Nick Helmholdt

I have heard about this and it has always caught my attention. This November is National Novel Writing Month (abbreviated NaNoWriMo) The “What is” page showed me how this is an exercise in developing my voice as an author, it gives me permission to make mistakes, to “build without tearing down.”

I added a new goal called “Finish NaNoWriMo” – this means that I am going to write a 50,000 word piece of fiction over 30 days (including Thanksgiving!). You can follow my progress at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/532428

but I am going to find a way to do this in 2009. I just set up my account, and I started a google doc to keep track of my ideas as they progress. Here’s my account:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/532428

This should be interesting!

Over the last week, I’ve taken time to write down what I consider my “daily inspiration” – the one thing that has spurred my creative spirit that day more than anything else. Tying these two goals together has really been beneficial. Recording inspiration is a natural way to start a journal entry without recounting the entire day’s events.

Last night I uploaded a four paragraph “note.” It is the second time that I’ve put any significant amount of personal material on facebook. I am becoming more and more comfortable sharing my ideas and writing. I am going to aim to upload a new note every week on Sunday or Monday.

I also just learned that my library has a copy of Writers Market 2010 – which apparently is the industry standard for freelance writers. I have a few ideas of publications that might be interested in carrying something I’ve written -hopefully this book can help me connect the dots and start selling my work.