Welcome
UPDATE: Done, done and done with the draft! Thanks so much to everyone who followed along and especially to those who donated to LGBT and gender organizations. You’re all amazing, and I’m so delighted to have you in my life!
***
Welcome to What the Moon Saw!
If you’ve found your way here, it means you’re interested in following along with my novel-planning and -writing exploits for the 30 days of National Novel Writing Month. Right now, this site is open to the public, but soon, it will be closed.
Why?
First and foremost, because writing a novel is a very private, very special endeavor, and sharing a draft with the whole wide world is not something that I recommend, not even for the most experienced of writers.
Second, because for the month of November, I am only going to open this blog to a select few. Okay, hopefully not that few. In fact, I’m hoping to open it to a whole bunch of you. How do you get the special invite? You make a donation. No, not to me (although I’d certainly never turn that down). You make a donation to a cause that is near and dear to both my heart and to the novel I’m writing — donate just $10 to an organization that supports GLBT and/or gender rights, and you get a private peek into not just my novel, but also into my novel-writing process. For all the details, go here.
This blog will be open for the next week or so, in the hopes that it will garner more attention, get you all a little addicted, and hopefully bring in more donations from those of you who are interested in taking the entire wild, crazy, 30-day, 60,000-word ride that is NaNo.
You can see what I’ve covered so far by clicking on the calendar to the right or by choosing Planning, Excerpts or Resources from the menu at the top.
Hope to see you on the wild, moonlit path, s.
***
What the Moon Saw 
I’m a fan of the “Open Education” movement, which includes Alan Levine, who is doing an “open” NaNoWriMo this year. Check it out: http://cogdogblog.com/2010/11/02/nanowrimo-open/
November 2, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Yep, that’s a very cool and brave thing! The only bad part (at least for me, since I make my living as a writer) is that it’s much harder to sell a novel if it’s out there in the world on the web. By keeping this one semi-private, it means that I’ll be able to sell it once it’s complete and polished.
Also, of course, my hope is that the anticipation will get people to donate! 🙂
November 2, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Yeah, I don’t think he expects to be able to sell it, as he’s the sort to be more interested in the tools to get the job done than the job itself. 😉
November 2, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Ah, that makes sense. I do love his word count hack. I’m just not enough of a tinkerer to have the patience and knowledge to copy it myself 🙂
November 2, 2010 at 9:29 pm