It’s hard to believe we began last week with the midpoint of the month and we’ll close this week with the month’s end. This whole month flew by for me, but I ended up hitting my15K new words goal this past weekend! Since I’m on a roll, I’m going for 6K more this week so I can finish up the month with a nice, even 50K total. How are you all doing on your goals?
No mater how you did, I hope you’re still trying. It’s so motivating for me to see your shining faces here each week. We’ve been discussing what inspires us to work on our WIPs this month, and this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about one more great source of inspiration: you all, my #wipmadness writing buddies.
I can’t tell you how much it means to me to share the joys and challenges of the writing life with you all. I’ve read many of your wonderful manuscripts, cheered for you when you got agents (OK, sometimes screamed for you when you got agents!), and gave or gotten virtual hugs at the bumps on the road. Writing may be very solitary, but I definitely need this support network to motivate me as much as I need my WIP to inspire me on its own. So a huge thank-you to all of you!
And on that note, this week’s prize goes to:
Angelina!
Congratulations! Just let me know which book you want: Circle 9 or The Breakup Bible.
Hope you continue to find all kinds of wonderful inspiration–and writing friends–all around you. And best of luck racing to the finish line this last week of September!
Well, thank you! Circle 9 looks quite interesting. I think I’m happy that this month is almost over. I think my goal was to keep my sanity this month and try to move forward with my writing. I think I’ve done that. Maybe. I’m back on the query trail and I’m excited about my new smart alec MG identity and website: http://www.acehansenmg.com
Now I must get to work on some serious writing goals. I have two YA novels to revise and two shiny new ideas to think about drafting sometime.
Thanks for all your encouragement and support this month. Having my #wipmadness peeps to count on through this move makes everything seem more stable.
One question: Remember that Twitter day when we figured out who was hosting all the way until March? Does anyone remember who took which months? I don’t. And unfortunately I didn’t write it down. All I remember was that I’m taking January. Can y’all chime in? Otherwise I’ll see if I can track that down in my Twitter feed.
Have a great week, Wipsters!
Yes, please speak up, whoever nabbed October! I can’t remember, either. So glad we have many months of #wipmadness ahead–it sure sounds like you have enough to keep you going for at least that long, Angelina!
Yes, I definitely need some WIPMadness motivation in Oct – I can’t remember who is hosting
Yay, Angelina!
And big hugs to you, Kip. Thanks for hosting this month. Last week was a little all over the place, but I managed to work through chapter 17 and am started on 18. Just a few more to go!
Now, thanks to Ghost Hunk’s impeccable powers of concentration, I have to get an estimate on getting my car repainted where he side-swiped me coming out of the garage… ((sigh))
Yes, I really need that retreat at the end of October!
BTW…I’m hosting in February 🙂
Good luck on the revisions!! And here, have a forcefield to protect your car. *hands over forcefield*
*flicks forcefield and listens to the happy metallic “ping”* Thanks!
I”m November. I think Deb Marshall was October maybe?
Y’all keep your fingers crossed for me today. I have a very interesting phone call.
As for the WIP, I’m just shy of 35k. Hard writing this one, but slow and steady gets to the end.
And I’m off to sCBWI Carolinas this weekend – hooray! Friday off from work, too.
Ooooh! We need some excitement here. Hoping for the best!
Oooooh, JRo!! I have everything crossed!!!!
Fingers crossed!
OOOOOOHHH! I can’t wait to hear! 😀
Fingers crossed, Jaye! Hope it’s good news.
Well the phone call went great. Now it’s just up to the vagaries of this crazy world called publishing. Keep those fingers crossed.
JRo!!!! That’s so exciting! Fingers are totally crossed for you. I can cross my eyes for you, too, it that might help. So hoping for some great news from you! 😀
My new-WIP goal is falling a little short this month. I was aiming for 20k, but I’m stalled around 12.5. But I’ve been working on revisions for my other MS, so it’s more of a not-enough-hours issue. I *should* be done with revisions in the next two weeks, so I will be able to write, write, write!
Awesome! Sounds like you’re doing great switching off between mss. I find that much harder than plugging on with one, but sometimes it must be done. Good luck finishing up those revisions!
I’m writing. It’s not always a lot, and it’s not always consistent, but I am writing. Forward progress each week. I like checking in and feeling like a community of writers and not just, like you said Kip, solitary. Today is another writing day. Off I go. Happy writing week everyone!
Hope you keep it up, Monica! I can’t wait to read this new one!
Fell down on writing this week because of the falling-down-the-stairs w/laptop catastrophe, but I have a new computer now, all of my old information in the laptop is safe (I just shattered the screen) and a ton of new ideas to start afresh. I hope to make this week a great one.
Thanks for hosting this month Kip!
Aaaah, nothing like a new laptop to start fresh with. I hope this week is great for you, too!
Thanks so much for hosting this month, Kip!
I feel like I’m in a whirlwind of activity….writing one book, outlining another, two books out on submission, and one releasing on Monday!
