When I branched out from #amwritingparty to #amwriting, I found a wonderful writing community and I’m so glad I did. My tweetdeck is never without the #amwriting column so I can see what people are posting, and catch articles of interest, etc. #Amwriting has given me some of my best friends and those bonds will not be broken easily. Help is always only a tweet away.

This is a progressive birthday celebration, so thanks for stopping by and the next stop is at Khyiah Angel’s blog. Go check it out. And for a list of all participants in the party go here.    And…..

1. She had a garage sale and not everything sold so she’s trying to foist her junk off on the unsuspecting?
2. The holidays are around the corner, and the spirit of giving tackled her like a Bear’s linebacker?
3. She’s almost reached 1,500 followers on Twitter and wants to commemorate it?

Ding… ding… ding!! Time’s up. If you guessed answer number 3, you’d be right on the money. Her follower count is climbing higher with each moment and she’s giving away chances to win some great swag.

How do I know? Because (drumroll please) Prize #1 is a signed copy of Misfit McCabe and Prize # 2 is a signed copy of Nowhere Feels Like Home. But there’s tons of other cool stuff too, so hurry right on over to EisleyJacobs.com and check out the prizes and find out how YOU CAN WIN!!

So while writers are getting geared up, flexing their fingers, making a mad dash through their outlines, notes, and whatever method of preparation they use to help get them through the month, agents and editors are furiously working on getting through their current submissions so they can put up their “Closed to Submissions” sign in January to help stave off the onslaught of submissions which are the result of NaNoWriMo. Let’s face it, while there will be a few commercial products born out of this frenzy of writing, the vast majority will require significant work (much more time than the month of December can provide) to turn into a publishable product. So January submissions are something to be feared. Because the actual purpose of NaNoWriMo is NOT to write great words with much consideration and thought, it is simply to help writers write through blocks and to put works on the page. And it is the time of year when this button could end up being true as writers reach to fill the pages.

Last year I experienced NaNoWriMo through Twitter and there was a wonderful sense of camaraderie as authors communicated about their progress, had online writing sessions, and helped one another through the blocks to keep the words flowing. While I didn’t participate directly in NaNoWriMo, I gained quite a few of my very best online friends during that time. I was hard at work as well in the process of editing two novels I wanted to have revisions complete by the end of November, so we all worked well into the night together. One of my favorite hashes on Twitter was born at that time: #amwritingparty which is where I met so many of my now good friends.

Best of luck to all of the participants this year. I will once again be rooting for everyone from the sidelines as I am once again working on two books, one in the creation phase and the other in the editing phase…so I guess that makes me a NaNo Rebel, and something which will always be the case. For one thing, I am internally driven and put enough pressure on myself to get things done, and I tend to stall with word count pressure. If I simply approach my work and write, without being concerned with how many words I’ve written or revised, I am much happier. BUT for those who like the challenge of the word count pressure, and find themselves stalling on their work in progress, you might want to give Write Or Die a try.

Whether you outline, cluster, or are simply a panster, I wish you the best luck for the month of November, lots of words and hope no one OD’s on too much coffee, twizzlers, or whatever else fuels the writing fires.

Happy Writing!

Then, after having such a wonderful day brightener, it got even better. Denise’s 12-year-old daughter (pictured to the left – isn’t she a doll?), who also read Misfit McCabe posted a comment on the family blog, which she gave me permission to post below:

The best part of this for me was not that she loved the book, which is still fabulous, but how she expressed the connection she made to the words and the surprise that a book could cause that level of emotion. I think Jewelz and I must be much alike when I was her age, in that I could not cry in front of others about anything that had to do with me. My tears were private and emotion was buried as far as I could get it. Except when reading or watching a movie, which then allowed me to vicariously let go of the emotions I had been harboring inside. One of the comments I hear frequently about Misfit McCabe is you made me cry hurled like an accusation. I am delighted to hear it because it means I have effectively done my job and struck a chord within the reader. (Sorry guys, not going to say sorry for making anyone cry.)

