Holly Walrath's Blog, page 31

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!

Armadillocon 39 Schedule

Friday, August 4th
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They wrote YA before YA was Cool
8-9 pm, Ballroom D Saturday, August 5th 
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Poetry Thunderdome
1-2 pm, Southpark A ST/TNG: A Generation Later
4-5 pm,  Southpark B Reading, Yours Truly
9:30-10 pm, Room 102 Sunday, August 6th
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What Shorter SF&F works should you have read this year?
2-3 pm, Ballroom F

The Story of My First Short Story

 Today is the publication date for my first ever published short story, "The Joy of Baking," which appears at Luna Station Quarterly, an online journal dedicated to publishing female speculative authors. I've published poetry and flash before, but never a longer piece like this one. 
     When I started out writing short stories, it was a long time before I began to feel like I didn't suck at it. To be honest, I still question myself a lot because short stories just aren't my comfort zone. A poem? I could write ten a day and they'd be pretty rad. Short stories are much harder for me.  
     I'd like to share with you the story behind the story, because writing is hard. Because persistence matters. Because even if you think you aren't that great at writing a certain genre, or a certain type of story, YOU CAN. I believe in you. And you have to believe in yourself. So I'd like to show you the different places this story journeyed before it found its home.
​     This story started out when my husband told me he wanted me to write a story about baking. We'd been obsessively watching the Great British Bake Off and mocking the male judge to each other for a while. James has always been my baking buddy - he helps me out when he wants me to bake and sometimes I wonder if I should just make him bake more, but he genuinely enjoys being my baking assistant. So I thought about his request and that's how this story came to be. I started writing this story sometime in 2015. I still have the handwritten draft, see below. Isn't it a mess?      This story is a reflection of my interest in the afterlife and reincarnation. But it's also about bad decisions, about the people in your life that hurt you. It's one of the most hopeful things I've ever written. In a way, it was a kind of therapy for me and that's not a thing I'm very familiar with. It gave me hope to think that even if you die, there might be nice people there to greet you with cake. It gave me hope to think that people who've been hurt in this life might find peace in the next. It was wishful thinking embodied in the form of cake.      
     After I wrote the story, I sent it out to a few friends. But I was so in love with the story, I couldn't bear to make a lot of revisions. Of course, the comments were helpful and influenced some of my editing of the story, but I just couldn't bear to change things that some people didn't like about the story. So I stayed true to my own gut instinct and revised lightly.
​     This story went out to five markets before being accepted. Looking back, I realize that's such a small number! I've heard of people wading through 20+ rejections to get to publication. I was glad that I stuck to my guns. I knew that the story was going to find someone to love it, because I loved it.    
     Of course, it turned out to be one of my husband's favorite stories, because my husband has a very hard job where he works with sick children each day. Stories about dying are hard for him. So for him to say he loved it meant a great deal to me. ​It also means a great deal to me because much of it is personal and influenced by my own experiences, in ways I can't really describe in public. 

So that's the story of my story :) I hope that you will do me the favor of reading it. I'd love to hear what you thought. And thanks to all those who supported me in getting this out there. 

Read "The Joy of Baking" at Luna Station Quarterly
Purchase a print copy on Amazon or Createspace (10% off with coupon 
594VATZS)
Purchase an eBook copy 

The Art of Receiving Criticism

Today over at Vine Leaves Press' blog, The Artist Unleashed, I discuss my experience with developing a critique process, working with critique partners, pushing against the norm of the standard workshop, and how criticism is art. 
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I'd love your opinions too. Does normal critique work for you? Are you struggling with critique or do you have a system that works?

Ten Twitter Bots for Writers

pic.twitter.com/H3qYUTO4kQ

— Archillect (@archillect) May 21, 2017

Head over to Medium to read my article on 10 Twitter Bots to Follow for Writing Inspiration

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Recent Poetry Reviews

I'm a bit late on this, but I wanted to send out my thanks to a couple of people who have given me favorable reviews lately. 
First, a review of my poem, "Hart Island," which first appeared in ETTT Issue 22, is a part of the article "The Ghostly Verses of the Science Fiction Poetry Association," a review by Michael J. Abolafia in Spectral Realms No. 6. Michael discusses the entire Ghosts issue (edited by Shannon Connor Winward), and had these kind words to say of my poem:  "Holly Lyn Walrath's 'Hart Island' locates revenance in New York City's surely haunted potter's field--the Bronx island is overflowing with spirits, and the ghostly speaker's monologue feels like a plaintive yearning for rest, since, like Charon crossing the river Styx, 'The ferry brings more each day.' This poem exemplifies the spectral potentialities in all places--including on the outskirts of a hyper-urban metropolis."  And more recently, my poem "My City of Ruin" in "The Santa Monica Prophesies: A Collaborative Triptych" is reviewed by Charles Payseur of Quick Sip Reviews. This poem was great fun to write, as it was part of a collaboration with Layla Al-Bedawi and Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, inspired by our trip to the Santa Monica Pier, where we each had our fortunes read by a Zoltar machine.   "... a piece that brings a more urban feel to the shore, that establishes a city and brings with it a people who worship fortune. Again there is the sense of people reaching for something beyond themselves, seeking to fill some lack they can't quite articulate, and falling into patterns t hat are harmful, looking for signs of love that are also signs of destruction. The piece is more concerned with ritual in many ways divorced from meaning, where people try to impress their god without knowing how, without even knowing why, to find in the end that what they are asking for is not really what they want." Reviewers are so important to the field of poetry, and it's so lovely to have my work engaged with in this way. I'm often surprised by the things other people find in my work and love to hear about them. So, thank you!
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NaPoWriMo DONE!

last day of NaPoWriMo! I didn't get to post this yesterday so I'm posting today. I'll probably take a break now and write more stories. Happy May Day and happy spring to you! Poets, keep writing!

NaPoWriMo Day 29

This one went super dark and creepy for which I apologize. However you only have a little bit of time to linger with me in the darkness. What will you do with it?