NaNoWriMo & The Podcast

 

Am I procrastinating by writing this blog post? Absolutely. Do I care? Not really...

Join me today as I chat about my exciting new podcast AND the (totally insane fact) that I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo this year!

Well all, as you can probably imagine, I took a BIG break after writing Suspended in the Stars. Don't know what that is? Read this post and the first chapter here. 

It was an insane project mostly because it was all for "fun" (and I put that in quotes because, while it was fun it was a TON of work too). But it was such a great experience I wouldn't trade it for anything. Understandably though, it took a lot out of me during August so I took September off from pretty much anything personally creative. Yes, I did write a book for a ghostwriting client, but that was about it. 

And then fall came in! 

In all of this Autumn glory I cannot help but write. For those of you writers out there who are inspired by the seasons or weather, you know what I'm talking about. 

And that really is the lull of NaNo on my writer soul. It tempts me to take on more than I should because...well, it's fall and I *should* be writing. Right? And yet, I'm not mad about this. In fact, I'm happy because I have never regretted starting NaNo in November. 

If you don't know what NaNo is you can check out this post AND you can listen to Episode 004 of our new podcast. 

Wait...PODCAST? 

Yep, that's right. I've teamed up with the amazing Christen Krumm, author of It Happened At Christmas, to create a super fun Podcast. You may recall me mentioning Christen is the one who tricked me into told me about blogging a book in a month. 

During the beginning of this year we had a chat and both of us said we'd thought about starting a podcast. And, in the spirit of what I do, I thought - why not add on another thing? So we went for it! We kept it hush hush until we'd recorded most of our first season and then announced it to the world! 

The podcast is called Exploring the Blank Page and on it we feature YA authors talking about their writing process starting at the blank page, and then sharing about their books (most being new releases). We're into Episode 005 as of this Friday and I cannot tell you how much fun this has been. 

Check out our website & our Podcast page on Anchor. We are on almost all podcast platforms! It would also mean the WORLD to us if you'd subscribe and leave us a review! 

In our last episode (004), we shared about how we're going to go ahead and try NaNo and then encouraged our listeners to join us. We're using the hashtag: #NaNoWithETBP2020 and we encourage you to join us if you are doing NaNo this year. 

Mainly, we're offering support to you all through tips on our Instagram page and DM's as well as virtual write-ins (we'll be working on a schedule soon!). If this sounds like something you're interested in - hop over to our IG page and tell us! 

Writing is a lonely endeavor and we think it's better in community! 

Finally, I wanted to share some words of encouragement as we head toward November 1st and NaNoWriMo 2020. We talk about this in our podcast, but just starting NaNo, even if you don't "win" (by hitting 50k words by the 31st of November) is a WIN in itself. Don't let the overwhelming feeling of writing so many words keep you from at least trying it. Remember: any words are words toward your end goal and that is totally worth it (tweet this). 

Also, consider doing something I'll be trying out this year that Christen call's "backwards NaNo". You can find her post about it here along with a helpful print-out (or something you can put on your computer desktop). There is usually a lot more energy at the beginning of November so writing more to start is a great way to endure you'll be closer to your goal by the end of the month. 

You can also see some past posts that may inspire you: My Favorite Things For NaNo, 4 Ways to Find Inspiration (during NaNo), and NaNoWriMo Brainstorming Tips. 

Tell me below if you are joining NaNo this year! I'd love to be buddies with you on the NaNoWriMo site. You can find me here.