I was recently challenged by another Twitter friend, Monica Pearce (@MonicaEPierce) and had to tell her why I feel my books are important because she called me out when I called them simple stories. Jewelz encapsulated it perfectly in the surprise that a book could cause that level of emotion. I write stories so readers like Jewelz can connect with my characters and know that they are not the only ones who feel that way and make mistakes and it’s okay to feel the emotions. In this complicated world, the task of growing up is filled with pitfalls and uncertainty and by reading about characters who experience similar issues to their own, it helps the path to feel a little firmer under foot. Or, at least, it did for me and this is what I hope to pass on to my readers and why I write.

Thanks to Jewelz for her comments – she has truly made my day & probably my week.

One of the most dynamic and best utilizations of the Twitter network I have seen is the use of hashtags within the message. By clicking on a hashtag you see in a message it does a search for anything marked with the hash. Instantaneously, you are in the midst of a dynamic, live, ongoing chat with anyone who would like to participate. Some of the hashes are more formalized and there are specific days and times for people to get together and most times there is a moderator and a topic for the discussion. It can still get a little wild. Anyone who knows me well knows that the informal application would appeal to me more than the formalized. Although, on occasion I will participate in #kidlitchat or #yalitchat. But the most fun I have is with a group of writers who are dedicated, enthusiastic, and supportive and the chat, which is ongoing pretty much 24/7, and resembles a combination kegger and writer support group under the hash of #amwritingparty

Struggling with your manuscript and need some help or an understanding ear? No problem, just hop on the net and bring up the #amwritingparty and tweet about your issue. Someone is bound to respond with a suggestion, some words of wisdom, or a cyber hug, depending on what the issue is. They are there for your triumphs, ready to let virtual streamers sail and sparkly confetti fall. When you’re stuck for words, they dispense some magic sparkly wordy dust and the beverage of your choice. *virtual jello shot anyone?* There are also the times when you need a little upbraiding, and someone is there to read the riot act, and console you once its done. And, for whatever reasons, these measures do seem to work. Focus becomes possible, words start to flow and knotty plot problems get resolved. The #amwritingparty hash was started by a sparkly new writer, Sara McClung and she describes how the creation of the hash came about in a blog post on her site: The Babbling Flow of a Fledgling Scribbler.

When I started writing, I went to a writing class which had the format of critiquing everyone’s work each week. I can remember the excitement with which I anticipated each class and how I hated when the class ended for the evening, because that meant I started the waiting cyccle all over again. I thrived so much on being in the presence of other writers, hearing their work, listening to their critiques, learning and soaking up as much as I could during the brief time we spent together each week. That is what makes the online writing communities so wonderful. It is possible to replicate the fueling energy that comes from being around other writers, and it isn’t necessary to wait.

On my way home, I had reached that point where I was sure Nowhere Feels Like Home was an unsalvageable mess and I might as well scrap it. Fortunately, I’ve been writing long enough to know this mood and realize that’s all it is, a phase that I will get through. I usually hit it when I have finished the novel, have done the first blush editing and now face the nitty gritty work of going through word by word – knowing there is a lot that has to be redone. The evil little goblin on my left tells me to just give up, while the angel on my right tells me to hang in there, I can do better. After a few days of heavy procrastinating, I’ll force myself to buckle down and will become immersed in the book once more and you won’t be able to get me away from it.

