Hillary DePiano's Blog, page 55

NaNoWriMo Tips: 5 Reasons to get ahead early on your word count

People always ask me for my tips for winning NaNoWriMo and one of my biggest is that you should make every effort to get ahead early and front load your word count.

Here’s 5 reasons why:

Use your excitement! The beginning of any new story is exciting. You’re full of fire, you love your novel and everything is just so darn fun. You’d be foolish not to take advantage of that and use that spirit to get ahead on your word count early.
Life happens. Things come up. If you’ve got time to write in the...

What is NaNoWriMo? Frequently Asked Questions covered with this online interest meeting

If you’re new to NaNoWriMo and looking for a few tips or if you’re just curious for more info on what it’s about, here’s a reply of an online interest meeting I did last week. It’s a static version of the interest meeting I usually do at libraries leading up to November.

In which I hit my word count goal for the year early!

I was in an online write-in for NaNoWriMo last night and we’d just finished a sprint and I went to update my word count and I noticed something. My spreadsheet looked weird. But then I realized why… the little cells that are red when I’m behind on my word count were all green.

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101,877 words (and that’s before I’ve done my NaNo words for the day)

Holy carp! I hit my word count goal for the year. Almost two months early! I actually hit it on the 5th and didn’t notice it until the next day because...

Meanwhile, on my other blogs… November 3, 2013

Don’t read all the sites I blog for? Here’s what you missed in the last week outside of HillaryDePiano.com.

E-Commerce & Social Networking Week in Review November 2, 2013
Straight from the source, here’s what happened in the world of e-commerce, social networking and selling online in the past week: Attention sellers: Global Shipping Program will soon ship to Singapore, Mexico, New Zealand, Israel and The Philippines! Great news! The Global Shipping Program will soon be shipping to 5 more count...

Why I won’t be wishing anyone good luck with NaNoWriMo anymore

“Best of luck with your novel!”

“Good luck with NaNoWriMo this year!”

“Sorry you didn’t win last year but hopefully you’ll have better luck this year.”

This is me over and over again as we edge ever closer to November. It seems like every conversation I have about NaNoWriMo ends with me wishing someone luck with their novel.

Not anymore.

It’s not because I don’t want you to succeed. It’s actually because of the exact opposite reason. I want more than anything for you to succeed, to realize your dr...

I have a NaNoWriMo problem but I may have found the solution

NaNoWriMo Hoodies Are Heaven (Photo credit: smittenkittenorig)

Guys, I’ve been having a problem. A NaNoWriMo problem.

See, I love NaNoWriMo. You know this. I love it so much that I became an ML and I donate MANY hours of my very little, precious time to bringing others the best NaNoWriMo experience that I can.

I love being an ML. I love shepherding people to finally finish their novels and I know the members in my awesome area appreciate all that I do. It’s an absurd amount of work but it’s wort...

Meanwhile, on my other blogs… October 27, 2013

Don’t read all the sites I blog for? Here’s what you missed in the last week outside of HillaryDePiano.com.

E-Commerce & Social Networking Week in Review October 26, 2013
Straight from the source, here’s what happened in the world of e-commerce, social networking and selling online in the past week: Clarification on eBay Forum and Blog Policies As many of you know, eBay has a set of policies that govern the company forum. When these policies are violated, an eBay moderator may edit or […]

Lulu t...

Against all odds, I’m getting things done. But why don’t I feel like I am?

It’s been a wild couple of weeks here in Babytown and work time has been hard to come by. So, for that matter, have been brain cells so I haven’t exactly been on my A game. But we’ve had a couple of days of calm so I’m taking the luxury of deluding myself that it’ll be nothing but smooth sailing for the rest of her entire life from this point on.

NaNoWriMo is taking over my life as it does every year at this time and they’ll be posts about that soon enough. But I know that once we get into NaN...

Meanwhile, on my other blogs… October 20, 2013

Don’t read all the sites I blog for? Here’s what you missed in the last week outside of HillaryDePiano.com.

Tomorrow (October 18th) is the last day you’ll be able to access the eBay Trading Assistant portal
I just wanted to hop over here and make sure everyone effected by the TA program shutdown remembered that tomorrow, October 18th, is the very last day we’ll have access to the eBay Trading Assistant portal. Reasons to log in one last time include: Last chance to follow up on any selling lead...

Another year older

Tomorrow is my birthday.Today is my last day as 33.Not a particularly milestone-y birthday but I wanted to note something about it before it passed.

One thing that completely escaped my notice last year was that I was apparently living my life right on schedule according to this Five for Fighting song:

I’m 33 for a moment.

Still the man, but you see I’m a “they.”

A kid on the way, babe.

A family on my mind.

It’s a great song if a bit depressing for how fast they go through an entire lifetime, maki...