November = NaNo Madness!!!

Over at the YA Buccaneers we're celebrating November and all that is NaNo Madness! 

For those of you that aren't quite sure what NaNoWriMo is, here's a quick intro directly from their website:

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel. Here’s a little more about how it all works.

If you've never done NaNo before and are still thinking about signing up, it's not too late!!! NaNo is an awesome writing adventure during the entire month of November and whether you do or don't complete the 50,000 words, you'll still meet some amazing writers, get encouragement to write, and have a chance to celebrate with other writers all month long! It's quite an incredible forum to be a part of and one I highly recommend.

I won't be doing NaNoWriMo this year, but instead, have banded with a few writer friends to do what we like to call NaNoReviseMo, since I have some revisions to tackle on my current MS, WTWF. But I for sure will still be bouncing in and out of the NaNo forums to see how everyone's doing!

However, to help encourage everyone to write, the YA Buccaneers will be increasing the number of Word Sprints for the entire month of November, starting this week! 

Come join us on Twitter for three days of Sprints this week and get your NaNo groove on! No matter if you're drafting or revising -- all you need to do is write, write, WRITE! 

The Time: 

Tuesday, November 5th (today!), at 7pm EST (4pm PST) - hosted by yours truly!

Wednesday, November 6th, at 8pm EST (5pm PST)

Thursday, November 7th, at 8pm EST (5pm PST) 

The Place:  

Join in the fun on Twitter using our handle, @YABuccaneers, and the hashtag #YABWordSprint. Don't forget to tweet your word count at the end of the hour and sign up for this month's giveaway using the Rafflecopter form on the YA Buccaneers site! Please see the YA Buccaneers site for all details and giveaway rules.

In addition to Word Sprints, the Buccaneers will have several other fun events during the month of November, so make sure to stop on by if you're needing a little incentive to write!

Are you tackling NaNoWriMo or NaNoReviseMo this month? If so, best of luck -- drop your NaNo handle in the comments below so I can make sure to cheer you on!

YA Buccaneers NaNoWriMo Treasure Hunt

To celebrate the upcoming entire month of November and all it means for us writers, we YA Buccaneers thought it would be fun to host a NaNoWriMo Treasure Hunt!

And what exactly does that entail?

Well it's simple:

1. Each YA Buccaneer crew member will post a tip on how to navigate the high seas of NaNo on their own personal blogs.

2. Anyone who would like to join us will simply hop from blog to blog to read all the great NaNo tips. We'll make sure to provide a link to the next blog you hop to!

3. Leave a comment on each blog. 

4. Enter your name on the RaffleCopter widget at the bottom of each post -- the more blogs you visit = more entries to win!

And voila! You're entered in our treasure hunt to win a copy of NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM by Chris Baty -- an excellent guide to help you with your MS during the 30 days of NaNo!

So, my NaNo tip for the Treasure Hunt?

Don't get caught up in the small stuff.

NaNoWriMo is a time for unabashed writing...not editing. There will be time for that later! All you need to focus on during this time is writing. Getting all those crazy words in your head, down on paper.

Yes, some of it will be trashed later.
Yes, some of it will be completely unusable.

But yes, some of it will actually stick when all is said and done.

The point of NaNo is to write.

So don't sweat the small stuff...that's all fixable later. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on NaNo - will you be entering this year? Do you have any tips you'd like to share? Drop a note in my comments below -- and don't forget to enter your name in the RaffleCopter widget to win! 

For your next stop on the NaNoWriMo Treasure Hunt, please hop on over to The Dread Pirate B's blog for her advice on conquering NaNo this year! Stop by the YA Buccaneers to catch up on any blogs you may have missed, too!

I hope to see you around the NaNo-sphere next month!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's #TalkLikeAPirate Day Today!

Yep, a day for all us sea lovin' swashbucklers, today is Talk Like A Pirate Day!

And to celebrate a day made just for the YA Buccaneers, we're giving away some RRRRRRRRRR-mazing prizes and critiques to anyone deemed worthy of the best pirate speak tweet!

Think you can throw down a pirate book mashup? 

Think you can give us your best pirate speak query advice?

Well we'd love to see it!

Don't forget to include #YABPirateTalk so we can read all your fabulous creations -- and stop by to see all the great tweets we've amassed so far!

Check out our post today over on The YA Buccaneers for all the deets!

I hope you'll join us, after all, it's not every day you get to Talk Like A Pirate!

Introducing: The YA Buccaneers

It's here, the big day is finally here!!!

We are so excited to announce the launch of our amazing group blog:

The YA Buccaneers!

A combined effort by ten amazing ladies, we've put together some pretty awesome content that we hope you'll come on by to check out! 

Today's the official day of launch -- over the next two weeks we'll be introducing you to each member of the crew, not to mention, hosting a pretty incredible giveaway for all those that would like to join us on our journey!

Adventure awaits and we can't wait to set sail with you!