Every year when I do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, I find look for resources to help me plan or help when I get stuck. The NaNo forums are a great place to find help.
I’ve put together a bunch of resources that should help us plan in October and procrastinate (I mean do research to keep the plot moving) in November.
Blog Action Day this year focused on poverty. Over 12,000 bloggers wrote a post about the subject. So, how is this a writing exercise?
Most new writers are afraid of someone taking their ideas. If you’ve been writing any time at all, you know that no two writers approach any subject the same way. If you’ve ever been part of a group where you’ve done writing to prompts, you know how widely the results vary.
Blog Action Day was a huge writing prompt experience. If you read through the Blog Action Day entries, you will find amazing differences in the subjects and the causes promoted.
Here are some samples of what one group of business people wrote. We are all in different businesses and all look at poverty, life, and most other things differently.
Let’s celebrate our differences.
Please take a moment and check out what my friends shared…
Today is Blog Action Day. This year the focus is on poverty. I feel that everyone should focus on propagating abundance rather than eliminating poverty. It’s much more useful to focus on the positive.
If anyone understands poverty and abundance, it’s writers. The 2006 US figures show that half of all writers earn between $34,850 and $67,820. The lowest paid earn less than $25,430 and the highest earn more than $97,700.
The gap in earnings is enormous. Forbes recently released figures for the highest earning authors. Romance authors didn’t show up on that list (except for Danielle Steele, who really isn’t a romance writer). I’d like to think that the big names of romance told Forbes that it was none of their business what they earned.
We write for many reasons. Fame and fortune isn’t usually high on the list.
Although most of us aren’t making great fortunes, we know abundance with plots and story ideas. We have scores of characters whispering in our ears demanding that their stories be told.
No matter how much or how little we make, there are people all over the world who have fewer choices and resources than we do. One organization I’ve found that actually makes a difference is Kiva.
Kiva lets individuals lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. As a lender, you can study the requests and loan to the person you chose. Most loans are less than $25.
I’ve been a member for a couple of years.
I’ve found the experience very rewarding. If you are looking for a way that you can make a difference, check out Kiva.
Whatever else you do today
Write on,
Lynn Jordan
