNoWriMo a huge success.

Good luck to all my fellow writers who are participating this year.

Moving Forward

Well, by now most of you know how my week has gone. Up until yesterday I was having a very productive week. It came to a standstill when I went to post a review at my kid's blog and found it suspended.

I don't know if venting here was the wisest choice, but I guess since I don't usually do it I'm allowed one error in judgment from time to time. Not only am I disappointed, I'm angry that one person could do that to another human being. It would have been such an easy thing to ask if I would consider changing my blog's URL or put up a disclaimer stating there was no affiliation between the two sites; but instead I was immediately put on the defense by a confrontational individual who accused me of malicious intent when there was none, and it could possibly have done damage to my online reputation. Wishing that WordPress would see through the ridiculousness of these accuasations also proved fruitless, so I am still considering my next step; but life must gone on in the meantime.

While coming out here tonight I ran across a quote from Ann Landers who put this all in perspective for me:

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate." - Ann Landers

In the larger scheme of things, this incident is just one royal pain in the neck. I can start a new blog like I did in July when I began The Kids Book Connection and work on building that brand up instead. The principle of the whole thing still shakes me to my core, but at the end of the day I am still safe and warm inside my house, loved by my family, and have been blessed by God in many ways. By the way God, if this incident was a test of my patience, I again failed miserably.

My thanks go out to all of you who offered words of encouragement and support. Those words mean a great deal to me, and let me know that no matter what I am falsely accused of, I am still surrounded by a lot of wonderful, helpful and generous friends in the virtual world.

Tonight I am preparing for NaNoWriMo, which will kick off on November 1st. I have several character interviews drawn up and have a basic idea of setting and plot. I'm more excited than I was in 2006 when I gave NaNoWriMo a shot, so hopefully that will bring me closer to success.

Good luck to anyone who is tackling NaNoWriMo this year, and thanks again to everyone for their support.

Will You NaNoWriMo?

So, how many of you are going to tackle National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year? I had several reservations, as I am busier than I have ever been, but I decided I wanted to paticipate too much to ignore the desire and knew I had to go for it.

For those like me who are considering adding a sizeable project into an already jam-packed schedule, my latest Writer2Writer article might give you a hand. "Tackling the Big Gorilla - How to Add a Large Project to Your Schedule and Still Be Stress-free around the Holidays".

For help preparing for NaNoWriMo, including many links and resources, visit the Let's Write a Novel Together blog.

Good luck to everyone who will be participating in NaNoWriMo 2009!