Camp NaNoWriMo: July 2023 Edition

 

Happy Summer Solstice!

It's hot as a hellhound where I'm from (TX). Yesterday, we broke our record high for this time of year at 114 degrees! So, it looks like it's shaping up to be the perfect summer to STAY INSIDE! Which is fine because Camp NaNoWriMo is right around the corner.

Most of you probably know what Camp NaNoWriMo is by now, but if not, it's an offshoot of NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month (which takes place in November) where authors attempt to write a 50K word novel in one month. Camp NaNoWriMo is a bit different. It takes place twice a year (April & July) and the goal doesn't have to be to write an entire novel. It's more about making major headway in a specific area or knocking out goals on multiple projects.

My focus for this Camp NaNoWriMo is going to be getting through as much of the developmental edits on THE DAPPER DETECTIVE as possible. I'd LOVE to complete them by the end of July, but as long as I make some major progress then I'll be happy. I just finished the second draft this past week and while I'm happy with the story, I know it needs to be bulked up a bit. So, developmental edits will help with this by giving me the opportunity to see where I can add more scenes or get a little more descriptive.

If things go my way, universe willing, I'm hoping to have this book out by Autumn of this year. Fingers crossed! I know so many of you looking forward to this story and I'm eager to get it into your hands.

Since Camp NaNoWriMo is a more social event between writers, you'll probably see me back on social media a bit more during July. I'd love to have you join me there on my progress through writing this book! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram.

Have a great week, everyone! 

❤ Dez

Preptober Update + Title Reveal

 

I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) again this year and I'm excited to officially announce that the project I'll be working on is THE DAPPER DETECTIVE, the sequel to my MM Gaslamp Fantasy novel THE DANDY MEDIUM.

I've actually gotten a head start. I've already written the first 12K words. This Preptober (the NaNoWriMo nickname for October since it's when we do our prepping), I reread what I'd already written and have been jotting down notes, ideas, and further fleshing out my outline so I'll be ready to hit the ground running on November 1st.

I've also made the decision that these two books will be a Duology. This story picks up several months after the events of THE DANDY MEDIUM and Alfie and Sebastian are pulled into another gothic murder mystery. But will they be able to survive this time? Who's ready for another Alfie & Sebastian adventure?!

If you haven't read THE DANDY MEDIUM yet, you can get caught up HERE!

You can also follow along with my progress next month on the NaNoWriMo site and, of course, I'll be posting my process and behind-the-scenes tidbits on social media.

I'm looking forward to sharing more with you all soon!

Have a Happy Halloween my spooky friends!

- Dez 🖤

NaNoWriMo 2018

(Equipped and ready!)

I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2016 when I wrote the first draft of HUNTER (scheduled for release April 2019 through NineStar Press) but missed out on joining in last year.  I've yet to determine if NaNoWriMo is really for me so I wanted to give it another try and it just so happened to be coming around right as I'm delving into writing the final book in the ROAM trilogy.  The timing is convenient and I'm hoping all of the fuss surrounding NaNoWriMo will help keep me on track.  My goal for November is to see how much writing I can actually accomplish during certain time frames of a day so that moving forward I will better know how to schedule my time and set personal deadlines for myself that I can realistically adhere to.

What Book Will I Be Writing?

As mentioned, I'll be working on the third ROAM book, DREAM WEAVER.  

What Prep Work Have I Done?

I have a general outline of the story and I've already written the first 1,500 words because laying down those intial lines is always the hardest part for me.  Like an artist with a fresh canvas; but thankfully writers have delete buttons if we don't like our first strokes.  I wanted to have this part down before November that way I would know exactly where I was jumping in at and I wouldn't waste time mulling over it.

I've also brushed up on my two previous stories and made a list of loose ends that I want to tie up.  With this being the final book in the main series, I need to try and give it as much closure as possible.

I'm looking forward to participating with the writing community surrounding NaNoWriMo and seeing how much I can accomplish.  If you're also planning to join in, let me know!

~ Dez ~


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OUT NOW

Amazon | B&N | NSP

It's time to face your nightmares.

Soon To Be Released

- HUNTER (ROAM, Book Two), coming April 2019 through NineStar Press.

November 2016: Updates

I hope everyone had a fang-tastic Halloween!  I also hope you all enjoyed my short story, Fossegrimen.  If you missed out on it, have no fear.  It's available to read for free on Wattpad and I will also be offering it as a free download on Kindle soon.

Thank you to everyone that has read The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett!  I'm so glad to hear how much you all have liked it.  Getting DMs and comments about which characters are your favorites and why is incredibly fun.  If you have some free time, please leave a review on either Goodreads, Amazon, or both!  It helps the book reach more potential readers on those sites and I would love to get this series into as many hands, minds, and hearts as possible.

This year I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time!  "Casually" participating, anyway.  I'm not really trying to win any awards at the moment or compete with anyone or whatnot. (Oh dear.  Now I'm starting to sound like Dr. Grady Hunter...)  Mostly, I just want to see what all the fuss is about and I'm using it to track my progress while I write HUNTER.

Speaking of- HUNTER is back on track!  Now that Dacey has been let loose into the world (Print version still to come.), I can get my main focus back to Ethan and Grady.  I think you guys will really enjoy the twist this book will bring to the series as a whole.

What else?  Oh, yes.  Commissions are now CLOSED.  If you follow my social media then you probably know I also do illustrations.  Thank you so much to everyone that ordered from me this year!  I finished up my last commission of 2016 last night and I am done.  Probably for a long time.  While making extra cash is nice, working on commissions is extremely time consuming.  After a lot of deliberation, I've decided not to accept any more for a while with one exception:  I'm still willing to collaborate with other artists so long as your idea fits my aesthetic.  Have some supernatural dapper dudes you want drawn or colored?  I'm there!  Otherwise, I'm outties for now on the illustration game.  Save for working on my own projects, of course.  I've had a number of people request more illustrations of my OCs and even, potentially, some web comic style posts.  So, if I'm going to devote time away from writing to drawing then I'd rather it be for projects in that vein.  I'm sure you all understand.  Mostly, I just want to write!!

Do we feel good and updated now?  Was that a sufficient 'Welcome-To-November' blog post?  No?  You want more?  GOOD!  I HAVE SOME MORE!

I'm looking into putting some progress bar widgets onto this blog so you can keep track of my work.  Still trying to decide exactly how I'd like to go about that so it's just a WIP at the moment.  For now, here's an old school style write up of what's to come.

UPCOMING RELEASES:
Kindle
Short Story // Dark Fantasy, Historical Fiction
'Fossegrimen' - Mid. to Late November

CURRENT PROJECT:
Novel // Paranormal Fiction, Urban Fantasy, LGBT
'HUNTER: Book II of the ROAM Series'
Status: 22,500 words of approx. 50,000

NEXT UP:
Novel // Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, LGBT
'DůO'
Status: Outline


That last one probably left you with more questions than answers.  ;)

Thanks for reading!
~Dez~