NANOWRIMO - One Day Left!

I'm done with NaNo but still feeling the pressure for those are still working hard at becoming winners themselves. Just keep writing, just keep writing.....

So, what am I doing now that NaNo is over for me?

Sure, I could have kept going and really padded that word count but I knew my mind would need a break from such an intense creative process and I do have other interests beside novel writing.

One of those interests is my other blog, Ten Penny Nails - yes, a blog about nail polish. It's been sort of neglected this month because of NaNo but come Monday, it's back to regular posts there, too. If you like nail polish like I do and haven't checked it out, I am formally inviting you to do so.

Now that the commercial is out of the way...

Not sure if I've mentioned it here or not but I have signed up for a course in copywriting. Yeah, I've mentioned it but I'll be starting that course on Monday - I think. It's a self-paced kind of course so I can start whenever I like and take my time if I wish. But since I'm looking to copywriting for financial support while I become the next J.K. Rowling, I think I need to take it a little more seriously than that.

Ok, maybe the J.K. Rowling reference was a bit over the top but as I know I've said before, I'd rather dream big and get half of it than dream small and get all of it (Joyce-ism - If you know Joyce Meyer, you know what I'm talking about).

Actually, I am being serious. Just the thought of going back to cube life makes my stomach hurt, my head ache and my spirit want to crawl into a hole and hide out until I come to my senses. Been there, done that, moving on now. Cube life is no longer an option for me. If I do need to find a job, it will be part time and it will be doing something that doesn't involve a cubicle of any kind.

But that's not going to be necessary. I know I can do this copywriting thing. I've only read part of the course and haven't even started the guided part of the course yet and already I'm recognizing copy in my everyday life. You know those letters you get in the mail that offer you products and services and explains why you need it and need to get it now? That's copywriting. Maybe you don't respond to something like but lots of other people do. And it's not just sales letters. It's pretty much anything you read online, in a newspaper, in a magazine, even the blurb on the back of a book is copy. This blog is copy.

See what I mean? Copy is everywhere.

Want to know what else is copy? That query letter you slave and fret over for days, weeks, months - hopefully not years - before finally working up the nerve to send it out to an agent or publisher.

There's the side benefit of learning to be a copywriter. That query letter is us selling ourselves and our newly polished novel to that agent or publisher we've been dying to work with ever since we began to put words on paper - or computer screen. The query letter is the first thing we write that they see. It's their first impression of us. I want to make it a good one and I believe what I'm going to learn will help me to do just that - sell myself and my novel. Then you'll see a published work from P.L. Thompson. Or Penny Thompson. Haven't decided yet who I'm going to be as a published writer.

Where am I learning all this? American Writers and Artists Inc. - AWAI. Their website is packed with all kinds of information and it was free to join the site. I pretty much purchased the course right away so I can't speak to what they offer for free. I watched a free webinar on the Writer's Digest site, which is where this whole thing really started for me.

Whew! That was a lot of copy I just wrote. I will be practicing the skill here so fair warning. I know I sound like a commercial for AWAI - or maybe sales letter would be a better way of putting it - but I am excited to get started on this new career path. No more cube life! Just the freedom to work as much or as little as I want. Sounds like a much better life to me.