October Updates from the Writing Community

Hi, guys!

October flew by, yes? And I bet November will be the same with so many of us participating in NaNoWriMo. I know I sure missed a lot of awesome stuff that happened in October! So if you're like me, here's a little snippet of what's been going on the last couple of weeks around the Twittersphere.

• Our Secret Life buddy, Gail Nall announced her book deal for her middle grade debut, DON'T FALL DOWN! For more updates from Gail, check out her site (linked above) or follow her on Twitter.
• Amy Lukavics also announced the sale of her YA book, DAUGHTERS UNTO DEVILS, to Harlequin Teen! You can follow Amy on Twitter here.
• The finalists for our Spooky Flash Fiction contest are up and ready for your vote. There are only three days left to vote, so help us hook one of these writers up with some swag and pick your favorite! 

NaNoWriMo:

Ah, the topic du jour. Here on the Secret Life blog, we have some of our own golden posts chock full of tips and tricks for surviving NaNo. (You can find them all here, linked at the bottom of Farrah's post). But I've done a little perusing myself in prep to conquer NaNo again this year, and I've found some gems in case you're looking for some extra support this November: 

• A word of advice from agent Sarah LaPolla on NaNoWriMo, and how to go about making your NaNo novel sparkle before you query it.
• Practical advice (like how to guarantee you'll take pee breaks!) during NaNoWriMo from Angi Black. 
• Gearing up for NaNo tips from Pen and Muse. 

• And this guest post on the NaNo blog, from me. It's one of my favorite blog posts I've ever written, and I hope that it'll keep you going when you hit Week Two sludge. 

Happy writing!

xo. 

Andrea Hannah is a YA writer represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider. Her psychological thriller, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, debuts from Flux in Fall 2014. She writes stories about criminals, crazy people, and creatures that may or may not exist. When she's not writing, Andrea teaches special education, runs, spends time with her family, and tries to figure out a way to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (still unsuccessful). 

You can find her on Twitter @: http://twitter.com/andeehannah

Drop her an email @: andreahannahbooks@gmail.com
And visit her website @: http://www.andreahannah.com/

Tips for Preparing for NaNoWriMo!

#NaNoWriMo begins in exactly 15 days.

Are you ready?

Neither am I, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be participating this year. I have 100 more pages of my book to rewrite and revise. BUT I participated last year and even though I didn't finish all 50k words, I still thought it was really encouraging! 

Today I'm here to give you some pre-NaNo organizational advice. 

1. Outline. Everyone will tell you this, but it really helps. Having a general idea of where you want your book to go saves you from staring at a screen midway through your NaNo-ing and going . . . um, now what? If you're anything like me, you'll have an outline and completely change scenes and situations around. That's fine too. As long as you have some sort of guideline, you'll be more than set. Also? Start outlining now!

2. Don't get caught up with your word count. Okay yes, I know NaNo is the time to really keep track of your words, but November is also a really busy time of year. Thanksgiving, preparing for Christmas, seeing family and friends, etc. Personally, I don't think you need to sacrifice seeing the people you love to get some words on a page. You'll always have more time to double that count on another free day of yours. And if you don't? That's okay too! At least you're trying :) 

3. Stop being a perfectionist. The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that is allows you to word vomit all up in your document so that you can add in all those details later on. NaNo isn't the time to go back and tweak every paragraph you write. Concentrate on that during your revisions. 

4. Don't. Query. Your. NaNo. Everyone will tell you this. Despite what you think, it's not a good idea. Who wants to read word vomit? No one. Clean that up first, then send it to your CPs. (BTW, Alex just wrote a fantastic CP post. It's magical). If you don't do this, everyone in publishing will hate you. (Okay, maybe they won't hate you, but they will want to slap you with wet noodles)

Good luck to all you NaNo-ers! 

Farrah Penn enjoys staying up way too late and making up for it in large quantities of coffee. On top of her love for reading books with memorable characters, she also enjoys internet memes, yoga, and her adorably bratty dog. When she’s not rushing to complete marketing projects at work, she’s writing and daydreaming about traveling the world. Farrah writes YA and is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary.

You can also find her on Twitter @: https://www.twitter.com/farrahwrites
Drop her an email @: farrahnicolepenn@gmail.com
And visit her blog at: http://www.farrahpenn.com