Author Guide: Updated & Improved!

The month is over halfway over, but this doesn’t mean the battle for NaNoWriMo has slacked–nooo! For some writers, they’re about to buckle down and get serious! Others will fight to keep the incredible pace they set in the first half of the month. But one thing is for certain: everyone attempting NaNoWriMo–whether you win or don’t quite make it–is incredible. Go you for trying!

To celebrate NaNoWriMo, I’ve done a big update to my Author Resource guide! (For the PDF, click here! Otherwise you can access it in the For Writers tab at the top of the website.) I added in a brand new section that goes over a few online tools I use: things like the newsletter service I use, as well as the program Rock-Star-Assistant-Meg uses to format my books.

I also added a few new reference books, heaps of podcasts, and some new youtube channels. A lot of the resources listed will be helpful even after NaNoWriMo is finished, so come back and check the guide out throughout the year!

But enough work stuff. By right about now, I’m figuring you NaNoWriMo warriors need some encouragement, so I’ve found some great Youtube channels that offer writing tips, book advice, or general encouragement–and the best part is all of these channels are entertaining as well!

Terrible Writing Advice: This is one of my most favorite youtube channels ever. Everything’s a satire, poorly-animated-on-purpose, and the narrator is hilarious as he mercilessly rips through some of our favorite tropes and genre tricks. (This channel actually helped me a lot in developing my Fairy Tale Enchantress series!)

Kate Cavanaugh: Kate is a member of what is called “Authortube,” which is a loose group of writers who have the aim of writing books, getting published in the traditional way or indie way, and become full time authors! (A few Authortubers are published authors, and they cover super helpful topics as well!) Kate’s videos are more vlog style as she records her writing process–the highs and lows. However, she’s high on the entertainment side of things, and does lots of fun challenges that she records as well. She’s fun to listen to, she’s actually doing daily vlogs for NaNoWriMo this year, and she’s a big numbers nerd so she experiments a lot with ways to increase her writing speed.

Hello Future Me: this channel uses references from pop culture to dissect various writing elements–like prologues, magic systems, redemption arcs and more. This channel leans more heavily on the informational/educational side of entertainment, but I still count it as being fun to listen to because I love the discussions that dig into nitty gritty details like the magic of Hogwarts or the limitations to Gandalf’s magic! (It’s the geek in me, I can’t help it!)

To all the Champions currently embattled with NaNoWriMo, good luck! As Positive Possum says, you can do it! To those who aspire to one day try NaNoWriMo, I hope you enjoy the youtube channels in preparation, and don’t give up! One day you’ll join us in this fight! 😉

Thanks for reading, Champions!