My best Nanowrimo yet, and I'm Busier than Ever!

Hey, everyone, just checking in  to see how everyone's doing this month -- anyone out there finishing a term at school? Getting a new job? Moving? Starting Christmas shopping?

This November, as I've mentioned in my last post, I'm doing National Novel Writing Month, trying (for the third time) to write a 50,000 word novel during November. Incidentally, I've also picked up a new job that has me on call 24/7 and my etsy shop is getting ready for the Christmas rush. I don't think I've ever been busier, even when I was finishing my degree.

The amazing thing is -- and trust me, it's amazing because I'm normally so bad at time management --  so far, I am actually caught up to my word count, more or less, making this my most successful Nanowrimo  yet! There's something about having no time to yourself during the day that really forces you (me, at least) to make the time. I've been waking up earlier, telling my friends and boyfriend that I can't hang out because I need to write, making sure I write at least enough to be on "par" for the day, and making myself continue writing because I don't know when I'll get the chance to do it again.

TLDR version -- being so busy that I don't have time for anything forces me to make time. I might actually do it this year, yay!

See you!

Chasing Deadlines

I believe I've mentioned in past posts how much of a love-hate relationship I have with deadlines. To get started as a writer I've noticed how imperative it is that I take it upon myself to hunt down, tackle, and meet deadlines.

I need places -- journals, magazines, websites -- to send my work, and more often than not these places have guidelines, rules, and dreaded deadlines to adhere to. Generally, I have school to thank for training me up to meet deadlines, but the rest -- finding and dedicating myself to them is all a test for my self-discipline. Something that tends to get quite rusty.

These are the submissions I'm working on for the end of October. All of these deadlines are in November, but of course November's when NaNoWriMo begins. The goal is to get it all done beforehand. (You got this, Sarah's self-discipline!)

--LEAP books Beware the Little White Rabbit submission
--CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize
--NFLD Arts and Letters Competition

That's all for now! See you.

Another Move

After a long year being beaten by snow and blackouts and wind and retail in Newfoundland, I've finally made another move -- to Ottawa!

Before the move I had been told A: that Ottawa is a beautiful, safe city and B: that it's the city where "fun goes to die". While it might be true that things tend to shut down earlier than what I'm used to, and there's no street like George Street in St. John's where there's club after bar after pub lining the sidewalks, Ottawa is a beautiful city, and there's plenty going on here.

For instance, there's a Writer's Festival going on this month! (info here: http://www.writersfestival.org/)  Because of such pesky things as jobs and responsibilities, I won't be able to see much of what I'm interested in, but if I do happen to get out, I'll let you know all about it.

See you!