Osiyo~

It is my distinct pleasure to have my TWRP sister and friend, LaVerne Clark on the ranch today. It has come and gone without my participation once again. Not so for LaVerne! She took on NaNoWriMo for the first time this last November and came to share her experience.

Welcome, LaVerne! Why don’t you start by telling why you’re here?

My name is LaVerne and I’m no longer a NaNoWriMo virgin. Whoo, boy! Does that ever feel good!

Each year, November came and went without my participation or even the possibility I’d sign up. You see, here is the ugly truth…I’m a lazy writer and the Queen of procrastination. I loved the idea of writing furiously for a month with other like-minded madmen and women, but there were always reasons why I couldn’t. My three-year old needed mummy’s attention; I was helping with school excursions for my son; the dog needed a walk or my house needed tidying – oh – and I needed my sleep. All very valid excuses, but that’s what they were. Excuses.

One day, a couple of online writer buddies of mine mentioned they were going to do the upcoming NaNoWriMo and would I like to do it with them? Out came the excuses – and I had a new good one too. My second book had been accepted and I was expecting edits sometime during the month of November. Why start something I may not be able to finish? And then it hit me. I was being negative! I’ve always prided myself on being a positive person, and the reality I wasn’t when it came to one of my greatest loves gave me a start. So without thinking too much more on, I found myself signing up. Gulp! Now there was no going back, at least in my mind. Have I mentioned I hate to leave anything unfinished?

Well – it was the best thing I could have done at that stage of my writing career. I wrote religiously every day and night and finished with just over the 50K requisite. What a buzz! And I was so thrilled to celebrate with those special writing buddies who’d succeeded too. One had even powered through to over 100K! We’d done it!

So, did I write the next bestseller during the month of November? Uh, no. Definitely not. But that was not the point of the exercise for me. Instead, it taught me a great deal about what I was capable of and reminded me of my love for the written word. Even though the pressure was on – I had so much fun! Maybe one day I’ll revisit my novel and rework it, or maybe not. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is I proved to myself I can make time for myself each day to write and to make realistic goals. Now I know what I can achieve, suddenly the idea of writing three books a year is more than doable. How exciting is that? Bring it on!

How about you? Are you a NaNoWriMo virgin? What’s holding you back? Or are you an old pro and what was the experience like for you?

I’ll be giving away an e-book of my first book, Guardian of the Jewel (a romantic suspense) to a lucky commenter.:) Good luck!

Woot! A give away! Where can readers find you?

Blog:  Novel Natterings

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorLaVerneClark

That is a great cover, too. Thanks for visiting LaVerne!

Come back next Tuesday, Feb 7th when I’ll have Soulmate Publisher author and my critique partner, Donna Shields, back to share her latest release!

Dodadagohvi~