NaNoWriMo Report Card

To keep with the NaNoWriMo theme, here is a simple spreadsheet for those of you that want a handy way to track your NaNoWriMo progress.

All you do is fill in the blanks of any yellow shaded areas and then the sheet will track your daily and monthly achievements for you!  Click the photo for a larger image.  You can download a copy of the NaNoWriMo Report Card here.

Don't forget to grab you're copy of Scrivener just in time for NaNoWriMo.  Use the Scrivener Coupon Code to get 20% off today and get those creative juices flowing.

You'll be able to track

• Daily word count
• Monthly word count
• Number of scenes written
• Number of writing sessions per day
• Words per hour
• Words left until goal
• Average words per day
• Tomorrow's goal
• And much more!

I hope you can make use of it.  Feel free to change and alter as you wish.  Only one month to go.  Have fun and keep writing.



Be sure to check out Scrivener to make your life easier during NaNoWriMo Scrivener Coupon Code

Fantasy or Science Fiction?

Looking for some fantasy or science fiction?  Here is a flow chart from SF Signal with the top 100 NPR Fantasy and Science Fiction Books.   If you’re new to genre, then now is the time to get familiar with it.  Last month, NPR polled readers to determine the top 100 sci-fi and fantasy books of all time. The creative minds at SF Signal have transformed the NPR list into a nifty flowchart that will help you choose the right novel for you. You can see a much larger version of the graphic if you click the photo. Where do you end up?  I got Michael Moorcock's, The Elric Saga. Have fun!

NaNoWriMo 2011 Wallpapers

Here is another great NaNoWriMo 2011 wallpaper for your computer.  I will continue to add more as I find them, so check back often.  This design is also by Julia Woodrow.  The original can be found here. Enjoy!

Crossroads by Laura Anne Gilman

I love when I find a great story by accident.  While mindlessly tramping around some sites today I found a short story by Laura Anne Gilman.  Gilman is an established author, with titles such as Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War and Weight of Stone: Book Two of the Vineart War. The story I found, Crossroads, seamlessly intertwines the western and fantasy genres, reminiscent or Stephen King's Dark Tower series.  I actually downloaded the podcast version so I could listen to it on my trip to Florida this December. It's a quick read at 2448 words, it's free, and it's a great story. What more do you want!  Now you have something constructive to do for your next writing break.






Updated October 4th
For those of you not familiar with Gilman here is a nice interview with her that I just found.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Wallpapers

With NaNoWriMo 2011 fast approaching, I began looking for appropriate wallpapers for my computer.  So far my short search only produced one, but I am sure more will appear as we get closer.  I will try to link them here as I find them.  Enjoy!

Credit for this one goes to Julia Woodrow.  You can pick it up here.


Some of the word totals are transposed in this one, working on getting Julia to fix them.

Google+ cheat sheet

Google+ seems to be gaining a foothold in the ever changing game of social media.  The clean and tidy stream page is a needed contrast to facebook's ever growing clutter.  Add this to the many uses of huddles and hangouts, places you can set up to chat (video, voice, or text...or any combination of the three) and you have a dream site.  Writers should have no problems finding many uses for all these new toys.  I can already see the great fun of writing groups for this November and Nanowrimo.

Ebooks and Self-Publishing - A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath

This is a live Google docs discussion. It examines the history and mechanics of the publishing industry as it exists today, analyzes the way the digital revolution reflects recent events in Egypt and the Maghreb, and considers a completely inappropriate YouTube video featuring a randy monkey and an unlucky frog. It clocks in at 13,000 words, and reveals some pretty startling things.

We encourage everyone reading the conversation to comment, and to tweet and otherwise link to it. You also have our permission to copy all or any part of it, provided you link back.

If you'd prefer to read this on your ereader, you can download various versions for free here. This zip file (you need WinZip to open it; a free trial is here) contains doc, pdf, epub, and mobi formats, so it can be uploaded to Kindles, Nooks, Sony Readers, Kobos, and pretty much any other device.

You can also go to Smashwords and get various formats for free, or to Amazon or B&N to get those formats for 99 cents (they wouldn't allow us to post for free.) It's also posted in full on Barry's blog.

Our goal is to get this information out there, because it benefits authors and could theoretically make legacy publishers smarter. Please help us spread the word. Thanks.

Joe: To the casual observer, you appear to be heavily invested in the legacy publishing system. They’ve been good to you, they helped you get onto the NYT bestseller list, made you wealthy with several large deals, and seem to have treated you fairly.