Take it away, Ali!
What a treat it is to be here on Tristi’s blog! I have long admired Tristi—she has a unique and happy outlook on life that’s contagious. One of the things that I love best about Tristi is her ability to make the people around her feel included. It’s that generosity of spirit that, I think, also makes the writing community special.
Nowhere else have I met a group of people who are as supportive and encouraging as writers. However, sometimes we can still feel like we’re alone, a tiny raft adrift amongst beautiful lush islands. We know we’re not alone, but we still don’t always know how to reach out, how to take that first step. Enter the dojo. The writing dojo, that is.
I wanted to help writers come together in the same way that National Novel Writing Month (NaNo WriMo) does. I mean, we need more than one month a year to experience that camaraderie, right? Right! At the dojo (aka my blog) you can find other writers who are doing their own writing month—a ninja novel writing month (NiNo WriMo), or you could find writers revising their novels (NiNo ReMo) or querying (NiNo QuMo).
We carry our conversations and our community into twitter with ninja hashtags, #ninowrimo for those drafting, #ninoremo for those revising, and #ninoqumo for those querying. Once a week, a couple dozen writers get together for a #ninjachat. Last week we perfected our pitches, and this week we’re going to help a couple writing ninjas streamline their queries.
Why ninjas? No real reason other than I think they’re awesome! Plus, writers are a lot like ninjas. No really, they are! If you’re a writer, you train until your writing muscles are weary and your brain just can’t take any more. Then you train some more. You often work under the cover of darkness. You kill your darlings. Slit the throats of your beautiful, drippy prose. Slash pages and pages of useless stuff. And you murder your story. In a totally good way, of course.
But while ninjas often work alone, they train in a dojo, with other ninjas who are all working toward the same goal—ultimate skill and perfection.
You don’t have to be a lonely, drifting raft, be a writing ninja instead! Come train with us—it’s always ninja novel writing month at the dojo!
I hope you’ll join us too, Tristi! The dojo could always use a star as bright and shining as you! Thanks for having me!
Ali, I will definitely come join your dojo! I can see myself in my little ninja outfit now!
5 comments:
Aw, Ali's a superstar. Hanging out over here on Tristi's blog. How cool is that? LOVE being a Ninja! You should totally join, Tristi.
So fun! What a creative idea to motivate people! Love it!
Wow. Comparing ninjas to writers makes it sound a lot more interesting than it often is. It's totally true though. I kill and slash without hardly a second thought once the decision has been made. Great analogy.
Most of a ninjas life isn't all that exciting. They train a lot more than actually fighting or going places. I think the comparison is perfect. (May be biased as I too love ninja).
Hey, here I am! I'll link it up ~ thanks for having me Tristi! There's always more room at the dojo for more ninjas!
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