Warm Up Wrap Up

We did it, everyone! We made it to the end of October, and hopefully the end of our long hike towards 25,000 words! But even if you didn't, I'm sure you've heard us talking about what will probably become Project Warm Up's official mantra: Every. Word. Counts.

If you made ANY progress this month, those are words taking you closer to your goal! That's cause for celebration!

So tell us how you did!

Did you hit your goal? Come close? Find out your story was dead and start on another? Completely forget about #NaNoWarmUp until today? Share in the comments!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo?

Share your username and we'll update this page so they're all in one handy spot. For those of you participating, we look forward to writing with you in November!

-Savannah and Kat

NaNoWriMo Participants

1. Benediza Lescano
2. Charlie
3. Jessica S.
4. Anna Leighton
5. JCMorrows
6. Diyana Wan
7. Susan Earley
8. Michelle Gilmore

Final Inspiration Post

Only 4 days left of Project Warm Up 2013! It's your last chance to share inspiration to last you the rest of the week.

On Thursday we'll do our final recap, and invite everyone to talk about what you've learned, and what your NaNoWriMo plans are.

Can't wait to hear from you!

-Kat and Savannah

Our Last Weekly Check In!

Whew, we've almost made it! How are you doing? Are you closing in on 25k? I'm astounded that some of you had already passed the 25k mark as early as last week!

Just remember, even if you don't hit 25k, every word you add is a step forward. There's no losing this month!

Here's a few updates and notices for next week:

NaNoWarmUp was featured in YA Interrobang on Sunday!

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, who graciously donated several books for our weekly giveaways, have launched an amazing project where writers help other writers with queries, pitches, hooks, publishing advice, and more!

Monday will be our last Inspirational post, so make it count!

Next Thursday is the last day of Project Warm Up! We'll be asking you about your NaNoWriMo plans, and inviting you to share your user ID.

Please share your status in the comments!

Inspiration Post: Week 4!

It's our last full week of writing!

Today is our fourth inspirational post, and to keep you inspired we're giving away the Positive Trait Thesaurus, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi!

UNEARTH YOUR CHARACTER’S UNIQUE PERSONALITY

Character creation can be hard, but it’s about to get a lot easier. Inside The Positive Trait Thesaurus, you’ll find:

• A large selection of attributes to choose from when building a personality profile. Each entry lists possible causes for why a trait might emerge, along with associated attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions 
• Real character examples from literature, film, or television to show how an attribute drives actions and decisions, influences goals, and steers relationships 
• Advice on using positive traits to immediately hook readers while avoiding common personality pitfalls 
• Insight on human needs and morality, and how each determines the strengths that emerge in heroes and villains alike 
• Information on the key role positive attributes play within the character arc, and how they’re vital to overcoming fatal flaws and achieving success 
• Downloadable tools for organizing a character’s attributes and providing a deeper understanding of his past, his needs, and the emotional wounds he must overcome 

If you find character creation difficult or worry that your cast members all seem the same, The Positive Trait Thesaurus is brimming with ideas to help you develop one-of-a-kind, dynamic characters that readers will love. Click here for a sample entry!

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Today is also the launch of Angela and Becca's new project, Writers Helping Writers. They're doing a ton of giveaways, and setting up a project for writers to assist other writers with their projects.

What Inspires You?

Weekly Check In

How is everyone doing, as the end of week 3 comes to a close?

Today is also the last day to participate in our weekly giveaway! You can enter by commenting with something inspirational, or tweeting about the giveaway! PS: you don't have to be a member of the project to participate!

<3,

Savannah and Kat

Inspirational Post: Week 3

Can you guys believe it's week 3 already?!

Today is our third inspirational post, and I am so excited to share this latest giveaway with you! Angela Ackerman of the former Bookshelf Muse (recently most to Writers Helping Writers) noticed our NaNoWarmUp Project via Twitter and volunteered materials for our next two giveaways!

You probably know Angela through The Emotion Thesaurus. Yes, she's a co-writer of the book we gave away last week, along with YA Writer Becca Puglisi! Angela and Becca have two new books coming out on October 21st, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and The Positive Trait Thesaurus.

