All posts tagged: NaNoWriMo

Life after 50K

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Before I get caught up in the December festivities, let me take this moment to celebrate the month that was. November. To most, it’s that time of the year to play catch-up—with the work and personal goals they haven’t quite achieved yet, with the pre-Christmas-rush shopping, with their friends and family before everyone gets busy with the holidays. To aspiring authors, it means only one thing: NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month, aka the month of uninhibited word vomiting, of ignoring the backspace key, of backing up documents to the point of paranoia, and of shamelessly indulging in excessive amounts of coffee, chocolate, and junk food (that is, unless you’ve got GERD like I do). This was my third time to join NaNo, my third time to win it, and my third time to not finish my novel in thirty days. The first time, I came in without a plot, simply armed with an idea that I thought was totally brilliant. I wrote the required 1,667 words a day when I could and made up for what I …

An interview with author Marie Lu

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If you’re a fan of dystopian YA books, chances are you’re familiar with Marie Lu, the writer behind the best-selling Legend trilogy, which has been picked up for adaptation by CBS Films. Last October, she debuted her new fantasy series The Young Elites with a book of the same title. This story follows Adelina Amouteru, a girl who emerged from the blood fever with strange markings and a dark, mysterious power. She falls in with the Young Elites, a society of other teens with magical capabilities, who are hunted by the Inquisition Axis. As her control over her powers grows, so does the call of the darkness within her. I’ve already passed the halfway mark of this book, and I can say that it’s a dark, compelling read that’s mostly narrated by an unexpected main character—a budding villain. Last week, National Book Store delighted readers by bringing Marie to Cebu and Manila for a signing tour. I was supposed to interview her for a website that I’m writing for, but since there was a last-minute scheduling conflict, I thought of doing it for my blog instead. Thankfully, the lovely folks at NBS accommodated me. This opportunity came …

Things I learned from 8 best-selling YA authors

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In honor of it being midway through NaNoWriMo, I thought it was the perfect time to write about one of my favorite parts of my freelancing gig—interviewing published authors. It’s been a long-time dream of mine to publish my own novel, and nothing inspires me quite like talking to people who have done it, and done it well. More than celebrities, it’s authors who bring out the fangirl in me. It’s always such a pleasure to meet them and realize that they aren’t just extremely smart and well-spoken, they’re also down-to-earth and, well, awesome. Like I said, total fangirl. Thanks to National Book Store and Hitlist.ph, I’ve been able to meet several authors whom I never would’ve dreamed of being in the same room with, let along talking to one-on-one. I’ve picked up some great insights from them, and I thought I’d share them with you all. I hope you find these interesting and useful too, and if you’d like, you can click on the links to each of my articles to check out the full interviews. Enjoy! …

50K or bust!

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Hello, #NaNoWriMo2014! I’ve got my outline, character guides, and setting pegs locked down—I’ve never prepped so much for NaNo before! Hoping they’ll serve me well this month. I’m trying reverse NaNo this time around, ’cause I’m sure things’ll get busier in the next couple of weeks. Now that I’ve publicly committed to my goal, let the typing commence. Caleigh and Jason, I’m ready for you lovelies. Here’s to a month of frenzied writing! Are you in?

Signs and Second Chances

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Because I didn’t want to break my recent blogging streak (and because I haven’t posted any of my fiction stuff in a while), here’s a short story I wrote for my creative writing class two years ago. It’s loosely based on my NaNoWriMo 2012 novel–which I haven’t finished to this day, LOL. This was actually my initial draft, but I preferred it over the final work I submitted. The photo was taken during our stopover in Heidelberg back in 2009. We only stayed for a few hours, but I fell in love with the picturesque German city all the same. *Disclaimer: This is completely a work of fiction. * * * An hour from now, she’d think it had been serendipity that brought her there. But in that exact moment, it was the sign that called to her. Rather, it was the inscription on the sign. Six letters in the old German typeface painstakingly carved into a slab of weathered wood. Kaffee. The sign hung from a simple wrought iron rod protruding from the shop front, as did those of other establishments crowding the …

A late goodbye to NaNoWriMo 2012

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Well, hello again, WordPress — it’s been way too long! I could say that I’ve been absent for nearly a month because of my preoccupation with school and NaNoWriMo, but that excuse wouldn’t fly. The voluntary hiatus was mostly due to my absorption in several newly-discovered series, foremost of which is J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood books. Plus plain laziness, I guess. I’ve got a number of coffee post backlogs; however, before I get into those, let me close a valuable chapter in my life: my first NaNoWriMo experience. The funny thing is that I actually have two or three drafts that I typed out here during the last few weeks of NaNo. I never finished them because I kept having WiFi issues. Anyway, there’s no point in posting them. I’ll just say it now–I won the NaNo on my first try! Last November 28, I bid my laptop good night after validating my 50,697 word count, thereby attaining my purple bar. By the official end of November, I had 55,420 words. None of those …

NaNoWriMo Tales 2: Crossing the Midway Line

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I did it! After four days of sporadic writing followed by two days of marathon writing (the last of which amounted to an as-yet unprecedented total of 6,453 words in one day—YAY!!!), I finally conquered the elusive 25,000 word count—and neglected my blog in the process. A friend of mine told me recently that I should choose between travel writing and fiction writing, and concentrate on just one. I’ve been giving that a lot of thought ever since. True enough, I am having a hard time doing both. I’m not even gainfully employed yet, and already I’m struggling to keep the balance between updating my blog and keeping my novel on track. Because of the extremely tight deadline dictated by the NaNoWriMo gods, though, I’m focusing the majority of my energies on my fiction writing—at least for the duration of this month. It’s been one heck of a challenge so far. I’ve followed my gut and skipped scenes not once, but twice. The second time was brought on by another major bout of writer’s block. …