Justine Manzano I have had a very crazy month, and now that we have reached the end of it, I would love to catch you up on some of the things I have either been participating in, doing, reading or learning in the month of April. While my March around the Web post last month was more random wanderings than anything else, this month’s is much more about what I, personally, have been up to. Enjoy!
- As of today’s word count, I have completed Camp NaNoWriMo, with 55,997 words, which is just insane. This month was different than my first adventure with NaNo as there was also the battle of the illnesses going on at my house, family and friends in the hospital (all of whom are doing well and recovering, by the way) and life just getting in the way at every turn. But I did it! I won NaNoWriMo! Again! I’m contemplating whether or not I will participate in the next camp in July. I’m not sure if I can handle doing it again so soon especially with my wedding anniversary falling in that month and my son Logan’s birthday on August 1st. We will see.
- Also contributing to this month’s “How the hell am I going to WriMo?” question has been the fact that I have a cool new side gig! I’m working as a reader for Sucker Literary as they go through entries for the 3rd issue of their Young Adult Literary Magazine and I have been having a great time doing it. If you want to learn more about Sucker Literary, you can either visit their page on WordPress (linked above), like their Facebook page, follow their Tumblr blog, follow @SuckerLitMag on twitter, or, you know, do them all!
- By the way, if you have a twitter and want to check out my account, which includes quotes from my works in progress, writing information, fangirl things and everyday life stuff, you can follow my twitter account @justine_manzano.
- As an unabashed feminist, this article brought up a bit of an odd feeling within me. Can somebody learn to write in another gender by following these rules? What do you think? I feel like the idea that “Women tend to sympathize and share experiences rather than give advice,” seems like a ridiculous generalization to me, and statements like those abound in this Writer’s Digest article.
- In this vein, check out my mini-rant entitled “On Daycare and Gender Roles” that can be found on the blog where I post the non-writing related stuff that I participate in (such as fandom things or political and social observations) on Tumblr.
- Do you know how to write a synopsis of your novel for submission to agents and publishers? This article at Writer Unboxed has some great tips that got me excited to start working on mine.
- Ever read through a literary magazine and start to snore? J. Robert Lennon thinks he knows why.
And finally,
- Every day, the flow of a story dies due to word repetition. Writer’s Digest tells you how you can help, here.
I hope you enjoyed my mixture of news and cool things from around the web. I’ll be back in two weeks to discuss why it’s not so bad to be a little jealous of the success of others. Until then, keep writing, keep reading and keep being!