Preptober 2023
"đ Preptober is for Preparation"
IN THIS ISSUE: Preptober PDF Freebie, 7-Day Book Challenge Recap, and Jesse St. George subscriber exclusive first chapter!
Newsletter Send Date: Friday, September 29, 2023
Hey Dragonlings!
I bombarded everyone with everything thatâs happened to me the first half of the year in my last newsletter. Donât worry. I wonât be doing that this time.
In some ways, September has been a quiet month, and in others itâs been really busy.
Work has been steady and 4H shenanigans have started back up for the new âyearâ. Just have to register the girls for all the activities they still want to do this upcoming year.
I wanted to do writing challenges in the month of September: the 7-Day Book Challenge and Short Story September. For the 7-Day Book Challenge, the idea is to write a book (short story, novella, novel, etc) from start-to-finish in seven days. For Short Story September, you try to write three short stories across the month, spending up to ten days writing each one. I spent so much time preparing for the 7-Day Book Challenge that I did not complete Short Story September, but thatâs OK. Iâm planning on doing it next year instead.
As for the 7-Day Book Challenge, others voted for my project and I ended up working on Jessie Saint George, Teenage Dragon Slayer. The plan was for it to be a 40K-ish YA urban fantasy novella. On day two, it decided to grow into a big kid, and itâs shaping into an 80K+ novel urban fantasy instead. How dare. I completed the 40K of the challenge and will finish working on it in October around preparing for NaNoWriMo.
Which brings us to Octoberâs freebie: a checklist for Preptober!
As weâre prepping our projects for NaNoWriMo, thereâs a lot of things we want to make sure are prepared before the annual monthly writing challenge happens. Whether itâs your first go-round with NaNoWriMo or youâre a seasoned professional, I hope you enjoy this checklist! I have found ALL of these elements are vitally important in the month of NaNoWriMo itself, and are my main efforts for Preptober.
Some of the items on the list (with explanations to boot) include:
- Announce Your Project
- Research
- Choose Your Rewards
- Self-Care
- Sign Up to the newsletter to get the PDF to read more!
As a subscriber you have free access to a project I’m hatching over on my website…
I’ve been typing away as a published author for over 10 years, and while I don’t consider myself to be an expert, I do consider myself to be experienced haha. So with that in mind I’m building up my resources for fellow Indie Authors who are also trying to learn their craft. It’s still hatching, so stay tuned for more tools and tips for my Dragonlings!
Preptober Author Resources!
If you know about NaNoWriMo in November, and you know about Preptober in October, you probably know about these books too. I mention them here because they really are as helpful as they are popular. Preptober and NaNoWriMo are about production (getting in them word counts yo’) and that’s a learned skill, trust me.
So my recommendation for Author Resources this month are these Preptober specific books. If you’re reading this in early October, and worried you can’t get to them before NaNoWriMo, don’t worry! Both of these are helpful in their own ways, so even if you only make it through one before the end of the month, it will be super helpful!
BLURB: Chris Baty, founder of the wildly successful literary marathon known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), has completely revised and expanded his definitive handbook for extreme noveling. Chris pulls from over 15 years of results-oriented writing experience to pack this compendium with new tips and tricks, ranging from week-by-week quick reference guides to encouraging advice from authors, and much more. His motivating mix of fearless optimism and practical solutions to common excuses gives both first-time novelists and results-oriented writers the kick-start they need to embark on an exhilarating creative adventure.
BLURB: This writer’s block-busting workbook guides authors through planning and plotting a novel before writing it from the initial idea generation and brainstorming through character, setting, and story development. Full of helpful lists, plot maps, character Q&As, field trips, writing exercises, inspiring quotes, and plenty of space to write and outline, Ready, Set, Novel! provides ample inspiration and guidance to first-time novelists and more seasoned scribes alike.
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S.D. Hegyes Newsletter
A monthly newsletter with Day-In-The-life commentary, author resources, cool new writing tools and tips, as well as a little writing humor thrown in. An all around good read from a good friend.
đREADER EXCLUSIVE ALERT!đ
Remember that 7-day Book Challenge we just wrapped up in September?
Do you also remember I mentioned there would be some newsletter exclusives for my subscribers??
And further, do you remember-est that you chose a prompt called Jesse St. George, Teenage Dragon Slayer???
WELL HERE IT IS!
As a special gift for subscribers I am sharing one chapter each month of this ‘started-as-a-40k-YA-now-it’s-
 So yeah no pressure…
So remember: 
Please note this is an unedited chapter of Jessie Saint George, Teenage Dragon Slayer (Title subject to change), an urban fantasy, and may contain typos. Please be aware, some parts of the story may change between now and publication as well.
Chapter 1
âYouâre staring at him again.â
Jessie shook her head and narrowed her eyes at her best friend, Kimberlee. âI am not.â
âOh?â The smile on Kimberleeâs face was cat-like and feral. âWhat would you call it when youâre looking at someone without blinking then.â
Jessieâs entire face flushed, and she ducked her chin toward her chest to hide her face. Her skin felt hot and flustered. Oh, how she hated how pale her skin was. All her emotions projected on her skin, no matter how small.
âI was. . .â She had no words to describe what sheâd been doing.
âStaring,â Kimberlee said again, but this time she laughed. âGirl, itâs fine. Heâs fine as hell, and single to boot, if his always being alone has anything to say about it.â
Jessie looked up again, her gaze spreading over the campus to take in the young man sheâd beenâalright, sheâd admit itâstaring at.
You can Follow Along!
As a subscriber you can continue reading this chapter and also learn more about the story and it’s future. Sign up to get the password in your inbox to keep reading!
Thank you for following along Dragonling!
Relaunching this newsletter is all part of my ramping up my Indie presence, and I really appreciate those of you who are hanging out and hanging in! Please feel free to talk me up and forward this email to fellow indie authors or urban fantasy readers who love “stories about monsters falling in love.”
Bye Dragonlings!