Rose State Conference Part 1: Winning First Place

Talk about a weekend of ups and downs. This last Friday through Sunday was the Rose State Writer's Short Course in Midwest City, Oklahoma. It's a small, but intense gathering of writers, aspiring writers, agents, editors, and practically everyone with an interest in the publishing industry. It'll take me several blog posts to cover all of my experience, but it is definitely worth sharing.

I attended the convention's debut last year where I won an honorable mention in the poetry contest, pitched to an agent for the first time, and met some amazing aspiring writers.

This year was even better.

Friday kicked off the weekend with an introduction by William Bernhardt, the New York Times bestselling author, organizer of the Rose State conference and, most importantly, the best writing teacher I have ever had the pleasure of studying under.

William Bernhardt

Guest of Honor, David Morrell - author of First Blood and creator of the Rambo character - also gave a great introductory speech. But for me, the most exciting part of the evening was the announcement of the contest winners. 

Like I said previously, I won an honorable mention in poetry last year. This year I submitted to three categories: Poetry, Flash Fiction, and Writing for Young Readers. While I was very disappointed about not winning any recognition in poetry, I was thrilled for my mother, Claudia Wagner, who won an honorable mention in the new category, Flash Fiction. Then came the Writing for Young Readers category.

I waited without much expectation as Bill Bernhardt read the list of winners going through a considerable number of honorable mentions to second place and - finally - to first place. Instead of immediately calling the names of the winners, he read from their entries. 

I felt almost numb as Bill's deep, expressive voice read out: 

"They took me to the interrogation room again the next day. The room was entirely white. I’d never noticed before. Though it was the same room I’d been questioned in, it seemed somehow different. Why did they bring me here again? There was nothing left for me to tell them."

My words. My book. 

My friends started cheering before I fully comprehended what was happening. I'd won. I was shaking as I got the certificate and check for $100. I'm still not sure I've completely processed it. 

My book - the book that took one year of my life, that has cost me tears and time, that I poured myself into until I had nothing left to give - my book won.

And that's not a bad feeling. 

100 Writer's Project: In the Beginning

Introducing... Claudia Wagner!

My first novel, first draft almost finished. How did I get here? If I were Michener I would start--In the beginning, God. This blog post begins only a little later than that, but well before cell phones and the internet.

I used to write and submit poetry for publication. Acceptance letters along with the standard thank you and a promise of two copies of the issue in which my poem would be published thrilled me. But in those pre-cell-phone days, it cost a fortune to call all my friends and relatives long distance to tell them the good news. Not to mention the expense of buying additional copies of said issue and postage to send those copies to friends and relatives.

I’ve worked for a small-town daily newspaper. I’ve seen my by-line and my name in cutlines enough. But the idea of a book with my name on the spine sitting on a shelf in the Edmond Public Library seems much too grand. It shimmers above me in the night sky, brighter than the moon. A dream, a desire, a star too brilliant to look at and too distant to touch.

Knowing that a novel was beyond me, my book started out as a short story. I’ve written short fiction. I took a course in college. I understand how it works. So all I needed was a prompt of some kind and a deadline. My daughter provided the prompt and the deadline allowing me to choose the genre.

I ignored her prompt and chose murder and science fiction. And I went to work.

The deadline came and went, and the work proved to be as undisciplined as I. The story would not limit itself to short fiction. So I reconsidered the situation and decided to do a little book, a murder mystery that takes place on a colony in low orbit around the asteroid Ceres. But I needed help.

I happened to attend a monthly meeting of Oklahoma City Writers, Inc. at which William Bernhardt was doing a two hour presentation on novel writing. He talked about outlining. An instant turnoff since my research paper days too many years ago. But he made sense and showed how to plan the structure of my book. He was talking about the actual nuts and bolts of constructing a book-length story.

Three years plus several months, three of Bill Bernhardt’s intensive writing workshops plus a conference here and there, and I am coming around the last turn on this full-length murder mystery science fiction novel.

