To read my guest blog today about working with a small publisher click here (thank you to Marianne Sciucco for hosting!)

For those looking for help preparing for NaNoWriMo (starting in just over a week) read on.

Anyone who has spent any time around my blog knows that I am a big supporter of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)–both The Bleeding Crowd and soon(ish) to be released The Copper Witch spending at least part of their writing in the whirlwind that is NaNoWriMo.

And with November fast approaching, I, like many others, am once again full swing into NaNo planning. While I tend to be a pantser (someone who “flies by the seat of their pants” while writing) at heart, I at least like to get some world building and characterization started before jumping into NaNoWriMo full-force. Everyone, however, has their own way of preparing (if they do at all) for the literary abandon that comes in November.

Luckily for everyone, there is the twitter hashtag #NaNoPrep which is really heating up as October progresses. So, in the interest of helping all the Wrimos out there, a digest of my favorite #NaNoPrep tips:

– From Kristen Grace (@KayEeeGee) Tips for doing NaNoWriMo while also being a student: http://bit.ly/1gturXE
– From Heather Mihok (@HeatherMihok) Some tips for what a Nano Plot might look like http://wp.me/py7Aw-3uc 
– From NaNoWriMo itself (@NaNoWriMo) The Adoptable Forum, where you can pick up abandoned characters, setting, and full plots to use/inspire yourself http://bit.ly/1hCztP9
– From io9 (@io9) Tips for writing an amoral main character: http://bit.ly/17GKc5C 
– From Mary (@Maryiswriting) tips on things to consider before you start NaNoWriMo: http://goo.gl/eGkwCC 
– From Matthew Wright (@MJWrightNZ) Some things to think about before starting your novel: http://bit.ly/1eq08iE

And before we leave off, an awesome tip from veteran WriMo, Skye Fairwin (@SkyeFairwin):

Delete nothing, no matter how bad you think it is. Often what you write during NaNo seems terrible at the time, but when you go back to it a month or two after November, you find it’s actually not that bad at all. Sometimes it’s great!

You can keep up to date on NaNo Prep tips on Twitter your self, or (as always) get writing tips from my blog right here–many of which will be NaNo-based for the next month as I try to knock out yet another 50,000 words this year. Hopefully I didn’t use everything up for Camp NaNo.

Good luck to everyone planning on participating!