Arriving home, I was a little down. And once I brought email up again, I remembered the whole, strange Twitter follow thing that was going on, and it still was. More and more follower notifications kept popping into my inbox. There were so many, I was beginning to wonder whether I should be getting paranoid. Instead, I headed on over to Twitter to find out what was going on. Still clueless, it wasn’t until I saw a tweet by @CarolHousel telling me I made a Mashable and then suddenly the world made sense once again. Cameron Chapman created a list of the 100+ Best Authors on Twitter, and I made the list under Children’s and Young Adult. I am definitely honored to have made the list. And it does explain the upsurge in followers. Now, all of a sudden, I’m back up in the clouds, and everything seems possible. Even finishing the editing on Nowhere Feels Like Home, (but not this weekend).  ***I know the butterfly doesn’t have anything to do with this post – I just thought it was pretty.***

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LK Gardner-Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
For other e-book formats, visit Smashwords.com
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

This morning, I did think about how being an author is such a solitary endeavor. It’s not a new thought I know, but I think that’s why so many authors I know enjoy Twitter so much. Think about it, you’re working away, typing, scribbling, deleting, maybe, like me, talking to yourself as you go. You just pour your heart and soul on to the page, or write and extreme action packed scene. You have been through the emotions with your characters. You take your hands off the keyboard, or for some of the more old-fashioned authors, put the pen down, and you know you’ve nailed it. You’ve just done some of your best work. Your heart is racing and you want to share your enthusiasm and elation with someone. . .anyone. Here’s where Twitter comes in. You pop onto the Internet, bring Twitter up and instantly have a sense of community. Someone out there is listening and you can Tweet or Twitter about your success and the feelings that you have. Someone is bound to tweet back, and even if unrelated to what you have written, you feel comforted. There is another soul out there who understands.

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I am an avid college baseball fan. I enjoy the team spirit, the competitiveness of the games, and how even the crowd is considered a part of the success or failure of the game. I follow our team’s games very closely, either from my seat in the stands, or when they are away via Gametracker and radio broadcasts. I am a devoted fan. Of course, then my mind segued into fans of books, like the following that JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer have. Their fans are just as devoted to their writing as I am to my baseball games. The difference is that JK and Stephenie, and all the rest of the writers in the world, are competing (against the blank page) for the most part alone. When they write the passage that’s a home run, there’s no one to go crazy in the stands. Can you imagine it? A stadium full of screaming tweens and teens as Rowling or Meyer work at a table (the playing author playing field). Oh, the delete button is in heavy use, a groan arises from the crowd. A sudden a burst of typing occurs. A hush falls over the crowd. A smile lights up the corner of their mouth. A chant erupts as the fans cheer their author on to the finish line. And then it happens, the passage that has been such a struggle. All of the attempts, the strikeouts, the fresh starts, and all of a sudden, it’s out of here. A home run. The crowd goes wild.

And since it will never happen, we have twitter. Somewhere to share that burst of feeling we simply can’t contain. I know we have friends and family, but unless they also write, do they truly understand what it’s like to walk on air after having climbed a mountain and stand looking from the peak at the path you have conquered? You’ve run the race, conquered your opponent, it’s a feeling like no other. So we twitter.

Of course, since on the way to work myself not long after that thought, I mused over the different possiblities that invoking the Twitter mentality in the workplace could foster. Just think of it. . .managers would check those that they are following on twitter every morning to see whether anyone would not be arriving at the work place as expected. What if the employee blocked the manager so that they couldn’t see their updates?

Every company has them. The people who go on and on and on and on in email and never quite get to the point. Just think how implementing the Twitter mentality in email would be. Everyone would be limited to a certain number of characters, so they couldn’t waste all that time typing up their latest dissertation to confuse the masses with and would have to get to the  point. Straight to the point every email. No room for fluff. And for those who tend to pontificate and never say anything of value – that’s the beauty of the block function. Most companies would save paper because those employees who insist on printing out their emails so that they can be maintained in paper files, would now be reduced to printing a single page which could contain several communications.

(Now, this one’s my favorite) Meetings. . .I’m in meetings all the time, and if not meetings then conference calls. Wouldn’t it be great to implement the 140 second rule? Once the time had passed, your turn is over and the floor turns over to someone else. We’d get them over with in record time, and you eliminate having to listen to someone drone on and on for an hour on a topic that actually has nothing to do with your job.

Let the Twitter revolution begin.
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LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review