Bill said write every day. Four hours a day. If I had done that the book would have been finished long ago. Did I mention that I’m undisciplined? I heard somewhere that Stephen King says to write four hours a day and read eight hours a day. Or was that Mark Twain?  The eight hours reading I could go for, whoever said it.

There was a recommendation that I join a writers’ critique group for support and critical input. But that meant I had to also give support and critical input. I left every one of those meetings feeling bad because I had said harsh things to people as earnest about their writing as I was about mine. Tact is not one of my virtues. And have I mentioned lack of self-control?

Then somewhere else the advice was to just write it all the way through, do not do any editing until the story is complete. What a good rule. But mine is a murder mystery. As I wrote I discovered things that needed to appear earlier in the story. That required a rewrite of a scene. Editing? Even sitting down to begin the next writing session without looking at what I’d done the day before was impossible. Reading the work from the day before required minor or major changes. Did I mention that I tend to break rules even when I impose them myself?

What have I learned these past three-hundred, ten pages, and counting? Somewhere I heard that the definition of the verb to persevere is to begin again, and again, and again. No matter how many times my discipline fails, my control is lost, and my rules are broken, I can begin right now where I am. My book will be written and I will be launched into the night sky to find my name on the spine of a book in the Edmond Public Library. Just gotta finish this book first.

Claudia Wagner

I was born in Oklahoma. I learned to read under my mother’s ironing board. I learned the importance of stories around the dinner table during holidays and in the cellar during storms. I started writing to entertain my classmates. I continued to write because classes or work required it. Sometimes I wrote to understand my life. I have been office help, a welfare case worker, a fast foods manager, and a roustabout in the oil patch. I have also worked for the USDA. I’ve managed a veterinary clinic, helped care for my dying mother, and been a Page at the Edmond Library. I am a woman, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. I believe the future of humanity is as unlimited as the Universe. And I believe that we as a species are imaginative enough and brave enough to move beyond the Earth into that Universe.

For more from Claudia, check out her blog, The Bookwright.

The Girl that Haunts Me

In addition to writing, I am also a visual artist. Pen and ink are my normal go-to media, but I also enjoy acrylics and color pencil (watercolors are my mortal enemy!). Many of the things that inspire my stories also inspire my pictures. Death. The future. Human experience. Yet there is one source of inspiration that has followed - perhaps haunted - me for years, and that inspiration started with a book.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier was inspired by a 17th century painting of the same name by Johannes Vermeer. Not much is actually known about the painting or the artist, for that matter. Chevalier's book was an attempt to discover the woman and the story behind the painting.

Not only does the concept of a writer delving into the past through fiction appeal to me, the painting itself struck a chord. Who was this girl? Her expression changes every time I study her. Sometimes she's full of innocence and hope. Sometimes her dark eyes fail to reflect the coy smile on her lips. Sometimes she looks lonely. Sometimes lost. Sometimes wise beyond her years.

I have studied this painting relentlessly. As a writer, I need to figure out who she is. I need to understand what she feels, what she dreams, what she desires with the utmost depths of herself. As an artist, I draw her. Over and over again. Maybe by creating her image I will find a deeper understanding. From sketches to paintings, I have recreated this girl many times. Often, instead of finding her, I find someone else entirely.

These are two very different version of the "Girl with a Pearl Earring" that I've done.

               "Girl with a Pearl Piercing"                       "Runner with a Pearl Earring"

Both of the women in my pictures are very different from the original and very different from each other. By studying one intriguing face, I have found many new characters. These two pieces are a small sampling of my efforts to capture the girl who wears the pearl earring. They are the most recent, but they won't be the last. 

I know that I will return to this painting, trying to tease out it secrets with words and paint. As a writer and an artist, inspiration is key to my success and, thanks to this painting, I have never lacked a mystery to follow. 

So let me end with a quote from the book that started this lifelong obsession:

“You're so calm and quiet, you never say. But there are things inside you. I see them sometimes, hiding in your eyes.” 

