Midlist Writer: All I want for NaNo is to pick up the pace!

Friday, 1 November 2013

All I want for NaNo is to pick up the pace!

Today is the first day of National Novel Writing Month, and I'm hard at work on my post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope.

It's also the day for the All I Want for NaNo bloghop! I and a bunch of other Nano crazies are sharing our NaNo dreams and doing a big shout out for The Spirit of Christmas Anthology. This anthology brings together a bumper crop of writers and NaNo veterans who have shared their Christmas stories for the benefit of the NaNo fund. It's a great organization that's helping out thousands of writers achieve their dreams.

So what's my NaNo dream? Why would a professional writer with more than a dozen books under his belt be doing something like this?

Because I need to pick up the pace. The financial crisis is finally beginning to bite my business. Nonfiction freelance gigs are harder to get than ever, while sales numbers of my fiction are beginning to creep upwards. So I'm going to be focusing much more on fiction from now on. My next Civil War horror novel is with beta readers, I have a post-apocalyptic book planned for NaNo, and more projects after November!

One thing I want NaNo to do is kick me in the pants and up my productivity. There's nothing wrong with being a prolific fiction writer, in fact most of the successful authors are, and I want to be one of them, so NaNo here I come!

UPDATE: I managed 5,314 words on Radio Hope today. I'm totally burnt out but I managed to do a quick copy edit. It looks good but damn there were a lot of typos!

8 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...: 5,000 + words? What an overachiever you are, Sean. They'll kick you out if you hit 50,000 by the end of the first weekend...;); 1 November 2013 at 15:37
Alex J. Cavanaugh said...: 5300 plus words? Whoa...
Go Sean go!; 1 November 2013 at 17:35
David P. King said...: Glad that your fiction is gathering steam! Best of luck reaching your NaNo goals, and thanks for joining our holiday hop! :); 1 November 2013 at 22:07
Trisha said...: Well done on your day's effort! I love NaNo. And I agree that more writing is good! However, since I've written 11 novels already, I really need to kick myself in the pants more in the "editing" direction. :P I will be doing that next year!; 3 November 2013 at 03:21
AOG said...: Hey S,

I admire your high word count from Friday. Mine was only 2500 more or less on the day at Pepe B's.

Plus a bit more yesterday at Café Fig.

When are you back in Madrid?

Tony (yes, that one); 4 November 2013 at 04:18
Sean McLachlan said...: Trisha: 11 novels? Dang, I got some catching up to do!

Tony: I'm passing through for a couple of days at the end of the month before heading to Tangier to work on my next novel (after the NaNo one).; 4 November 2013 at 06:10
Lauren said...: NaNo's good for picking up the pace, if you can find a pace to pick up. :)

My other novels will just have to wait while I play with a new one.; 4 November 2013 at 06:44
Jennie Bennett said...: I totally want to pick up the pace too. What writer doesn't want a myriad of books out there with steady cash rolling in. You'll do great! Thanks for joining the hop :); 4 November 2013 at 11:26

The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

The Last Hotel Room

He came to Tangier to die, but life isn’t done with him yet. Tom Miller has lost his job, his wife, and his dreams. Broke and alone, he ends up in a flophouse in Morocco, ready to end it all. But soon he finds himself tangled in a web of danger and duty as he’s pulled into scamming tourists for a crooked cop while trying to help a Syrian refugee boy survive life on the streets. Can a lifelong loser do something good for a change? A portion of my royalties will go to a charity for Syrian refugees.

Warpath into Sonora

Arizona 1846: Nantan, a young Apache warrior, is building a name for himself by leading raids against Mexican ranches to impress his war chief, and the chief’s lovely daughter. But there is one thing he and all other Apaches fear—a ruthless band of Mexican scalp hunters who slaughter entire villages. Nantan and his friends have sworn to fight back, but they are inexperienced, and led by a war chief driven mad with a thirst for revenge. Can they track their tribe’s worst enemy into unknown territory and defeat them?

Radio Hope

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . . A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son. A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command. One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

When you only have one shot, you better aim true. In a ravaged world, civilization’s last outpost is reeling after fighting off the fanatical warriors of the Righteous Horde. Sheriff Annette Cruz becomes New City’s long arm of vengeance as she sets off across the wildlands to take out the cult’s leader. All she has is a sniper’s rifle with one bullet and a former cultist with his own agenda. Meanwhile, one of the cult’s escaped slaves makes a discovery that could tear New City apart. . . Refugees from the Righteous Horde continues the Toxic World series started in Radio Hope, an ongoing narrative of humanity’s struggle to rebuild the world it ruined.

The Scavenger

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times. The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive. Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.

Trench Raiders

September 1914: The British Expeditionary Force has the Germans on the run, or so they think. After a month of bitter fighting, the British are battered, exhausted, and down to half their strength, yet they’ve helped save Paris and are pushing toward Berlin. Then the retreating Germans decide to make a stand. Holding a steep slope beside the River Aisne, the entrenched Germans mow down the advancing British with machine gun fire. Soon the British dig in too, and it looks like the war might grind down into deadly stalemate. Searching through No-Man’s Land in the darkness, Private Timothy Crawford of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry finds a chink in the German armor. But can this lowly private, who spends as much time in the battalion guardhouse as he does on the parade ground, convince his commanding officer to risk everything for a chance to break through?

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Friday, 1 November 2013

All I want for NaNo is to pick up the pace!

8 comments: