Written for NaNoWriMo, Rebecca's first novel, BreakupBabe is summed up as "How I got over the worst, most humiliating breakup in web-recorded history – and became stronger, smarter, and better off without the biggest Loser on the face of the earth."
As part of our NaNovember Extravaganza, Rebecca's not only written us a guest blog but has also kindly offered a copy of BreakupBabe for you. Yes, you! If you enter the competition, that is. Read on to find out how to enter.
How to become a rich, famous and fabulous author by Rebecca Agiewich
Hear ye, hear ye, Trashionista fans, I have been asked to write a guest blog about how NaNoWrimo will make you a rich, famous, and fabulous author, just like it has made me! Now if you’ve missed me on Oprah – don’t worry – I haven’t actually been on yet, and if you didn’t see that front page review in the New York Times Review of Books, uh, well, they haven’t done one yet, but my novel BreakupBabe (which came out this past May) is out there and selling slowly but surely!
Carry on over the cut for more from Rebecca and how to enter the competition.
Without NaNoWrimo, I don’t think I ever would have gotten it done. That’s because writing a first draft is a painful, horrible process, and unless you get through it as quickly as possible, commando-style, you won’t get it done (or at least I won’t). Before I wrote the first draft of BreakupBabe during the 2003 NaNoWrimo, I’d been working on another book-writing the same four chapters over and over again! That’s because, as founder of NaNoWrimo, Chris Baty points out, a writer’s most important tool is a deadline.
And since most of us don’t have the luxury of a deadline imposed by a fancy publishing house, artificial deadlines must do, and NaNoWrimo provides that, along with the pressure of sixty thousand other people trying to do the same thing.
Besides helping me get my first draft done, a miracle in itself, NaNoWrimo also instilled in me one of the most important writing habits I have: writing every single day. In order to keep up your NaNo wordcount, you pretty much have to write every single day. I learned that morning was my best time to write, and now three years later, I still at least five mornings a week – even though I still have a full-time job (grr). It’s gotten to be like a good workout for me; if I don’t do it, I feel off for the entire day.
So, while NaNoWrimo is a grueling, demanding, and some might say masochistic to do, take it from this almost-famous, almost-bestselling author – it will be the one of the best thing you can do for your fledgling novelist career. It was for mine.
Thanks, Rebecca. If you'd like to win a copy of BreakupBabe just email us your name and address, put "Babe" in the subject line, and we'll pick a winner at random after 30 November 2006. Easy as that.
Rebecca Agiewich interview / Introduction to NaNovember / Francesca Segre's guest blog / Karen Quintiere's guest blog / Lani Diane Rich guest blog and giveaway / Mary Sharratt guest blog