Sit Down and Write is now Storyteller!

I decided our writing challenge needed a new name and a new vibe. Welcome to Storyteller! The graphic above pretty much lays it out. Our next round is coming up in July. I hope you will join us. You can join our Discord too. Invite link: https://discord.gg/CVrqt423wC

Sarra Cannon at Heart Breathings is also hosting another Rough Draft Challenge next month. I will be participating in both. You can check out her video about next month's challenge here: https://youtu.be/zjq0qnxSM_4?si=7MamGDlHlmANGOx8

That's all for now. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Just click on the email icon in the sidebar and fill out the contact form.

The Fiction Writing Handbook by Dario Ciriello - Review

Writing beyond the rules. Most definitely. A refreshing take on writing that I will be referring to frequently. I'm a firm believer that learning is a lifelong endeavor. Books like this make it feel less like learning, more like discovering.

A quote from the author:
"Like a warrior, a writer needs courage, and plenty of it. But courage isn't the absence of fear, it's facing our fears and carrying on in spite of them."

Fitting...my word for 2025 is COURAGE.

My NaNoWriMo Journey 2023

That's right...I'm at it again! I'm going to try really hard to post my progress regularly here. I'm trying to establish a presence as a writer. I think it will help me with accountability and may even help my confidence. We shall see.

My goal for NaNo is 50,000 words, of course. I'm placing a Pacemaker Planner progress widget in the sidebar. I will continue writing in December because my plan is 90,000 words for my novel. So, 40,000 words in December. 

I'm a huge fan of Sarra Cannon (author). Her planning system and writing tips (and everything else) have been such a big help to me. She's doing NaNo too and she does daily vlogs called The NaNoWriMo Diaries. You can check her out on her Heart Breathings YouTube Channel here. She really is so much fun.

So, here I go. I have not started writing yet so I'm a bit behind, but hoping to start tonight or Friday at the latest. I have extra time on the weekends so I can catch up. I know I can do it! 

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this month? Let me know. You can also send me a buddy request on the NaNo site @MSMwriter.

Blog the Journey - Writing plans, Camp NaNoWriMo, and HB90

Wow, looks like my last post (besides the one last year informing subscribers of the new email subscription service) was in November 2018. That certainly is some kind of neglect. Well, this is my attempt to make this a thriving "writer" blog. I'm calling it Blog the Journey. I'm going to basically be blogging weekly about my progress on my novel. Perhaps it will help with accountability. I hope so. 

I have discovered a life-changing system that is really helping me better organize my time because, let's face it, my life, priorities, schedule are a mess. Since I work from home and have very flexible hours, it's difficult for me to pin down any kind of time in advance. HB90 has really helped me prioritize and plan my time to help me achieve my ultimate goal which is to get my book written. 

HB90 is a quarterly bootcamp created by author, Sarra Cannon (Heart Breathings). Learn more about her and Heart Breathings here. This quarter was my second time through the course. That's the beauty of it. Once you purchase the course, you can participate every quarter without spending another penny. Yes, you become an HB90 alumni! Sarra takes great care of her bootcamp participants, newbies and alumni alike. It's just a great community that has inspired me tremendously. Check out Sarra's Heart Breathings channel on YouTube. I love her videos. She has writing tips video series, videos about planning and planners, and a lot more. The HB90 course for this quarter is closed, but if you click my HB90 vision board in the sidebar, it will take you to the course page where you can read more about what the course entails. The next course should be open for enrollment around early September in preparation for quarter 4, October - December (I am an affiliate so if you do decide to sign-up in September via my link, I will receive a small commission. I will update the link in the sidebar in September). 

HB90 centers around task blocks inspired by the Pomodoro Technique. 30 minute task blocks (25 minutes work time, 5 minutes rest), though there is much more to HB90 than that. But I'm mentioning the task blocks to give you an idea on how I'm working using them. Of course, you can configure your task blocks however you like. 50 minutes work, 10 minutes rest, etc. Basically, I figured out I could do 230 tasks blocks this quarter which is 115 hours. I was on vacation the first part of July so I figured out 2.5 tasks blocks this past weekend when I returned, and 20 tasks blocks per week through the end of the quarter. Breaking it down further, that's 10 hours weekly - 8.5 for writing tasks (plotting, writing, etc.) and 1.5 hours for blogging and doing my HB90 plan for quarter 4 (in September). 

