#MegsNoWriMo 50,000 Word Challenge Complete!

I did it!! I completed #MegsNoWriMo, my own version of #NaNoWriMo, as I wasn't able to write last November. Yay! I'm over the moon. :D

Here are my daily wordcounts, if you're interested.

I've learnt a lot about my writing habits during the challenge and I've thoroughly enjoyed it! My main takeaways from it are:

1) I now have a habit of building writing into each day.
2) I learnt that I am a very inefficient writer currently (a lot of butt-in-chair time = not very much writing) - I need to and intend to address this.
3) Breaking big goals down into little chunks really does make it manageable. The words fly by!
4) That NaNo is a BRILLIANT excuse to crank it up a notch!
5) I learnt more about my ideal writing times. Early morning, late afternoon, late evening. Weekdays. I struggle to find time to write on weekends at all too, which I didn't realise before.

The most satisfying part is not having completed 50,000 words surprisingly, but seeing how very close to completion The Brooding Crown is. I know I set myself the 50k challenge and was determined to succeed, but it was impossible to imagine getting to far with it, in a way.

If you're thinking about giving NaNo a try - even if it's not in November, I urge you to do it! It's a thoroughly rewarding experience. :-)

I look forward to doing it again in November this year. ;-)

- Meg

#MegsNoWriMo Day 19 + Exciting 2015 projects announced!

I have a ton of exciting writing projects lined up for 2015 already, which is beyond any expectations I would have had last July upon publishing my first book, The Tainted Crown. So 2015 looks to be set to be an exciting year!



You cansign up to the mailing list to be notified of Accounting for Authors updates.

Click here to sign up!

Meg + #NaNoWriMo = #MegsNoWriMo!

As I posted about at the beginning of the month, I couldn't take part in NaNoWriMo 2014 unfortunately, as a result of being too busy with teaching practice, but its something I've always wanted to do! So, I decided that, as I'm desperate to finish Books of Caledan 2 as soon as I can, I would do my own NaNoWriMo in January (aka #MegsNoWriMo)! Better late than never, right?

So. 50,000 words (and hopefully that will mean my novel is finished, or therabouts) in 31 days. 1,612 words per day on average. I'm setting myself a a target of 1,700 words per day.

Here's how I'm getting along! I'll update this daily.

Starting word count: 34,000
Daily word target = 1,700(writing every day)

January 1st - 1,700 words (35,700)

January 2nd - 1,930 (37,630) [Youtube Video Diary]

January 3rd -1,763 (39,393)
January 4th - 0 :-( (aka spring cleaning Sunday!)
January 5th - 1,930 (41,323)
January 6th - 1,368 (42,691) (struggling today because I'm stalking the miracle that is my book sales right now!!) [Youtube Video Diary]
January 7th - 1,630 (44,321)
Week 1 total words written = 10,321
(Manuscript word count = 44,321)
January 8th - 1,906 (46,227)
January 9th - 3,773 (50,000) (!!)

January 10th - 0 (worked on nonfic project outlining)

January 11th - 0 (Sundays are family & chores days!)
January 12th -1,740 (non fiction writing)
January 13th - 0 (working on nonfic book cover design & email list)
January 14th - 2,675 (52,675)
Week 2 total words written = 8,354 Total fiction word count = 18,675
(Manuscript word count = 52,675)
Daily word target upped to 2,600 (writing 5 days per week)  to catch up! 
January 15th - 2,180 - deleted chapter = 1,520 (54,195)
January 16th - 877 (55,072)
January 17th - 1,872 (56,944)
January 18th - 0
January 19th - 1,311 (58,255) (+1,311 nonfiction words too!) [Youtube Video Diary]
January 20th - 635 (58,890)
January 21st - 3,401 (62,291)
Week 3 total words written = 9,616 Total fiction word count = 28,291
(Manuscript word count = 62,291)
January 22nd - 3,210 (65,501)
January 23rd - 1,033 (66,534) (+511 nonfiction words) (+ worked on website, blogged)
January 24th - 1,071 (67605)
January 25th - 335 (67,940)
January 26th - 3,608 (71,548) (+100 nonfiction words)
January 27th - 3,470 (75,018)
January 28th - 1,535 (76,553)
Week 4 total words written = 14,262 Total fiction word count = 42,553
(Manuscript word count = 76,553)
January 29th - 1,899 (78,452)
January 30th - 2,781 (81,233) [Youtube Video Diary]
January 31st - 2,781 (84,014)
Total (fiction) words written in January =50,014
Manuscript total = 84,014

