Nanowrimo: why I love November more than ever
I’m grateful for @NaNoWriMo and all the support writers give one another to get to their goals. It’s a great way to reach your goal of becoming a novelist.
Countdown: Thirty days until my book is published
I’m getting excited to share my book, a story of two overworked overachievers who think they may have found love only to have their jobs, their lives, and a historic inn come between them. That very inn, set on the shores of Deep Creek Lake, and its past just may hold the key to their future.
You can do this, NaNoWriMo, I mean
I’m proud of the success I’ve had during this month of crazy writing. There’s a lot to learn before you can tell a good story. But the most important lessons for beginners are these
1-Sit down.
2-Write.
Prepped for #carinapitch #kisspitch #pitmad
So here I am. Some 65,000 to 85,000 words later (not including the 65,000 words cut, changed or revised during rewrites) my book is finished. Actually, I have three of them ready for readers. A historical fiction set in 1783 Annapolis and two contemporary romances I wrote while taking a breather from all that time…
For my next act…more writing
How do you follow up your debut novel? I would love it if the next step was to be flown to Hollywood to discuss with Meryl Streep how to turn my words into cinematic excellence. That would be one way. A very good way. It isn’t gonna happen so I’m writing. A lot. In fact, I…
Cheering for NaNoWriMo
Welcome to National Novel Writing Month. For me, it has made all the difference. Without NaNoWriMo, there would be DIVIDED LOYALTIES, no Maureen, no Joe, no Eliza, no man with the gun. I wouldn’t have spent a month deeply engaged in the places the Battle of Antietam touched.I would never have even known about a…
INSPIRED: Walking through my imagination
I have realized her purposeful stride is a symbol of the strong girl she is.
INSPIRED: Poetry on a sea wall
You have to love a place that puts poetry on the town sea wall. Queenstown, a pretty resort town set on Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand, has a long stone wall that separates a tiny lakeside beach from the Marine Parade. (Isn’t that a great name for a walk beside the water?) The poem chronicling the…
INSPIRED: #amediting
I’m busy editing the manuscript of my Civil War novel. Cutting and pasting, rewriting and rethinking. Oh yes, and occasionally cussing over why I can’t keep things straight in Scrivener. (I’m learning!) So I laughed when I came across this photo from my visit to the Morgan Library in New York last December. When Lord…
INSPIRED: A Tweet
Usually, I wander idly through Twitter. It can be amusing or enraging. I laugh at the funny tweets and retweet the occasional brilliant ones. Sometimes, though, one sticks with me. This one did. “The first draft of your story is the story you tell yourself.” I never thought of that. But it’s true. My first drafts…
Mary K. Tilghman, writer 