Yes, I am doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month, but have set a very low ball goal. 12,000 words. Hoping I will meet my goal, but if I don't, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. At the moment, I'm working on fleshing out a bare bones story, then some plotting and character development, then on with the writing. I know I'm going to have a lot of editing when I finish, but that's part of the journey.

My goals for HB90:

1. Top priority - start writing/write my novel

My Good/Better/Best goals at the end of the 90 days (end of September)...

• Good - 20 percent done (18,000 words)
• Better - 1/2 done (45,000 words)
• Best - 100 percent complete (approx. 90,000 words)

2. Blog the Journey - One blog every week 

I missed the first week (my starting week being this past weekend) so that's 11 blogs instead of 12 starting with this week as week one. 

About the novel (not set in stone):

Genre: folk horror (based on/retelling of a Hungarian fairy/folk tale)

Definition of folk horror

Hopefully, next week I will have an update for you on word count. Wish me luck...and thanks for taking this journey with me!

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Sit Down and Write 10, #NaNoWriMo, and writing during the holidays #sitdownwrite

After much contemplation, I decided to dive into the fray that is NaNoWriMo once again. I made Sit Down and Write two months this time so...

1. In the event I fail NaNoWriMo (which I usually do), I'll still have another month to work on my WIP.
2. If I finish even part of my novel during NaNoWriMo, I will have a good start to continue working in December and beyond.
3. Two months is a necessity during the holidays. They should really change it to two months and call it National Novel Writing "Months"... lol

So, why bother with Sit Down and Write? Well, I thought this would be a good place for those who are participating to interact and get support when they need it. I'm going to create a master post and pin it to the top of the blog. I will post updates there and I'll leave comments open so we can interact.

Remember, this isn't just a writing challenge for those writing a novel. If you're wanting to get some blogging done, or work on articles, or poetry...whatever you're working on in the writing department is fair game. 

Let me know if you're doing NaNoWriMo, and/or if you want to participate in Sit Down and Write, by leaving a comment below.

I hope you will join me!

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To #NaNoWriMo or not to NaNoWriMo

I've been weighing this back and forth for over a month...should I or shouldn't I? To be perfectly honest, I'm still not sure. I have never successfully "won" NaNoWriMo.

You know what? To hell with it. I'm in!

Hit me up on the NaNo site if you want to buddy up @ thetruebookaddict
I may update on Twitter (@truebookaddict), Facebook (Michelle Stockard Miller) and/or Instagram (@truebookaddict)...and here on this blog. If you don't hear from me, it's not going well. lol

Here I go, into The Further (I'm watching "Insidious.") 😵



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Sit Down and Write 9 - June 15 through July 15 #SitDownWrite

I actually decided last week to host this, but I've been so busy, I'm just now posting the sign up. I'm hoping I can stay organized enough to do what I plan to do during this writeathon, which is work on my novel...actually mostly novel prep and research...so there will be a lot of note taking and perhaps some sort of outline prep. I'm hoping to do daily posts, or at least every other day, to hold myself accountable. 

Sit Down and Write is a writeathon for whatever you want/need to write. Catch up on book reviews (or other blog writings), you can work on your work in progress, you can journal, you can write short stories, you can prep your novel (research, take notes, etc.) or other writing project. I'm not fussy and I HATE rules. So, let's do this! Sign up below if you're in and write up a post if you want. Feel free to join in from social media if you would rather. Our hashtag is #sitdownwrite.

I'm still on the fence about Camp NaNoWriMo next month. Usually when I decide to do it, I set myself up for failure. If I get a lot accomplished by June 30, I just might do it though.

P.S. Don't forget to grab the button. There's a handy grab code in the sidebar.

Sign up! No linky...just leave a comment with your blog link or where on social media you'll be updating.

I hope you will join me!




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Sit Down and Write 8 - Finally, an update! #sitdownwrite

I had intended to post an update a lot sooner than this, and then I was hosting the High Summer Read-a-Thon this week, and time just flew by.

So, I've been sitting on my great news for over a week. I had a MAJOR breakthrough with my novel idea last week! I've been researching, which counts toward word count during Camp NaNo. I like that. I wish they would allow that during November's NaNoWriMo...but I digress. Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this new directions and I even have a (perhaps) "tentative" title. Drum roll please...Beautiful Pilgrim. There's a reason behind the title, but that is yet to be revealed.

I'm hoping to get some actual words on paper for the last week of SDaW and Camp NaNo. I'm working on a creating a writing schedule that I'm hoping will keep me more on track.

I hope things are going well for you. Let me know in the comments or leave a link to your update post.

Happy writing!



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