NaNoWriMo - Any takers?

Well, tomorrow is officially the first day of National Novel Writing Month. I am once again embarking on the most amazing journey of writing a novel. Yup, a book. The goal is 50,000 words in 30 days. Last time I wrote, I did almost 62,000 in 29 days. :)

Truly, I love the process of writing a book from start to finish. It never ceases to amaze me how the characters truly take on their own journey and tell you, the author, where they should go and what they should do.

I am starting my book with a character called Amelie (like Emily but with an "A" - short vowel). If I had had another girl, I wanted to name her that. In any case, my book with be a historical/fantasy romance. Kind of a fairytale type. I am quite excited to see what happens.

Check back through the month for updates and to keep encouraging me. And if you want to join, please do! Click here for the official NaNoWriMo website. A special thanks for my friend Melissa who will be joining me too. :)

Happy writing!

:)

My New Novel

I started my second Romance Novel this week. It was more difficult to start my second one than it was for my first time. I think that has to do with higher expectations. With my first one, there were no expectations. Now, I have some experience and knowledge I didn't have the first time around so I think I am holding myself to a higher standard. Rightly so, I suppose. In any case, I am quite excited about it. I have added a word tracker to the bottom of my blog so you can track my progress if you want. I am also adding it below:





My main character, the heroine, is named Amilee. If I had another daughter, which isn't likely, I would want to name her that. One thing that is fun about writing books is that you can use all the names that your spouse wouldn't let you use when naming your children. In my first book, my character is named Anna. When we had our first child, I wanted to name her Anna and Jason wanted Nia. We compromised with Annania, but we call her "Nia" for short. Thus, I named my first main character Anna. :)

Writing my first novel was one of my most enjoyable adventures. I hope this one is that way also.

Wish me luck!

:)

Characters wanted

I have a character in my head who is kicking me to let her come alive... on paper, of course. She has a story to tell and while I see small bits and pieces of it, I don't know what it all entails.

Writing is such an exhilarating process for me. Somewhere deep inside, there is a story waiting to be written. It is so interesting how a character just sort of appears and forms on it's own. Then, while writing, the character seems to do what it wants. They tell you, not vice versa, what road they are going down.

When I wrote my first book, there were many points where I just didn't know where Anna was going to go or what she was going to do. There were also times when she just did not want to do what I wanted her to do. She had something else in mind and as hard as I tried to get her where I thought she should go, she just wouldn't do it.

Jason and I recently finished Harry Potter. When we had finished, we were discussing how J.K. Rowling might be feeling now that she was finished with the series. While I obviously don't know the real answer to this, the thought I had is that it's a bittersweet feeling... To be done in some ways is a relief because you can feel like you have your life back. When you are writing a story, you become part of the story and the characters become part of your life. When you are finally done, it's a little sad to say goodbye, but at the same time, kind of nice to get back to your normal life.

Anyway, it is exciting to see how this character is shaping up. I have taken some good pointers from Writing on the Wall (see sidebar for link) about character motivation and development and it has helped me explore and get to know my character more.

I can't wait to get her story out so she can live... and so she can stop bugging me too.

:)