Blog Hopping for NaNoWriMo 2016

The NaNo starting blocks,
soon to be filled with racing writers!

Aaaaand the prep for NaNoWriMo 2016 has begun!  People are gearing up for this year's crazy sprint of 50K words written on their novel all in the month of November, and once again I aim to be among them.

I've been asked why a "serious writer would bother with something as amateur" as NaNoWriMo.  (I really have been asked this).  But that's not how I think of it at all.  I think of it as a time to share the excitement and joy of being a writer.  A chance to link with others who simply want to put words to page.  An opportunity to immerse with others in the creative process.  In other words, I find it fun.

And hey don't miss this, they are giving away a chance to write your NaNo novel next year in a castle!  CLICK here to enter!  Sounds amazing.

Anyway, what this post is really about is blog hopping.  I'm not exactly sure what that is, but someone has started a blog hop page, and I'm hoping this will give me the chance to meet other writers, especially local ones, who just enjoy writing and the whole NaNo experience.

So here's my info:

Name:  J.A. Grier - BUT I started my NaNo account with my old pen name, Bryce Ellicott.  So that's the name you have to look for there.  Now I can't change it, but I'm hoping they add that functionality someday.

NaNo Book Title:  "The Trentsville Terror."  It's my vampire/zombie/gay-romance novel.  The first part of which, "The Duke of Cantersburg," I wrote a couple of NaNos ago.  The book needs, oh, probably another 60 to 70K of words to finish up, and NaNo is the time to tackle it.

One Sentence Summary of Book:  Dude meets vampire, falls in love, and the two of them try to save the world from zombies.

NaNo Goals:  Well, 50K words is always my goal.  I usually do a bit more than that, and it would be great to actually push through and finish this book if I can.  Of course first I have to figure out the ending ...

Fun Facts About Me:  Most of this is already in my profile information - I'm a scientist, educator, writer, poet, paper artist, beaded jewery maker, cat-lover, and wine drinker.  I've written stuff from textbooks and scientific papers to essays and poems.  I just love writing, but particularly love anything in the 'speculative' fiction type genres - sci-fi, horror, fantasy, mythic, and general weird stuff.  I'm the kind of person for whom the first draft is not the problem.  Now getting things published, that takes more time.  But I've had success with a few dozen poems, a couple of stories, one of those textbooks and a load of papers and abstracts.  Now if I could get those novels out there ...

Social Media Presence:  Right here at http://www.onewritersmind.blogspot.com and on Twitter at @grierja  I'm also on DeviantArt at http://jagrier.deviantart.com/gallery/, where I sometimes post free poems and stories.

Link to starting post(s):  
http://www.emilylaynewriter.com/p/nanowrimo-2015-is-almost-here-to-give.html  


Image Credit:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PressureSensitiveStartingBlocks.jpg  Public Domain