"Girl with a Pearl Piercing" and "Runner with a Pearl Earring" are copyright to Grace Wagner. Do not reproduce or use without permission. 2013

Writing Prompt: Favorite Song Title

by Artist

Prompt: Write a story based on the title of your favorite song.

Response: "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie

The room smelled of age and paper and stories. You led me between rows of leather-bound spines. The library had been abandoned for years. The grand old building lay tucked between skyscrapers and busy lives. In the eyes of the government it was "historic" and thus immune to demolition. In the eyes of entrepreneurs it was a waste of space.

I closed my eyes, feeling my way behind you. No one read physical books anymore. No one but you.

The cadence of your voice lilting over small, enigmatic type was a stark contrast to the drone of pre-recorded, pre-approved novels. Poetry lingered in your pauses, your breath drifting away from the small LED light into the blackness around us. My thoughts followed it.

Now I stand between empty rows. The books were packed and shipped away to some museum back east. That happened almost a year ago. I see your face like an afterimage. Burned into my retina as you grin over your shoulder.

What should we read tonight?

I shrug. Whatever you want.

I sit down, folding my legs beneath me. The emptiness presses down on me like a coffin lid. I lean back, closing my eyes. In the dark, I find your words. They become you.

"Adieu, adieu! my native shore / Fades o'er the waters blue; / The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, / and shrieks the wild sea-mew."

I follow you into the dark.

Copyrighted to Grace Wagner. Do not replicate without out written permission. 2013

UPDATE: Claudia Bookwright has also uploaded her answer to the prompt. Check it out here.

100 Writers Project: The Circle of Writing

Hey, guys! This is my entry for the 100 Writers Project. Enjoy!

A little more than a year ago, I had an idea for a book. Actually, I had an idea for a different book. One that would be expansive and intimate and breathtakingly original. Then I realized that for all my years of reading and poetry and dreaming about writing a novel... I had no idea what I was doing. So I put that book aside for a day when I had both the dream and the skill, and set about acquiring that skill. I began constructing a new story from the ground up.

World building has always been the easy part for me. My brain is in infinite supernova exploding with ideas. The hard part was focus. I narrowed the world down and worked on the characters. I gave them names and found pictures that fit them (because I'm a very visual person) and created character sketches. As for plot, I had a rough idea of the beginning and the end and I figured that the middle would sort itself out.

Now enters the essential element. At this point, my mother (also a writer) had been attending small group writing seminars by New York Times Bestselling Author, William Bernhardt. She loved them so much that she decided to sign me up for the first one. Now I've always been a type-A, teacher's pet and I thrive in a classroom environment. I expected to learn a fair-amount, but honestly, through my individual research and experience, I didn't think it would really help me much as a writer. Was I in for a shock.

The seminars last one week and at the end of that first week, I was mentally and emotional exhausted. And I learned. I learned so much about structure that my mind was spinning. I learned the importance of outlining and clear planning. I learned that I still had a lot to learn.

Since then, I've taken the next two levels of seminars and I attended the Rose State Writing Conference in Midwest City, Oklahoma that was hosted by Mr. Bernhardt and attended the lecture he gave there. After I solidified the structure it was so much easier to sit down and write because I new exactly where I was going.

The next phase in my book was NaNoWriMo. I was about 20,000 words into my manuscript when November rolled around. At first, I shied away from joining Nano, because I was under the impression that you had to do a brand new book for it. For those of you who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and participants attempt to write 50,000 words in one month with the help and support of their fellow writers. Two days after Nano started, I decided, why not? I needed about 50,000 more words in my story and I wasn't going to let the fact that the story was already started stop me.

And I did it. I finished with nearly 52,000 and I'd written through the climax. I still had a scene or two to tack on at the end, but I felt pretty much finished.

Next came the editing. In this particular area, I am lucky because even though I work as a freelance editor, there was no way I could edit my own work. But there was someone who could without charging me an arm and a leg. My mother. My mother is an amazing writer and editor and only a phone call away. So the only thing I had to do was go through the manuscript line by line and clean up the flood of red ink that she'd decorated it with. That was tedious. But I made it through. I also wrote the remaining scenes and polished a few rough areas. I had a finished second draft.