Total (nonfiction) words written in January (est) = 3,662

Total words written in January =  53,676

#MegsNoWriMo is officially completed! :D 

#MegsNoWriMo reaches 50,000 words on The Brooding Crown

Happy to announce that I just reached that magical point; 50,000 words on draft one of The Brooding Crown, The Second Book of Caledan, woohoo! Just over halfway done with the first draft, hopefully!

I would do a video diary, but I am too tired today so here, have a blog post instead haha.

Also managed the most successful day of #MegsNoWriMo too, writing over double my daily word target of 1,700 words, for which I am glad, as I was beginning to fall slightly behind and become frustrated with myself.

This is despite being glued to the news today for hours, watching the deeply disturbing events unfold and play out in France. I don't tend to delve into real life/world things in my writing social life, but I am so very glad to hear that the situation is now resolved with minimal loss of life. My heart goes out to those who died for free speech. As a writer, in a community of creatives, we all rely on being able to speak, write and create freely without fear.

So. Today feels a writing success, but tinged with sadness at the loss of life that could so very easily have been any of us in any city across the world.

Definitely a lesson to take each day as a blessing and live with joy, not fear in your hearts.

Take care,

Meg

Celebrating 1st 100 sales of The Tainted Crown! + #MegsNoWriMo Day 5

Big news! Yesterday was an amazing day!

Not only did The Tainted Crown sell its 100th copy... beyond my wildest dreams... it also sold its 200th copy! Wow!

I woke up this morning and checked my sales stats and assumed I was mistaken...! But apparently not. Yesterday, 120 kindle copies of The Tainted Crown were downloaded. It's rank has jumped to #22 and #23 in its 2 Amazon categories.... Just wow. Cannot even express how blown away I am by this amazingness!

Thank you to everyone who's shared and downloaded a copy - I really hope you enjoy it!!

Here's yesterday's video diary - before I found out that downloads yesterday exceeded my wildest imagination!

Meg 

p.s. don't forget, The Tainted Crown is free to download until Wednesday midnight!

Update - Wednesday 7th January

Thank you to everyone who downloaded a copy of The Tainted Crown! In the end, I also sold my 300th copy on Wednesday 7th January, which was astounding. I'd never expected to have any downloads at all, especially for such an unknown book, at such short notice.So to receive several hundred and reach the top #10 bestseller spots in three of my Amazon categories was mindblowing. Thank you for helping me get there! I really hope you enjoy the book! :D

The Tainted Crown FREE on Kindle Until Wednesday!

My young adult fantasy fiction The Tainted Crown, rated 4*, is on kindle free sale until midnight on Wednesday!

I thought I'd better share that on here for anyone who doesn't have a copy or knows someone who needs new reading material!

Pick up your free copy today and please share! :-)

Enjoy!

Meg

Happy New Year! + My #MegsNoWriMo Video Diary

Hello and a happy new year to you! I hope that 2015 brings you a happy, healthy and creative year!

As we all do, I made some new years resolutions this year again. Last year I exceeded my writing goals - this year hopefully I can do the same!

I plan to finish and publish Books of Caledan 2, as well as work on my next project after that. I also want to branch out into audio and visual work including beginning my own writing related youtube channel.

With that in mind, I decided that I would finally get around to #NaNoWriMo! Unfortunately, I was too busy in November to join in, so I'm doing it in January instead and calling it MEgsNoWriMo, since I'm probably doing it alone!

50,000 words in 31 days is my aim. That equals 1,612 words per day - and I'm aiming for 1,700 words. I'm going to be doing a video diary along the way (not daily, but as often as I can!) to also start my audio/visual projects in 2015.

Here's my first video diary entry on day 2 of #MegsNoWriMo (follow that hashtag on twitter too if you like), after an on target day 1 of 1,700 words.