​NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s free to join and any writer can participate. You can be a new writer, experienced, or somewhere in between. The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month: November. Why 50K words? That specific amount is considered a novel, and the goal is to write a novel. 

The question came up during a Wordy Woman webinar, "How can I improve my story's dialogue." How does a writer write good dialogue? What makes dialogue bad?

Using said repetitively as a dialogue tag isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This choice is strictly up to the writer. However, dialogue tags can be used too much during a conversation between two people. If a reader understands who’s talking, then fewer tags are better. But if there are three characters talking, then you may want to increase your tags to provide the reader with direction. 
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However, don’t assume the reader understands know who’s talking if it’s merely a conversation between two people. You still need dialogue tags. Please don’t leave your reader confused! Using dialogue tags is an art, and it’s necessary. 

You’ve spent 30 hours a week, working on your book for months and/or years.  You’ve revised it three different times, edited chapters along the way, and you’re finally finished. 

​A key question you need to ask yourself is: Who else has read your manuscript? Has a fellow writer read it yet? If not, then the revising process isn’t complete. No matter how many times you’ve read your story, or your mom’s read it, you need to have a fellow writer (or three) critique your manuscript.