I attended one last seminar by William Bernhardt that focused on perfecting the end. One more exhausting week and then about a month later, I was ready to start shopping it around.

I have yet to meet any writers that like this step. This step is about marketing and (gasp!) talking to strangers, trying to convince them to love your book as much as you do. We're writers because we like to write. If we liked selling things, we'd work in retail.

But anyway, here again, I got a leg up. At the Rose State Conference seven months earlier, I got suckered into pitching to an agent. My manuscript wasn't anywhere near finished, but one of my writing-friends said "Go on! It's good practice. So what if she's not interested? It's not even finished yet!" (you know who you are!) and I did. And it was terrifying. I wrote and memorized a solid pitch and delivered it in a satisfactory manner, even if it was a little rushed and deer-in-the-headlights-esque. And, shockingly, the agent requested the full manuscript as soon as it was done.

So now it's done. I don't know if she even remembers me, but I crafted a query letter and sent her the manuscript. Who knows how long it will take to hear back from her. But in the mean time, I'm starting again.

A new story full of breathless excitement and intense emotion. I'm back at the beginning with a blank canvas and a head full of ideas. I am writing again. And the circle starts over.

Grace Wagner
From attempting to write epic fantasy as an elementary school kid to serious drama as a teenager, she has finally finished a novel. Having grown up in a household were reading and literature were paramount, she loves any book that makes her think and she reads across all genres. She's also hopelessly addicted to British television including Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey. She's lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a full-time writer, spending most of her days in front of a computer screen desperately trying to write something that matters. She's kept company by the most patient of companions, her cat Matches.



For more, follow her on Twitter or Facebook. She's also on Pinterest, Google +, and Instagram. You can continue following her here, on her blog, for more on her and the 100 Writers Project. If you are interested in participating in the Project, please contact her on any of the above sites or comment below.

100 Writers Project: A Sigh of Relief

Introducing Heather McCoubrey!

I've always been a reader and a writer.  My father worked in construction, so we moved around quite a bit when I was a child.  I was always the new kid, it seemed, so I escaped into stories.  In middle school, I took a few creative writing classes, and fell in love with creating my own stories.  Throughout the rest of school, I wrote short stories and poems.  I wrote my first novel, Emily's Choice, as a senior in high school.  Writing for me has always been my creative outlet.  Emily's Choice has gone through several drafts but it never seems to work exactly how I want it to, so it sits on the back burner.  I work on it every so often to see if I can make it work, but it's frustrating for me when I have to put it aside.  I've started several different stories throughout the years and I work on each of them sporadically.  When I get "blocked" on one, I move to a different one, back and forth - these are kind of my in-between projects.  I work on them when I don't have a major story fighting for attention.

A friend of mine is also a writer and he and I share our stories with each other.  I'd been playing around with my writing for years, participating in free contests and dreaming big dreams.  In 2011 he suggested, for the third time, that I participate in NaNoWriMo.  He'd participated for 2 years prior and thought it would be something good for me.  Thinking that this would be a good opportunity to get Emily's Choice rewritten again and maybe even published, I asked him if I could do that.  He said No, had to be a new idea.  That was the point of NaNoWriMo.  So in between life, school, kids, husband and my mom visiting for Thanksgiving - I managed to put down 21.5k words that month.  It was hard to concentrate on one story for a whole month.  I had no outline, no character descriptions, nothing but a vague idea of what I wanted the story to be about.   Once November 2011 was over, I put it away and got busy with life again.  Christmas came and went, 2012 rolled in and I picked it up again in February.  I worked out some of the back story, some character development and I wrote a few more chapters.  Then, letting it go so that it could germinate in my mind, I picked up a new project.

