ACFW was a huge part of me being able to get that manuscript ready for submission. Was Canyon Walls written during NaNoWriMo and how long did you wait after completing the first draft of Canyon Walls before you submitted it to Barbour Publishing?Īs a classic procrastinator, I didn’t submit the novel to Barbour/Heartsong Presents until June of 2009. If anyone needs help jump starting their word count or, like me, needs to overcome procrastination, I strongly encourage them to participate. I appreciate ACFW providing programs like this to help writers in every aspect of their writing.

As you can probably tell, accountability is huge for me. I have, and I think NovelTrack and NovelTrackEditing are amazing programs. Have you tried the ACFW’s NovelTrack and NovelTrackEditing which are monthly based writing support programs much like NaNoWriMo, but go on throughout the year? This year, I wrote the first draft of a contemporary romance, The Wedding Chapel.

The second year I wrote Canyon Walls, my debut novel. I was still trying to figure out what kind of writing fit me best. The first year I wrote a young adult novel.

This year was my third year to complete NaNoWriMo. How many years of NaNoWriMo have you successfully ended up with draft one of a manuscript? NaNoWriMo forced me to turn off my doubts and all my second guessing to get my next book written. I’m a perfectionist, and it’s tough for me to turn off my internal editor long enough to get the words on the page. I tinkered with that book for years before eventually starting my second book through NaNoWriMo in 2005. It would most likely be through a total rewrite instead of with a revision. I still love the characters from that book, and I might revisit it someday. I wrote my first novel in 2002 as part of one of my classes in the professional writing program at OU. How many novels did you complete prior to attempting NaNoWriMo? That’s where I discovered my love of fiction.Īs a self-professed procrastinator, you use organized spurt-writing events such as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to complete the first draft of your novels. After getting engaged, my husband and I both transferred to the University of Oklahoma, which is one of the few colleges with a professional writing degree that focuses more on commercial fiction. I had no idea where that dream would lead me or what kind of writing I wanted to do. Thank you! This question made me think because my journey to become a novelist has been a winding one. What came first…the education in journalism leading to novel writing, or the dream of a novelist spurring the journalism degree? Congratulations on your debut release, Canyon Walls.

Canyon Cafe by Julie Jarnagin