NaNoWriMo Cheer Squad Try-Outs

Posted by trish on Oct 29, 2012 in Blog | 13 comments

If you would like to vicariously take part in the circus that is National Novel Writing Month, now is your chance.  For the last two years I have relied heavily on friends (both online and In Real Life) to egg me on, to send me chocolate, to tell me to hurry up with the next chapter… writing is a lonely pursuit and frankly I really can’t understand anyone’s reluctance to engage an entire army of well-wishers.  The more the merrier, I reckon.  Definitely the more the more productive’er.  You know what I mean.

If you are new to my blog or just new to this whole concept of reading my novel, chapter at a time, as it emerges, here are a few guidelines:

1.  You need to be qualified.  By “qualified” I mean that you must be a keen reader.  Bonus points if you like Chick Lit.  Constructive criticism is my lifeblood and you’re no good to me if you only read one Ursula Le Guin novel every couple of years.

2. Let’s not kid ourselves here: I’m not after harsh criticism.  I don’t want to hear from you if you think my book really sucks.  The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get 50,000 words onto the page in 30 days.  As a Cancerian, it only takes one bad review or nasty comment from a troll to Ruin My Mojo.  Save the criticism for the end, when I’m editing.  Right now, I’m after Cheer Leaders, not Doomsdayers.

3.  If we have never met in person, I need to know a bit more about you before I give you the password to the novel.  I’m talking about LinkedIn profiles, blogs, facebook pages… anything that allows me to establish your authenticity.  This is a very serious and important criteria.  One day I’ll tell you about that time I got completely sucked in by a compulsive liar.  Good times.

4.  If I’m committing to writing a new chapter every day, you need to commit to reading it, or at the very least reading every few days and commenting back.  Dead Silence also Ruins My Mojo.  Even if you just write “Hi Trish, good work, keep going.”  I’m a comment whore, always have been.

5.  Comments can include suggestions.  I am open to suggestions for characters, plots, sub-plots, twists in the tail… anything.  But if you give me a suggestion and I use it you must relinquish copyright of that idea to me.  If you think you’ve come up with an absolute cracker of an idea, and you think you might like to keep it for yourself, then please do.  Because once you’ve told me, it’s mine, allllll miiiiiiine.  OK?

I think that’s everything.  Chapters will be posted here on my blog, I’ll give you the link and the password so you can access it.  If you were one of my Book One readers then you may want to re-read the last quarter of that book because the ending has changed.  If you are a new reader, I’ll just share the synopsis for now so you know The Story So Far…

Please wave your pom poms madly in the air if you would like to take part.  My gratitude will be eternal and you will get a mention in the Acknowledgements.  Maybe even a character named after you (Hello Karen! Hello Tracey! Hello Sophie! Hello Vanessa!)

Join in!  Have fun!  Help me win NaNo and write a sequel!

Thanks

PS Peanut M&Ms are my favourite.