My NaNoWriMo 2013 Survival Kit

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm talking about NaNoWriMo and what I do to survive a month of writing when I need to crank out 50k plus words and make Thanksgiving dinner. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, what planet do you live on? Seriously, if you're an author and you haven't heard of NaNo, you need some edumacation. Click here to find out more!

Now, about that survival kit...

I have:

• fingernail clippers (you never know when you're gonna have a hangnail)
• a fingernail file (same reason)
• pre-written blog posts for the month (self-explanatory)
• dinners planned out (some frozen already) for the whole month (and groceries bought to fill the menu)
• Hootsuite (my helping hand for all social media)
• an iPad (so I can keep up with other commitments when I'm not writing)
• a warning sign on the door (so people won't be knocking while I'm trying to write)
• a blanket (for those freezing cold days)
• an outline of my novel (hey, I want to jump right in with both feet)
• a cover designed for my novel (why not get that out of the way now? Winner below!)
• a plan to take every weekend and three weekdays off during the month which leaves me 18 writing days
• my super awesome writing schedule which outlines how much time I have to dink around with other things that includes solid time slots each day to write no less than 3k words in order to meet my goal of 50k (I had 6k word days last year)
• my family on high alert
• a ton of amazing writing buddies

What I need now is an emergency button! When I'm stuck or overwhelmed, I need something I can push that will call for help. Haha!

Here's the winning cover design for I, Zombie (image only, text may change):

Let the insanity commence!

In case you missed the special posts from this week, check out my interview with UtopYA author Tania Penn and get on over to the Mystic~Coralie release post to enter to win copies of the awesome fifth book in the series!

Are you participating in NaNo this year? What's in your survival kit?

Add me as a buddy and let's support each other! You can find me here: Jo Michaels on NaNoWriMo

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Vote for Your Favorite Cover

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, I'm busting out the cover considerations for I, Zombie, my NaNoWriMo 2013 novel. I'm gonna start by giving you the synopsis, then the three cover choices, and then a poll so you can choose your favorite. I did this when I wrote The Bird for NaNo 2012 and we had a lot of fun. Just something light for this dreary, rainy Tuesday in Georgia. Enjoy!

Title: I, Zombie
Author: Jo Michaels
Genre: Horror
Length: TBD but at least 50k words!
Synopsis: It's the end of the world as we know it.

Trixie Collins is a normal teen making her way through high school. One night at a party, a boy comes on to her and won't take no for an answer. As she jerks her arm away, his fingernails cut into her skin.

When she finds her dog's mutilated body and realizes she's to blame, she starts to think maybe the zombie apocalypse they've been screaming about on the news isn't a hoax after all. Worse, she begins to think maybe she's one of the infected.

Now it's a fight for life as she joins together with her brethren to stop the humans intent on destroying them. Are zombies all bad, or is it just a huge misunderstanding?

Now for the cover choices! In order. Note: click on them to see them larger!

Now for the poll!

Which cover for I, Zombie is your favorite?
	I love #1! I think the image suits the synopsis.
	#2 is rockin' cool! The closeup gives me the tingles.
	#3 hit the nail on the head! Scary and bloody!
pollcode.com free polls

Thanks for playing along, everyone! I'll announce the winning design next week.

If you're participating in NaNoWriMo this year, add me as a buddy by clicking here.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo