November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Though I think it's a fantastic idea, and I love the idea of working alongside other writers (even if I can't see them), the end goal (writing a novel in a month) has never been a great fit for me. I'm neither a plotter nor a word-counter, and every time I've tried NaNoWriMo, I've finished the month with a lot of words that end up on the cutting room floor. It seems that in my drive to hit a word count (without neatly plotted scenes and chapters), I go too far afield of my story.
Consequently, when I participate, I do it on my own terms (go figure). This month, I selected a project that needed a jump start, dusting off my middle-grade novel and moving it to Kindle Vella. After spending numerous writing sessions turning chapters into episodes, I uploaded the first one last Friday (you can find it here).
Vella, for those readers who may be unfamiliar with it, provides the opportunity to read stories in episodes. The first three are free and, after that, readers purchase tokens to use as as payment for reading the rest of the story. The length of the episode determines the number of tokens required to read it, with part of the payment going to Amazon and part of the payment going to the author. Right now, Amazon's offering 500 tokens for free.
Although I haven't tried Vella from the reader side, I find it intriguing. As I've already established, I'm a big fan of the sample, and other ways to try before I buy. This not only gives me a sense of whether or not I'm interested enough in the story to finish it, but it also keeps me from adding books I'll never finish to my infinite to-be-read pile.
If you, too, are intrigued, I hope you'll give Jersey Girls Don't Rule a try. If you liked Marita and Bets, I think you'll like Keesha, too because she's every bit as feisty. Thanks to my NaNoWriMo project, new episodes will post every Friday.
'Tis the season to try new stories!
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