Oct 24, 2019
In this episode Mark interviews Vanessa Ricci-Thode, a fantasy
author, fiction editor and a NaNoWriMo veteran.
Prior to the interview, Mark shares some recent comments from
previous episodes and Twitter.
He also shares a word from this episode's sponsor...
You can learn more about how
you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems
around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
In his personal update, Mark talks about how he is approaching
NaNoWriMo this year. He skipped it last year; but this year he is
focusing on getting 50,000 words written for at least 3 different
projects and will be tracking that.
He is also curious to see how many listeners are doing NaNoWriMo
this year.
In their discussion, Mark and Vanessa talk about:
Mark and Vanessa talk about:
- How Vanessa, who is an experienced NaNoWriMo veteran (doing it
since 2006), first got into NaNoWriMo
- Managing expectations with family during a month of regular
commitment to writing time
- Writing 50,000 words in 30 days while working part-time and
being a part-time student
- The first few NaNoWriMo novels Vanessa wrote
- Being an ML (Municipal Liason) in the Waterloo, Ontario
region
- The fact that there are always a lot of first-timers who try
NaNoWriMo each year
- Vanessa's most popular or common advice for writers interested
in trying out NaNoWriMo
- Advice for authors who end up slipping in their writing goal
early on or mid-way through the month
- The "Mad Dash to Midnight" NaNoWriMo event that is done on the
night of Nov 30
- How people can find their local NaNoWriMo region
(nanowrimo.org), where they can search by country, state, province,
city
- How Vanessa got interested in writing which began with making
picture books when she was a young child
- Vanessa's change in approach to the business of publishing with
the advent of digital
- Looking for ways to become a better writer, which led to
Vanessa becoming an editor, opening her part-time freelance editing
business in 2010
- The genres Vanessa most prefers to edit (Science Fiction,
Fantasy, and Horror), and why it's important to work with an editor
who is familiar with and enjoys working in your particular
genre
- Common writer issues, such as starting their story in the wrong
spot
- The value of critique groups for writers, and how critiquing
others can assist an author with their own writing
- NaNoWrimo as a great place to meet and connect with other
writers
- Writing solo versus writing when in a group setting
- What Vanessa is most looking forward to for NaNoWriMo 2019
- The importance of "stubborning through it"
After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of
committing to something like NaNoWriMo as well as the element of
being persistent and "stubborning through it" as Vanessa so
eloquently said.
He then thanks Patrons of the podcast and closes out the show
with a reminder that he's curious to hear from authors on whether
or not they are doing NaNoWriMo and how they stubborn through
things.
Links of Interest:
The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and
produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0