Monday, December 3, 2012

NaNoTGIO and Ali Cross

Whew, November FLEW by. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was writing about starting NaNoWriMo. Now, here it is, 3 days into December and NaNo is over.

What was my first NaNoWriMo like? CRAZY. I didn't really have a lot of expectations for NaNo. I wanted to win, hoped I would win, but I wasn't expecting anything other than getting my motivation back.

So, did I get my motivation back? Yes and no. Yes because I want to write now. My NaNo WIP will be put aside for now and I'm going back to the WIP I was working on before I lost my motivation. But no because I'm still behind on things. I'm not caught up on critting and not sure when I will be. I need to read, need to write, need to catch up.

But am I happy I did NaNo? YES! And I'm planning to do it again next year. It was good for me and that is all that matters. I needed something to get me in gear and NaNo did it.

Let's get to the real question on everyone's mind. The one that matters most. Well, maybe not *most*, but the one that is up there...Did I win? Did I end the month of November with 50k words written or not? Well...YES! I did it. I barely made it, validated my word count at 11:59pm on Friday, November 30th. BUT, I MADE IT!

My NaNo novel isn't that great. It's going to take some major editing, especially on the last half, but it's done. I wanted to win, wanted to get it done, to reach the 50k goal, and get my motivation back. I did that, so I'm a winner. :)

I have more news I wanted to talk about today...I'm subscribed to Ali Cross' newsletter and I just got something in the email this past weekend that is very exciting. :) Coming in this month is the third installment in her Desolation series. WOOT! I haven't had a chance to get to the second book, but still very excited that there is a third one coming out soon.

Also, there is now a website for the series. Yay! Check it out: DesolationSeries.com. There's also a Tumblr and Pinterest for the series. Yay, yay, yay. Lol. Yes, I'm excited. This series is one of my favorites and Ali is too. :)

Here's something else, straight from Ali's newsletter :

December 1st-15th, I am participating in an online signing party! This means you can buy my paperback books at discounted prices, and pre-order your signed copy of Destined (Desolation #3). Just visit my blog and order using the Paypal button on the right sidebar. 

Desolation number three will be released on December 12th. So, check it out. If you haven't read Ali's books, go get them. And if you're not following Ali or didn't even know about her...Go to her blog now. It's great, the series is great, and Ali is greater than great...She's AWESOME!!

That's all for today. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday. :)

 





5 comments:

Caterina said...

Congrats on reaching your goal!!!

SC Author said...

WOOOOO! Congrats on winning! And you are the Queen of Crits; I'm sure your crit partners will understand if you take a break :) Don't stress yourself out.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations on beating NaNo!
And Ali is awesome.

DL Hammons said...

I find that for a lot of writers NaNo is more about momentum than the outcome! :)

Ali Cross said...

Ah, KELA!! Thank you for this super sweet shoutout, especially following the awesome news of your NaNo win!

Darn Google Alerts for only JUST NOW (a week later) that you mentioned my name, lol. But I'm glad it did (better late than never, right?) because this totally made my week.

Super nervous for this week and the release of Destined ~ I hope people love it! I really loved writing it!

I am so happy for you and your NaNo success! I agree with DL that NaNo is super for a kick in the pants. I LOVE the camaraderie that we experience while doing it just that DRIVE to FINISH. Yay for you!

You are a writer who can do hard things - like write 50k in a month with a busy life and busy kids and and and! YOU ROCK!!

And thanks again for your sweet words! ((HUGS!))