Hillary DePiano's Blog, page 67

An update on my 2012 NaNoWriMo experience

Here’s the thing. I write very fast. I usually build up a huge lead in the early days of the month and finish well over 50,000 by the end. In the last four years that I’ve been an ML, I’ve actually made an effort to do less binge writing and stay on pace because I’ve always felt like it’sdiscouragingfor the Wrimos in my area if I’m too far ahead.

I’m not bragging here, just telling you how it’s gone over many NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy months. I haven’t been in danger of not finishing in year...

A hurricane Sandy recap in which I get very sappy (deal with it)

Hurricane Sandy took off the face of this building (Photo credit: ccho)

On Monday, October 29th, Hurricane Sandy came to visit the northeast of the US. When I look at the calendar, that looks so very long ago but it really feels like it just happened. We live in the northeast of NJ which was right in the path of it.I promised I’d do a recap of our hurricane experience and people keep asking how it went for us so I’m going to do this quick post about it.

First off, I just want to start by saying...

Polar Twilight by Hillary DePiano

Everything you think you know about Santa Claus is wrong and the truth kind of… sucks.

When three candidates are called to interview at the North Pole, they’re expecting to find a dream job gift wrapped for them. But once they meet Big Red himself, they start to realize that everything we think we know about the holidayisn’tjust wrong… the truth is downright scary. But even if this revelation has sucked all the life out of the legend, the alternative is worse. What would happen if everyone kne...

Meanwhile, on my other blogs… November 11, 2012

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 10, 2012
Straight from the source, here’s what happened in the world of e-commerce, social networking and selling online in the past week: Find what you love, then check out in as few as 2 clicks! Great news! eBay’s new, faster checkout—announced last month—is now available to most buyers. This new option lets you breeze through check...

NaNoWriMo Advanced Word Count Calculator (charts, percentages, stats and more!)

I know that some of you out there are as obsessive as me when it comes to trying to figure out how far along you are in National Novel Writing Month so I decided to share my personal calculator. It’s simple but very powerful.

This calculator will work in Open Office, Microsoft Excel or Google Drive, depending on what you use. But it works best in Google Drive since that is what I set it up in (there are also some handy little charts in the Google version the other versions won’t get).

It is ver...

Making the most out of NaNoWriMo on this Presidential Election Day

Vote (Photo credit: Vaguely Artistic)

Today is Election Day here in the USA. If you’re American, make sure you get your tushy out there and vote!

Of course, it’s also still NaNoWriMo. Since a Presidential election only comes around once every four years, it’s sort of a novelty for it to be Election Day while we’re all novelling away so I thought I’d compile a a few tips for using Election Day to help you with your NaNoWriMo challenge.

People watch your fellow voters. You see all sorts of interes...

Ask a NaNoWriMo ML: Tips for attending a write-in, spotting other writers & more

As we’ve discussed, write-ins are local events that are great for both getting some extra writing done and making friends with other writers. (See:How to organize your own write-in event for NaNoWriMo)

Once a write-in is on the schedule, though, participants may be wondering what to expect if they attend one of these events. Here’s a few things it might be helpful to know before attending a write-in. (I’m going to try to cover a variety of questions I’ve been asked on this topic all in one pos...

NaNoWriMo Week Two: get excited, be grateful, make it better & push right on through

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Source: dragonwritingprompts.blogspot.com via Hillary on Pinterest

I wrote a post two years ago called The Curse of NaNoWriMo Week Two: Common problems and their solutionsand I suspect I’ll never really be able to top that one when it comes to dealing with the unique issues the second week of NaNoWriMo brings. If you’re finding yourself having trouble now that we’re in the second week if this month long challenge, I encourage you to go check that out as I’ve been told it’s helpful. But instead...

Meanwhile, on my other blogs… November 4, 2012

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 3, 2012
Straight from the source, here’s what happened in the world of e-commerce, social networking and selling online in the past week: Exciting Changes at the New eBay! Over the last few weeks, you may have heard some buzz about the changes happening at eBay. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out a more contemporary [...]

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Writing something new: the terror of beginning

“A beginning is only the start of a journey to another beginning.” (Photo credit: katerha)

It doesn’t matter whether this is the first thing you’ve ever written or your thirty first. You’ve got a new idea. You’re completely excited about it. You sit down to write it and… ugh.

Because that cursor just blinks forever at you and that blank page just stays soaccusinglyblank. Even if you manage to bang out a few sentences, they look so sad and pathetic. You start to not only doubt your story idea bu...