Holly Walrath's Blog, page 30

New Interview: Spider Road Press

I was interviewed by Patty Flaherty Pagan of Spider Road Press about my writing process and flash fiction. Patty is the founder of Spider Road Press, a Houston-based small press publishing writing by and about strong women, and I was delighted to get a chance to chat with her.

Read it here! 

NaNoWriMo Day 7 + 8

It's day 8 of NaNoWriMo and I'm still (mostly) on track. My story is definitely trickier than the previous two (sex, drugs, and mood rings, anyone?), but I think I'll figure it out. Yesterday I hit 1327 words and today 1642 words. A bit short of my goal, but I hope to catch up over the weekend. 

Here's an excerpt of Story #3: 

“You can create nightmares?” I ask, starting to get the point. I step back to the case. The nightmare ring is a slim black band. The ring Jonas pointed out as death is pale white and set with a single pearl. “What are the space and time rings for?” 

NaNoWriMo Day 6

​I had a good word count day today, thanks to some words I had pre-written that I worked into my current story (We're on Story #3 now!) so my count for today is 2284. 

Here's a teaser: 

I kneel over his unconscious form and bring my hand to his face. I place my fingers over his thin skull, the finger with the mood ring on his temple, cradling him like a lover, I slip into the deep basement of his subconscious. 

NaNoWriMo Day 4 + 5

I'm late on updating today as my phone decided to die this weekend and I had to go get it fixed. However I am back up and running!

Yesterday I wrote 1143 words and today 1958. 

I've found that in some cases, it has helped to break my NaNo sessions into two parts when I have the time. My new story is somewhat research-heavy, so this has given me time for reading. 

A short excerpt! 

Amelia set her head against the wood of the car’s open window frame and began to dream. Her body swooped beside the car, her arms held out, her hair a ribbon behind her. Skin tingling, she shot towards the sun. The atmosphere was like the barrier of water in a swimming pool, glass meant to be broken. Amelia’s body shot through it, headed toward the stars, which lived behind the sun. Like great floating marbles, the stars called to her body. If she drew close enough to one, it took her into its molten gold core and like the pit at the center of a peach she curled up and became hard, brittle. 

NaNoWriMo Day 3

For Day 3 of NaNo, I caught most of my words at random parts of the day, which is interesting. I've finished draft of Story #1! (Woohoo!) and have moved on to Story #2. This one's got a lot more historical context, but I will likely be able to return to that later. For right now, I'll just be fleshing out the story. 

A tweeny bit from today's writing: 

Jenny though about how when she was in high school her brother crashed his car on her birthday. She thought about how he once told her, “You’re so lucky.” She tried to think of something good, some memory that was pleasant or at least not so bad. She couldn’t place anything, her mind was a sieve for bones. 

NaNoWriMo Day 2

It's NaNoWriMo Day 2 and I'm already feeling the burn. This morning the hotel we're staying at for World Fantasy Con had a fire alarm test at 6am, so we blearily stumbled out of bed at 8 to find coffee. Thankfully, we found a little french cafe and I was able to get in 1,213 words. Not as much as yesterday, but that's all I'm going to have time for I think. 

Here's a bit of today's writing: 

“It’s all damp now,” Chao said, running his wet fingers over the little house. It was a coffee shop. Once it was down in the lake, all the little ghosts would swarm into it and fill its windows with filtered light, smeary and hot, and they’d stand on the stoop and drink coffee and talk to each other. 

NaNoWriMo Day 1

Welcome to NaNoWriMo! I hope that you've kicked off your first day right. I'll be updating my blog with my word count each day to keep myself motivated and so you can follow along if you want. I'm writing 10 short stories in 30 days. 

Day 1 is a story about a city of ghosts sunk in a lake. 

Here's an excerpt from today's writing:     In the water, a city began to wake. Lights blinked on, murky in the silt. Little people went out onto balconies to smoke. Cars began to move on the sunken roads, their headlights pinpricks wavering through the city. A Ferris wheel came alive and began to turn, reeds clinging to its carts. Bubbles rose from bakeries and cafes getting ready to roll up their shutters for the day ahead. 

     I wish I were down there, Jenny thought. 

My NaNoWriMo Plan

I'll be writing 10 short stories (hopefully) in the month of NaNoWriMo! Find me on the NaNoWriMo website and add me as your buddy if you want to follow along or just want to be friends.

How to Prep For NaNoWriMo in 7 Days

I wrote an article for Medium members on prepping for NaNoWriMo in just 7 short days. Read it here. 

November is National Novel Writing Month, or #NaNoWriMo, if you follow along on Twitter. This November, I’ll be writing ten short stories compressed into 30 days. That’s about 5,000 words per story, with each story taking me about 3 days to write, or about 1,600 words a day. However, my plan is a bit nontraditional and most writers will be writing the first draft of an entire novel. The only guideline is that you have to write 50,000 words in the month of November in order to “Win.”

NaNoWriMo is one of those writing events that tends to get a lot of flak, usually from people who’ve tried it and found it didn’t work for them. But for authors who work well under pressure, deadlines, and outlines, NaNoWriMo can be a plotter’s dream. For every naysayer, there’s a writer who swears by this process.

If you’re a procrastinator, never fear, it’s never too late to start prepping. Below is a 7-Day guide to setting up for NaNoWriMo. If you follow this, you will end up with a good portion of your idea already sketched out, which will leave you free to write during the month and not stalled with “what happens next” or “now what?” questions halfway through.

This is just one way to approach NaNoWriMo planning. I encourage you to adapt to your own system, feel free to experiment, and don’t be afraid to tweak as you go. You do you. The goal here is to get inspired, not to get bogged down.

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Upcoming Events

I have a few events I'll be participating in coming up, so here's where you can find me in the next couple of months. (I'll update this as new dates arise.) 

I'll be volunteering at Writespace's Writer's Family Reunion, Saturday, September 9th. One of my poems will be showcased at the Art & Words Show in Fort Worth, Saturday, October 7th. I'm attending World Fantasy Con, November 2-5. I'm a guest at Illogicon, January 12-14, 2018 in Raleigh, N.C. 
​See you soon friends!