For those of you who don’t know me, I’m usually the calm one. I’m the perpetual big sister with a shoulder for everyone else to cry on. This month, even though I’ve been laughing and silly, there’s been an undercurrent of emotion I’m not used to dealing with. It’s made life interesting to say the least.

As I’ve mentioned before I was taking a course through Transitions. I highly recommend it to anyone who is at a crossroads in their career (or even their life). It is a roller-coaster. I discovered a lot about myself that I’d effectively hidden or taken for granted over the years. It also validated the path that I’m on and has given me even more connections and resources to use in my journey.

I crossed the 50,000 words finish line on Saturday for NaNoWriMo. During the all day writing marathon at my place and we had a blast. Two of us passed the finish line amidst lots of applause (and huge sugar rushes from all the sweets and other goodies). PaperBox Books supplied pop and pizza to keep us fueled during the day. The last people left just after 10pm. I was so sorry to see them go. My house felt very empty afterward.

Today is the last day and even though I’ve crossed the 50k mark there are still a few thousand words left to my story. We’re word warring with New Zealand, so every word counts. I’ll finish my story and do my part to win.

Then it’s back to the grind:

Reviewing novels to publish at PaperBox Books, creating a proposal for a couple of places to conduct seminars on internet marketing and writing (this really excites me) and creating/updating three website that fell by the wayside during November.

If you write, I can’t recommend this conference enough. I rubbed shoulders with world class authors, powerful editors & agents and oodles of soon-to-be-famous writers and filled my head (and notebook) with great advice and vital knowledge.

Times might be bleak, but the outlook is positive for those of us who want to write for a living. In one of the sessions I attended (wearing my managing editor hat for www.PaperBoxBooks.com), Donald Maass was intrigued by my identification of a widening gap in the market. He commented that we might be on to something with our e-publishing company’s plan to give first time authors exposure and sales and an introduction to the business side of publishing.

The timing is spectacular as next weekend marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo (www.nanowrimo.org), the insane adventure of writing a 50,000 words novel in thirty days. This will be my third year participating. Not only is the deadline a great get-off-your-butt-and-write incentive, but the community that has developed around the challenge is extraordinary.

Here in Vancouver, we’ve extended the event all year. We don’t keep up the frantic pace, but we still get together every week and write, cheerlead, help and encourage each other. Kick-off party is Saturday, October 31^st and there will be several events during the month to get to know your fellow writers–added bonus, weekly emails of encouragement from famous writers like Neil Gaimen.

Whether you live in Vancouver or not, check out the NaNo website for details on your local region. If you’re not interested in participating in the challenge, don’t ignore the website. It has lively discussion boards to answer writing and genre questions.

Now it’s time to organize my notes from the conference so I don’t feel so overwhelmed then buckle down to edit submitted material before I’m allowed to change gears again and outline my plan for this year’s NaNo.