At this point if you are a pantzer, you will probably start writing.  But if you are a plotter who needs a little direction, this is when you will probably need to decide whether to plot or create your characters.  Most of the how-to books suggest one or the other.  I usually do a combination [...]

BRAINSTORMING, MINDMAPPING, OR PLAYING MAKE BELIEVE             Now that you have your spark of an idea for a novel, what do you do with it? This is when it starts getting fun.  There are several methods and I will share a few with you to get you started:             1. What If – This is [...]

  I have always been fascinated with the writing process.  That is one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed the author interviews on this blog.  If you have read enough of them, you will see what I mean.  They are all doing the same thing, writing novels, but they all have their own path they follow.  [...]

I am working to finish the novel I started in November.  I am revising and hope to have it completed this spring.  In the meantime, I thought it might be fun to try something in the same vein as the Write a Novel with me posts but in a slightly different format.  I love to [...]

I have never been great with resolutions so I don’t plan to make any this year.  I know what I want and I am going to go for it.  I have a mostly finished novel that I worked on for Nano but I am not foolish enough to think that it is a book.  November [...]

“I thought I saw you at the write-in last night but then I looked again and you were gone.  Are you a Ninja?” A fellow Nano writer sent me that post on facebook today.  No I wasn’t at the write-in last night.  I spent the evening going out to dinner with my husband.  It’s the [...]

I stayed up Saturday night until 1:30 in the morning because I was so in the zone with outlining my story for Nano.  So far I have outlined the first 10 chapters.  I have decided what the murder is all about and I have two sub plots going.  My main murder involves a someone who [...]

At first I was going to forget about doing the Nano thing this year but as the days got closer to November, I changed my mind.  I did attend the kick-off event last Sunday and since I am in between work assignments, I have been spending my time this week really working on the plot and [...]

 I am one of those people who can’t seem to take advantage of extra time. Things haven’t worked out exactly how I’d planned.  I’ve been working as a temp for a large financial organization in downtown Des Moines most of the month of October.  That assignment is over so now I’m waiting to see where [...]

I started a new job this week as a temp for an agency.  I’m hoping it will turn into something permanent.  I now get up at 5:30 because I am not someone who can get up and rush off to work.  I like to ease into my day.  I usually get up, fix a pot [...]