Let's start out with The Negative Trait Thesaurus! Here's the pitch:

TAKE CHARACTER CREATION TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL!

Nothing adds complexity like character flaws. Inside the Negative Trait Thesaurus you’ll find:

• A vast collection of flaws to explore when building a character’s personality. Each entry includes possible causes, attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and related emotions 
• Real examples from literature, film, or television to show how each flaw can create life challenges and relational friction 
• Advice on building layered and memorable characters from the ground up 
• An in-depth look at backstory, emotional wounds, and how pain twists a character’s view of himself and his world, influencing behavior and decision making 
• A flaw-centric exploration of character arc, relationships, motivation, and basic needs 
• Tips on how to best show a character’s flaws to readers while avoiding common pitfalls 
• Downloadable tools to aid writers in character creation 
• The Negative Trait Thesaurus sheds light on your character’s dark side. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out Angela and Becca's new project, Writers Helping Writers. They're doing a ton of giveaways, and setting up a project for writers to assist other writers with their projects.

What Inspires You?

Weekly Check In

Happy Friday everyone! How has the second week treated you?

Today is the last day to participate in our weekly giveaway! You can enter by commenting with something inspirational, or tweeting about the giveaway! PS: you don't have to be a member of the project to participate!

Kat and I are going to be at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN this Saturday and Sunday. If you're in the area we hope to see you there!

PS: Kat is hosting a Catch Up Day today via Twitter. If you're behind on your words consider joining in!

<3,

Kat and Savannah

Inspirational Post: Week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of Project NaNoWarmUp!

Today is our second inspirational post! Here's how it works: In the comments post a quote or link for something that inspires you (related to writing, obviously). If you feel stuck throughout the week, refer back to this post for the inspiration or insight you need to keep going!

What inspires you?

For our week 2 giveaway, at our participants' request we are giving away a copy of The Emotion Thesaurus! Remember, you don't have to be a participant in NaNoWarmUp to enter :-)

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Weekly Check In

Happy Friday everyone! How has your first week been? We've seen a lot of activity on the #NaNoWarmUp hashtag on Twitter, and lots of people hosting their own sprints! Thank you so much for all your participation that's making this project so inspiring!

Today is also the last day to participate in our weekly giveaway! You can enter by commenting with something inspirational, or tweeting about the giveaway! PS: you don't have to be a member of the project to participate!

Finally, a little housekeeping: We're seeing that comments won't load over 200, so unfortunately we had to go through and delete some non-essential comments from the Warm Uppers page in order to get all participants to show up. Now that we're at the end of week 1 we're not expecting more sign ups, so we shouldn't have to do any more deleting. Thank you for your patience!

<3,

Kat and Savannah

Community Question: How do you stay focused on your WIP

We just want to say a special thank you to everyone who has participated so far. The project has already exceeded our expectations for participation, and we are so glad and excited to be writing with every single one of you!

Haven't signed up yet? You can do so by checking out this post.

~

Today is also our very first Community Question! We find that lots of people suffer from Shiny New Idea Syndrome. For those of you who struggle with it, or have learned to conquer it...

How do you stay focused on your WIP?

Don't forget about our giveaway for the week! It ends on Friday but you can enter all week!

Inspirational Post & Giveaway!

Welcome to Day 1 of Project NaNoWarmUp! We can't wait to get writing with you!

Today is also our first inspirational post! Here's how it works: In the comments post a quote or link for something that inspires you (related to writing, obviously). If you feel stuck throughout the week, refer back to this post for the inspiration or insight you need to keep going!

What inspires you?

(Haven't signed up for NaNoWarmUp yet? See this post for how to do that and get writing with us!)

~

In honor of week 1 and our first Inspirational Post, I'd love to give away a book about writing that seriously inspires me. We all know about Bird by Bird, but this is a book my mother gave me that I'd never heard about, and can't believe more people aren't reading it. It's a little new age (honestly I skipped all the breathing exercises) but I couldn't stop underlining and notating advice. The book was so inspiring I had to keep putting it down because my joy and inspiration were so intense. I hope you enjoy!

-Savannah

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