When November came back around in 2012, I became a NaNoRebel and I finished To Love Twice.  It was quite a feeling to have a novel finished, one that I could actually see publishing!  I sent it off to my writer friend, and a couple of other people.  I asked them to read it and to get back to me with a critique.  Everyone loved it and three came back with ideas and ways to improve.  I implemented some of the ideas and went through it myself with a fine tooth comb.  By the beginning of March, I felt the book was ready to be published.  I bought a picture that I felt enhanced the story and created my book cover.  And then on 3/19/13, I uploaded the entire thing to Amazon Kindle and blew out a sigh of relief.

I currently live in PA with my husband, two children and our chihauhau, Rex.  I'm a SAHM who does event planning on the side when the opportunity arises.  When I'm not providing a taxi service to my children, I can be found at the local Panera or Eat'n Park or hiding down in the basement at my desk - working on my next novel.


Twitter: @h_mccoubrey
Facebook: facebook.com/heather.mccoubrey
Goodreads:  goodreads.com/heathermccoubrey
Website/Blog: heathermccoubrey.com

100 Writers Project: Castle in the Swamp

Introducing Tia Kalla!                                                      

So, you remember that scene in Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail regarding the king who was dead set on building a castle in the swamp?  For the zero of you that haven't seen it, BEHOLD VIDEO EVIDENCE.  0:22 - 0:47 is the relevant part:

That castle that keeps sinking into the swamp?  Is my novel.

Close to fifteen years ago, my first novel started with a dream.  A dream involving what would be my main characters as the villains against a cast from a show I happened to be fangirling.  Being an impulsive fanficcer at the time, I began writing what was the longest project I'd ever attempted at the time.  Most of my works were short stories or one-two chapters of unfinished mess.  It was ambitious.  It was complex.  It was... a mess.  It was grammatically correct and sort of made sense, which I suppose makes it mediocre rather than outright horrific, but it was full of cliches, had a very rough writing style, and just didn't lead to a sensible plot (because even I didn't know where it was going.) Nonetheless, I made it to eight chapters, plus 20,000 words of prequel involving my own characters, which was the longest thing I'd ever written.  And then, when I graduated high school and went to college, I stopped writing.

My novel sank into the swamp.

It wasn't until five years later that I heard about this little thing called the National Novel Writing Month, And decided to give it a try.  At that point, the characters that I had almost forgotten about made their presence known in the back of our mind.  "Forget those fanfic characters," they whispered.  "We're the real main characters.  You want to write about us."  What?  These old characters from my fanfic days now wanted me to write that fanfic with them as the stars?  And yet... that story kept gnawing at the back of my mind, taking the basis of that original plot and making it not suck.  This was no longer a fanfic, but an original story in its own right.  This time, I managed 50,000 words inside of a month, failed to make it to the actual central plot, and fell over from exhaustion.

That novel also sank into the swamp.

This time, though, it wasn't forgotten.  I spent the next three years writing other novels, most of which were shoved into a drawer afterwards, a few of which were earmarked for further drafts.  I learned how to structure a novel and how to finish one.  I learned better prose, better formatting, and better characters.  I learned how to sit down and actually write, and write in volume.  And three years later, I felt ready to try again.  This time, the plot fell into place, the subplots fell into place, the side characters all shone... and the narrator character turned out to be completely worthless.

That novel caught on fire, fell over, and sank into the swamp.

But this time, I was okay with that.  This novel, I knew, had fully sunk its claws into me, and during the drafting my thoughts had shifted from "I can't quit you, novel" to "Never give up, never surrender!"  There were characters here.  There was story here.  There was a whole world that continued to be worked on and developed even when I wasn't writing the story.  There were sequel plotlines that began nibbling on the back burners, waiting their turn.  I couldn't quit here.  This time, I was close.

So five years after draft three, I tried again.  I took the nuggets of amazing from the last draft and worked them in, cleared up my POVs, and made the subplots even tighter than ever before.  I cut out close to 30k of...well, something from the previous draft.  I had a narrator who meant something to the story.  I am still having problems with the beginning, but I'm not worried, because everything else in the story has been overcome, and I now know how to tackle these problems.  Once the lead-in has been hacked out, this story will be ready to make the next step into the great unknown of editing and eventual publishing.

The fourth one stayed up.  And that's what you'll get, lad.

