Drafting that  first novel in Nanowrimo 2008 helped me overcome my phobia of the long form. Before that year, I had never written anything longer than 10,000 words.  Since then, that baby draft has grown into a published novel, attended  book parties in 17 cities and two countries and is being lent out  from libraries everywhere in the world  and being discussed  by book clubs from Manila, Philippines to Long Island, NY.

I’ll be forever grateful to Nanowrimo for helping me over the hump.  At the risk of over-using the cliche, that was truly a life-changing experience. This year I get to return the favor by serving as a weeklong Camp Counselor at CampNanowrimo and offering writerly advice to other authors. Here is the first of my three blog posts:

http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/82198650208/ask-an-author-how-do-you-create-realistic-feeling