Hillary DePiano's Blog, page 20

My “Writing Year” starts in December because the calendar does not own me

I know I’ve said this before but I can’t express to you how glad I am that I changed my writing year so that it ends in November. I made this change on a whim back in 2014and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made for both my writing goals and general mental health. It also took a ton of pressure off the already crazy end of the year. I mention this because the calendar doesn’t own you either and if companies can set their own fiscal years, there’s no reason you can’t do the same for what...

Won NaNoWriMo AND finished your novel? Come over here and let me tell you how much you rock!

The following is an excerpt from

NaNo What Now? Finding your editing process, revising your NaNoWriMo book and building a writing career through publishing and beyond

Available now in paperback and eBook.

To the writer that finished what you set out to write,

You are a rock star! You did everything you set out to do this month. You’ve got a complete first draft in your hand right now, a whole book, and if lots of people never start a novel, and less than that ever write 50,000 words of one,...

TFW you won NaNoWriMo (yay!) but you haven’t actually finished your book yet (boo!)

The following is an excerpt from

NaNo What Now? Finding your editing process, revising your NaNoWriMo book and building a writing career through publishing and beyond

Available now in paperback and eBook.

To the writer that reached their word count target but didn’t finish their story yet,
It was such a tremendous high to hit that word count goal, wasn’t it? It doesn’t matter how many NaNoWriMo challenges I’ve done, there’s nothing like the rush of setting and crushing a goal—of committing...

If you signed up for NaNoWriMo but didn’t win or reach your writing goal, this pep talk is for you

The following is an excerpt from NaNo What Now? Finding your editing process, revising your NaNoWriMo book and building a writing career through publishing and beyond Available now in paperback and eBook. To the writer that finished neither their NaNoWriMo project nor reached the 50,000 words, I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo since 2002, and from 2002 until 2007, I lost every single year. Two of those years, I wrote less than 5,000 words.… Read more

This post appeared first on Hillary DePiano.

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Vampire Santa Claus has risen from the grave and will be terrorizing audiences around the globe this December!

Polar Twilight, that little comedyof mine where Santa Claus is a vampire that sounds like it’s going to be all scary and blasphemous but is actually totally cute and heartwarming, (I swear! Even my Catholic school teacher mom came around to it!), is enjoying a resurgence this holiday season. The show is playing thisDecember in Florida and Alabama here in the United States as well as productions in Canada and the United Kingdom. Details for those productions are below so that you can check the...

NaNoWriMo & November 2016: This month, you guys. This freaking month.

Unicorn because NaNoWriMo = whimsy Here’s what November 2016looked like in writing… YearlyGoal 765,239/600,000 words (128%) Read more

This post appeared first on Hillary DePiano.

6 Jane Austen novels. 9 genres. 1 epic new comedy.

What happens when you take Jane Austen’s six classic novels and mix them up with nine of the most popular genres of today? With anywhere from two to a dozen or more actors running around wildly playing all the parts? And then do the whole mess in less time than it takes to ask a gecco for an insurance quote?

If you’re dying to find out, you’ll want to head on over to YouthPLAYS whereThe Complete Novels of Jane Austen: Now New and Improved! is now available in both eBook and printed acting ed...

Save big on my plays with holiday discounts from Playscripts and YouthPLAYS

If you’ve been waiting for the chance, to buy All The Plays by Hillary DePiano, now’s your chance! Both YouthPLAYS and Playscripts, who between them have 9 of my plays available, are running holiday sales but you gotta be quick to take advantage because both expire very soon! YouthPLAYS Until midnight on November 30th, 2016, you can take advantage of 40% off printed script and digital perusals of The Complete Novels of Jane Austen: Now New and Improved!, Masks, Bullying, INK., or Three Padded...

NaNoWriMo gives writers so much. Isn’t it time you returned the favor?

I’m a volunteer with NaNoWriMo and it always amazes me how many participants are completely shocked to learn that NaNoWriMo isn’t completely flush with cash because everyone’s heard of them, haven’t they? It’s easy to get the idea in your head that supporting an organization by retweeting or clicking like on their posts, talking them up to family and friends or even just by feeling super affectionate toward them somehow translates to monetary support but that simply isn’t true. The fact is, N...

Positive you won’t hit your NaNoWriMo goal this year? You owe it to yourself to keep trying anyway.

At the moment I’m writing this, I’m 42,488 words behind on my goal for NaNoWriMo. On my lesser goal? I’m24,772 words behind.

Yeesh. That’s a big deficit. And if I can’t hit my goal, what’s the point of writing anymore at all? It would be much nicer to just take the holiday weekend off. On a normal year with my normal writing time available to me, making up those numbers would be no big deal. But absolutely nothing about this November has been normal.

I’m terrified by current events with news...