Tia (if that's her REAL name) is a thirty-something office slave living on the far outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia.  She lives with a cat, a roommate, and a heck of a lot of plants.  Primarily a fantasy writer, she claims to be enrolled in the remedial "million words is practice" course and has her fingers in far too many novels. She is short, may or may not be a ninja, and is most assuredly evil.

Follow her on Twitter or check out her blog In This Topic

100 Writers Project EXTRA: My first book (without pictures)

Because we want the 100 Writers Project to be inclusive, we've decided to include occasional "extras." At it's core, the 100 Writers Project is about first-time novelists, but some writers are already on their second or  third books. Some writers are published. And we want everyone to feel included and welcome in the 100 Writers community. In that spirit, we'd like to introduce Ken Magee!

I began writing seriously when I was in my late teens. That’s when I started a story called Dark Tidings, but then there was a long gap while I got a job and earned a living. All through that period, I got a recurring niggle which told me that someday I’d have to finish the book, partly just to prove to myself that I could do it.

In 2010, I decided that the time had come to get the book that was in me out. I tried to write every day, but that proved to be too difficult a discipline for me to follow. I’ve always been a bit of a lazy sort of guy, unless I’m under pressure e.g. if I have a deadline to meet. That meant that the best way to get the book finished was to pile on some pressure.

I think I also wanted some validation… was the story any good, was my writing style and ability up to scratch? I decided that I’d start looking for an agent or publisher, and if someone was interested then I’d have no choice other than to complete Dark Tidings.

I researched who’s who in my genre very carefully, Dark Tidings is a funny fantasy which lives under the tagline ‘ancient magic meets the Internet’. I knew there was no point in sending my fantasy to someone who only published romance or children’s books. Also, it was important to check that they were currently taking submissions and the only way to do that was by visiting their websites. They gave the very latest information, unlike listings in books, which get out of date very quickly. The websites also set out exactly what was required in the submission e.g. format, length, hard copy/email. Most of them seemed to want the first three chapters plus a synopsis of the whole story.

I compiled a list of potential agents and publishers. Then I set about editing, refining and polishing the first three chapters. In parallel, I wrote the story synopsis (which forced me to think through the complete story in more detail than I had previously). When I was happy with my work, I started submitting it to my list.

Then I waited, and waited. I used the time to further refine the three chapters and the synopsis. I’d decided not to have more than four submissions out at any one time, so when a rejection arrived, I sent out another enquiry. After seven standard rejection letters, I struck lucky with a small English publisher, Ragged Publishing.

They asked to see the completed manuscript. They wanted at least 90,000 words, but I’d only planned to do 50,000 so the pressure was really on.

As I said, I thrive under pressure and I found that, with someone pushing for the finished work, I was able to write all day, every day. The first draft was soon finished and I immediately passed it on to a professional proofreader/editor. I also worked on it in parallel searching out errors and improving the storyline. Between us, we got the job done and shipped the manuscript off to Ragged Cover... and they accepted it!

There was plenty more to do… design a cover, write the blurb, agree the contract etc., but that’s another story. Dark Tidings is now published and available in paperback, on the Kindle, Nook and Kobo. Here’s the Amazon link in case you’d like to check it out.

My name is Ken Magee and I’m an author. I live in Bangor, County Down. I worked for many years in the computer industry in a wide variety of roles including programming and sales. In the middle of it all, I served in the Royal Naval Reserve for five years... which was hard work, but fun. In 2010, I decided it was time to finish the book I’d started many years earlier (writing not reading). I would have finished it sooner, but life got in the way. The book’s now finished and published, but I don’t think any of the original story survived the process!

Follow him on Twitter

100 Writers: Inspired by Revision

Introducing Alexis Lantgen

One of the things that you discover when you're writing your first novel is that the internet is full of advice. Write quickly, they say. Self-Publish! No, find an agent! Be yourself! But write something marketable! Books are dead! All your stories should contain at least one vampire! Don't write about vampires unless you want to make an agent gag!

