I Published the First Part of My Book. Go Read It! (If you want to)

So.................... I did something today that I didn't think I would do. And I'm not even sure if it was a good idea.  BUT I did it anyway.  I published the first part of my work in progress on Wattpad.  After I changed the title because I changed some things in the book so the title didn't work anymore.  BUT I'm not sure this title works with it either.  Anyway......... I'm really nervous about it but it's out there now and if you're interested, please go check it out  3 Clues

5 Things I Liked About NaNoWriMo

5 Things I Liked About NaNoWriMo

• Forums - I'm kind of shy, both online and off, so I've never been one to just dive into forums but NaNo's forums are the exception to this rule. You can connect to some really awesome people. gather a wealth of information on all kinds of topics, or play some really silly games while you're procrastinating. You can also find other writers who sympathize with the fact that you characters only want to talk to you about other stories and not the one in which they are the main character. (Normal people usually freak out when you complain about your characters not talking to you.) AND you can find writing buddies to keep you motivated! 

• No Editing - Okay................I totally complained about this rule just about every day. BUT, I think it's a great concept. Writing as much as you can without stopping to edit what you are writing is a great way to get everything out of your head and onto the paper. Not going back and editing later also keeps you from chopping up your word count or from completely deleting your work. I also liked following the "No Editing" rule for (most) of NaNo because it really showed me that I'm a natural editor and I can't NOT edit. I just can't. It drives me crazy and it actually distracts me from my writing because all I can think about it is the fact that I've repeated myself in two different paragraphs and I typed the wrong character name three paragraphs ago. I can't let.it.go. 

• Scrivener - Okay, this isn't technically a NaNo thing but had I not decided to do NaNo and stalked the forums, I probably wouldn't even know about Scrivener and I would be missing out. And if you don't know what Scrivener is, it's possibly the best writing software I have come across yet. You can find it here. 

• An excuse NOT to cook for Thanksgiving - This may not seem like much to most people. Especially those Pinterest Super Moms out in the world but it was like an early birthday present to myself. As soon as I told my wonderful hubs that I wanted to do NaNo this year, he nixed Thanksgiving at our house! (But if I'm being completely honest that's also probably because he married a mediocre cook who tends to get drunk during Thanksgiving dinner). 

• WINNING! - Seriously. And not even just because they made that cool little graphic that I immediately slapped on my blog. Winning NaNo was the best part of NaNo because I finally proved to myself two things: I am a writer. I CAN write a 50,000 word novel. (With the exception of what I actually wrote for NaNo) I am the world's worst procrastinator and I have a stack of manuscripts that are half-written so the fact that I even finished NaNoWriMo with a 50,000 word novel was a feat in itself. And I can't lie. I'm very proud of myself. 

What things did you like about NaNo this year? Better yet, what things did you NOT like about NaNo this year? 

How To Edit Your NaNo Novel

NaNoWriMo is quickly coming to an end which means it will be time to edit your novels soon. (If you haven't begun already.) Since I finished my novel early I decided to start editing early. I thought I would share the best tips that I have learned so far for editing a NaNo novel if you are as disappointed with yours as I am mine. 

Step 1: Set it on fire

Step 2: Walk away like a boss

Step 3: Make sure that you notify Sweet Brown that there's a fire nearby

There you have it! That's all you need to know on how to properly edit your crappy manuscript!