Check out this site:

www.nanowrimo.org

I'm doing it. Why not sign up with me?

lol, I thought it was a website about nanowriter!

It is! Or at least it is supposed to be! I'm writing a serial killer novel. (fun)

I didn't see this until just now, sorry. So, lurioosi, how's it going? I've actually thought about doing this, but I decided not to this year because I'm trying to finish up a final rewrite on my novel, getting it ready to send out after the first of the year. Maybe I'll do it next year. A couple of people in my writer's group are doing it now.

I started, but I decided to put it aside. There are other things going on that need attention, and my creativity still isn't all there. I would love to read your novel when it comes out.

I wish that I'd seen this. It would have been fun.

I'm about halfway through the novel that I'm writing. It's interesting. I've kind of looked at online writing groups, but I don't know much about them. Could you guys give any advice about good writing sites?

It's so cool to find some other writers on this site! Verve, have you checked out the Poets and Writer's Speakeasy? It's not a critique site, but there is a lot of great info on there about writing and publishing. Here is the link to the site. You should check it out.

http://www.pw.org/speakeasy/

Why is it that when I find another person who writes I feel like I have found some long lost sorority sister?

It does feel like that, doesn't it? I didn't know any other writers until I started my MFA program. Now, I know lots of writers, and it's wonderful. Writing is such a solitary endeavor, so it's nice to connect with other people who understand something about the writing life.

I started writing when I was about 8 or 10, I guess. My grandparents had a really old, extremely heavy typewriter that I learned to type on. I remember you had to press very hard on the keys to get the letters to show on the paper. However, it opened a world for me that had only been dreamed about! Playing with barbies and paper dolls was totally different than being able to write out my own ideas. Sure, I had hand written some stuff, but I've never been one for writing by hand. My mind goes way too quickly.

And, yes, it is AMAZING to find others who write. I know people who 'dabble' but none that are really serious about it. If I couldn't write, I think I would go crazy. It helps ease all my tension and frustration. I had writers block for awhile and I swear, I was the veriest jerk around! Do you guys feel that way about writing, too?

When I can't write, I feel like part of me isn't functioning. Sometimes when my medicine gets adjusted it affects my creativity, and it's almost like I mourn for that part of me. But I am one of those "undisciplined" writers many times. If I am passionate about what I am writing, I write endlessly. But if nothing grabs me, I just can't seem to do it. I can put something down, but it's usually crap. I can't remember ever not writing. I also remember typewriters. I would use the one at my dad's office, and I would put carbon paper and other paper in too so that I could have carbon copies to give people. My big memory is Dad's secretary helping me type a story about a doll from China and then letting me use the memeograph machine to make a lot of copies.

I don't really get blocked in general, but sometimes I get stuck with a particular story/novel. When this happens, I find that it helps to just give it a rest for awhile and work on something else. Usually, while I'm working on another project, the answer to my problem with the original story will reveal itself eventually. I can't force it. It's something that just has to happen in its own time. But I'm always writing something. It may not always be brilliant, but I have to have something going at all times or I feel very antsy and incomplete.

I don't ever remember not wanting to be a writer. When I was in kindergarten, I got steaming mad at my teacher because she put me in the group of kids that weren't "ready" to read yet. I decided I'd show her, so I taught myself how to read with some old "[censored] and Jane" books I found in the garage. I wrote my first novel in the 5th grade (if I'd tried to publish it, I would have been sued for plagiarizing Walter Farley for sure). I used to ride my bike up and down the street in front of my house and make up stories in my head for hours everyday. I wrote an entire novel in my head that way - imagining different "chapters" each day. I was a strange and lonely kid. I was an only child and my mom worked all day, so there wasn't much else to do except to tell myself stories.

Wow, I could have written that myself! I was an only child and I was constantly writing and making up stories. My mom always said I lived in a dream world and still do. I take it as a compliment! :-)

I still find it incredibly soothing and it enables me to go to sleep easier if I make up stories in my head at night. That's how many of my short stories, etc have started. It's kind of weird and many people don't get it, but by doing that I am able to get some rest. Otherwise I will lie in bed for hours, just thinking about nonsense.