There are tons of lists everywhere you look on twitter and blogs. Top ten mistakes most authors make. Top ten things you should do to promote your work. Top ten reasons why your book isn't selling. Ten top ways to get a billion twitter followers. Blah.

This advice starts to get tedious, especially when you realize that it's all A) completely contradictory B) not your style and C) boring. I suspect that anyone who has a fascinating story buried inside them somewhere can't stand reading these goddamn lists after a while, much less writing one. So despite the mountain of advice out there for new writers, actually getting your book on paper for the first time feels like forging an entirely new path.

This probably shouldn't surprise anyone who knows about what actual writers are like. Ernest Hemingway probably never wrote anything until he'd had at least three glasses of scotch, while Jane Austin wrote on her dining room table. Douglas Adams wrote while listening obsessively to music like the Beatles. In other words, no one does it the same way, and what works for one writer may not for another (although I'd be curious to see what Jane Austin would write after three glasses of scotch). Maybe you write best early in the morning, and maybe there are no workable thoughts in your mind before noon. Maybe you work differently on some days then you do on others. Whatever feels like the right way to work, that is the right way to work.

So writing my first novel has ultimately been about discovering how I work best. Some of my discoveries so far? I can't NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I tried, I really did, but I...must...revise. I can't just write and write without fixing things. In fact, I get hopelessly stuck when I try it. On the other hand, revising my previous chapters inspires me to write more. Why? It helps me to remember some of the fine details I've included in my story thus far, and I can rewrite characters or scenes to give my later chapters more impact. Most important, it helps me keep my entire story in mind, so that every scene feels like a part of the whole. I understand that for some people, NaNo helps them get out their first draft, but it doesn't suit everyone, so don't feel bad if you're a NaNo dropout like me. It doesn't mean you can't still finish your novel.

So revision helps me find my inspiration. If that works for you, great. If not, try something else. No matter what anyone on the internet or elsewhere tells you, it only takes one thing to become a writer, and that's actually writing things. Find your story, and you find your core. That’s what’s worked for me--I love my story. I want to finish it, whether it’s published or not, or critically praised or not, or even if no one reads it but me. If you’re not in love with the story you’re writing, then write something else and keep writing until you find a story you love. Because chances are, if you love it, someone else will too.

Alexis Lantgen
Alexis Lantgen is a musician and writer who holds a master’s degree in music performance from Florida International University, as well as a Bachelor of Music in viola performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Letters (Magna cum Laude) from the University of Oklahoma. She performs on violin and viola in orchestras including the Wichita Falls Symphony and the San Angelo Symphony. She currently teaches private violin and viola lessons, and in the past taught eighth grade English and ESL in Dallas public schools. Her first novel is a YA Urban Fantasy about a young African American boy with special powers who must save his sister from an evil voodoo sorcerer and his demonic feathered serpent. She hopes to finish editing and revising her manuscript by this summer.

For more from Alexis, you can follow her blog or catch her on Twitter

If you are interested in participating in the 100 Writers Project, comment below or contact Grace Wagner on her Facebook page or Twitter.

100 Writers Project

My last blog entry sparked an idea. The "100 Writers" Project. A project centered on documenting the experiences of first-time novelists. Writing can be such an isolating activity that it's terribly easy to forget that you are not alone. Every author started somewhere and they probably started with just as much doubt and uncertainty as you and I.

So here's the idea. I'm going to have a series of guest bloggers, all first-time novelists, talk about their experiences writing their first book. I plan on having at least one entry per week and anyone who is interested in participating can contact me here on my blog, Facebook, or on Twitter.

We want everyone who is interested to participate! If you are not comfortable talking about your experiences publicly, we can make it anonymous. All writers are welcome. The only requirement is that you have either completed your first draft of your book or are close to completion.

This project is all about creating a safe space to examine our fears, struggles, and doubts as we work hard to reach that ultimate goal: becoming a published author. It's about support and encouragement and realizing that while we may write at home in front of our computers, we are not alone. It's about community.

If you have any questions or are interested in participating please comment below.


Art by myself.