Speaking of which…if any of you want to promote WRITING WITH A HEAVY HEART to any of your writer friends, I’d be happy to give you bookmarks and a free e-copy for yourself for helping. Just email me at d@denisejaden.com if you’re interested.
Now if only I could kick this nagging cold…
I definitely find it harder to work on multiple things, so congrats on staying above water while in the whirlwind!
Wow, you’ve sure got a lot of irons in the fire right now! Exciting times! 😀
I hope you’re feeling better soon.
Thanks for hosting us this month, Kip. The on-going cyber support of this #wipmadness crew is wonderful. So, thanks to everybody else, too! I haven’t been around very much to comment this month, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working. I’ve accomplished much of my month’s goals except for moving forward on my new w.i.p. With the Surrey Conference on the horizon now, I’ve shifted into revise & polish mode on a previous ms and its synopsis.
Keeping fingers crossed for Jaye, and am about to e-mail Denise. All’s good. 🙂
Oooh, you do sound like you’ve been busy! So glad to have you here and in the twittersphere. Have a great conference!
I confirmed my suspicions: I need a better-than-bare-bones outline for the new WIP. So I’ve been writing that, and the story is coalescing properly. I still need to address my beta-reader feedback, but I’m giving the story a bit of breathing room, and waiting for a few more responses before I go back there.
Work has been insanely busy, but I’m making a point of at least having my lunch break for writing time. And tonight is another write-in, yay!
Every little bit of reserved time helps!
I am a total convert to outlining, and now that I’m drafting, I realize how much easier it’s made it for me. Hope yours comes together just right! And have fun at the write-in!
Happy #wipmadness Monday to you! Had lunch with a group of fabulous writing friends. Man oh man, that certainly fills the writer well. This week is all about finishing a non-fiction book on Russia. It is my first work-for-hire project and am quite excited to get it done! And that is it. Will put all energy and focus into that. Have a great week!
Congrats on the WFH project! I did a few of those this summer, and it was a ton of fun. Good vibes to you on finishing it!
Kip, I’m so with you on how awesome the writing community is. I love the #wipmadness crew and all my other online writing friends…don’t know what I’d do without you all! Support is so important.
I’ve had some fairly profitable “time off” — thinking, reflecting, renewing. And now I’m very happy to say I’m back at the #wipmadness with a project that’s been mulling for a long while.
I am SO HAPPY for you that you enjoyed your time off AND that you’re back at it! I also like to let projects stew for a while. Helps them get nice and juicy. 🙂
I might be able to host October as the next few months I’ll be busy with the Cybils and also my own book release.
The good news of this month had to be receiving not one but two emails from librarians asking for me to do either a Skype visit or a workshop on writing for teens. Very cool. This has motivated me to get back in the chair and write.
I’m like Shari, and trying to reflect and learn more on the craft. One huge thing I’ve learned this year is to not rush. I just got a review on my first book that said, “Had the potential to be a great book but needed to be developed more.” A year ago a review like that would have crushed me. Now? I appreciated the positive criticism and had to agree. I should have waited and not been in such a hurry. Lesson learned.
Congrats on your good news, Kim! It probably sounds naive to pubbed authors, but I really look forward to the idea of school visits and workshops and the like. Good for you!
I’m getting more and more relieved that my ms I queried last year never got picked up for that same reason you mention. Well that, and the other 3 manuscripts in the drawer. 😉
Enjoy this last week. I think Deb did say she’s up for October, but stay tuned on twitter for the official announcement!
Hi All! Congrats Angelina! I’m so inspired by you all doing so well! I was able to write about 3.5K last week which puts me at almost 11K for the month so far! I’m hoping this week will add a lot more. You all seem a lot further in your writing carreer than I am – this is only my very first almost finished wip! I am so excited to see the end in sight for my first draft! It’s currently sitting at just under 130K and I’m pretty sure it’ll be done by/before 150K! (I am often jealous of outline writers, but I just have to go with the way my brain works…) My goal this week is to get as far as possible to the end, so that I can finish as soon as possible in October (So I can make some quick major edits before the end of the month). We have a wedding in mid-oct that will mess with things, and I want to be finished so I can write a new one for NaNoWriMo and give this one a break before I go back to it for rewrites. 🙂
I didn’t outline for my first 4 manuscripts, but that’s not to say that it’s the reason they didn’t work. Lots of successful authors don’t outline! And the path is definitely different for everyone, so you could beat us all to publication even though it’s your first try. The important thing is to keep at it as long as you still love it! So great having you along this month and getting to know you. 🙂
Kip, you did an awesome job hosting this month. Thank you!! And Muchas Gracias to the whole #wipmadness writing crew. You guys always have the pompoms ready, not to mention the encouragement to keep going on a bad day.
Kip, your progress is astounding and quite inspiring. I’m still researching, but I’m loving every minute of it. The story is getting more multifaceted and three-diminsional, and that makes me a happy writer girl. Now that I’ve been laid off from the day job, I’m doing volunteer work two days/week and writing the rest. I feel like this is my chance…