The Joys of a Laptop Meltdown

Literal meltdown. My fan went out on my old laptop and melted something on the motherboard inside which caused multiple glitches. In addition I had to set it on an ice pack or point a fan at it to keep the thing from turning itself off. I'm still in the process of tweaking this new laptop to meet my standards for operating (which involves installing a lot of programs or "apps" as Windows 8 terms them). But, now I'm back in the business of writing and just in time for Camp NaNoWriMo in April. Yay!

For camp, my focus will be to add at least four more decent length chapters to Shadowrunning (published and hosted on wattpad). Right now there are five chapters up which marks the completion of the first plot arc. Read and comment please!

Also, I've switched over to hosting and publishing Kagerou (my blog serial story) on wattpad as well. You can find it here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/9481004-kagerou-a-pathfinder-journal-updating-weekly Parts 15 and 16 are up now! (Only up to part 14 is hosted on the blog.) Again, read and comment, please!

Kagerou might take a break during April as I focus on hitting Shadowrunning as hard as possible while juggling an increasingly insane work schedule. This month our teaching hours have gone up and it's not doing me any good stress-wise.

As for the NaNoWriMo interviews, they will resume on Monday as usual with a repeat from a previous guest. Why don't you poke around in the old interviews while you wait and have a guess?

NaNoWriMo Spotlight 2014: Elijah David

Today's featured interviewee is a throwback to the first ever NaNoWriMo interviews on this blog when I chose from a selection of people who were both a part of NaNoWriMo and the site NarniaWeb. Elijah David is known by shastastwin on both sites and his NaNo novel this year was titled "Albion Apparent". It is good to finally be able to feature him in this series!



Who are you?

I am a copywriter and aspiring novelist from the American South. I am involved in my local church with my wife of nearly three years, where I have lately been writing the dramatic scripts for our cantatas and special services. I am coming up on a year out of my graduate program in Creative Writing. In addition to my job as a copywriter, I am part of the editing and writing staff for the Tolkien-based journal Silver Leaves.


Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

I first participated in NaNo in my senior year of high school. I wrote a sequel to my first novel and ended up writing into the beginning of January despite meeting the 50k goal in November. I tried NaNo a couple of times in undergraduate, but was never able to get very far due to time constraints with school. I tried again one year in graduate school, but the work load was still too much. This year, I was determined to finally accomplish another NaNo, so I signed up. I had finished a read-through of my first draft of the first novel in a series I'd been trying to get written since halfway through my undergraduate courses, and NaNo gave me the opportunity to get a first draft written of the second novel, which had been clamoring for the past year to be written.


What was your novel about? And why did you pick that?

Albion Apparent is about a young wizard named Merlin, a descendant of the Merlin of King Arthur's time. In this book, Merlin is dealing with the aftermath of his first year at the local school of magic, which ended with him facing down a dragon and a mortal classmate who'd been ensorcelled. Among the issues Merlin and his friends have to deal with this year are an army of golems hunting down the descendants of the Round Table knights and a sorcerer who cuts the school and its occupants off from the rest of the world, trapping mortals and wizards alike in close quarters where disagreements and danger are sure to run high.


What is your typical writing process like?

For novels, I typically pre-write as much as possible. I work out the basics of the plot from beginning to end, sometimes with details down to conversations. I also try to have the characters established in my head before writing too far. When I can, I pass what I've written on to an alpha reader before doing a read through to make my own notes for changes. Then I go back for a re-write and repeat the process.


How did your month go?

I finished despite being sick for the first week of the month. I had to really push some days to make up for the lost time, but in the end I was able to meet 50k.


What was the hardest part? What was the easiest part?

The hardest part was catching up from my illness and learning how to skip around in the narrative. The easiest part was writing the interludes that fit between the chapters.


What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

That it's perfectly okay to skip around chronologically when writing a first draft, and that writing too much all at once can be a draining experience that sets me back farther down the road.


Where else can we find you online?

You can find my blog at elijahdavidauthor.blogspot.com and the website for Silver Leaves is
http://olorispublishing.com/products/silver-leaves-journal. Check out both for updates about me and my writing and about what's happening at Silver Leaves.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight 2014: Doddie Householder

 Today's spotlight features Doddie Householder. She goes by Doddie on the NaNoWriMo site and wrote a Horror and Supernatural inspired story for NaNo 2013. She currently lives here in South Korea along with her husband and family.

Who are you?

Ok, I m a former PR Manager who relocated to South Korea to be with my hubby who works as a professor here. We met on Discovery Online and got married in about 3 months after that. We have two sons and now I have transformed from a career girl to a Kitchen Goddess. I still write but no longer press briefs and marketing materials. I now indulge in my passion - horror/ghost stories




Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November? 

I am a NaNoWriMo newbie. Last year, I counseled a friend who took part but couldn't finish it (stress, crazy schedule, etc.) That's the first time I hear about NaNoWriMo. Said friend promised herself to participate this year and encouraged me to do it as well. With the two of us working as writing buddies, we slaved, toiled, encouraged each other and eventually finished our novels within the deadline.


What was your novel about? And why did you pick that?

My novel is about a girl who was born with the 3rd sight. It chronicles the supernatural things that she sees that no else can and eventually find out that there was a destiny laid out for her. It's a horror novel.


What is your typical writing process like?

Well, as a full-time mom of two Bottomless Pits (aka our teenage sons) and a foodie hubby, it's a full day of cooking, baking, cleaning and organizing for me. So I write at night. Being a night owl myself (or a closeted vampire as my hubby refers to me), I write better at night. I have been known to wake up in the middle of the night and fumble for the night light, glasses, pen and notepad or whatever I can grab my hands to write on and start scribbling a line or two. Those lines eventually get fleshed out as short stories or novellas. I listed to hard rock or simply rock music while I write. It helps with my thought process.


How did your month go?

I finished! Now if I could only finish editing it.


What was the hardest part? What was the easiest part? 

The hardest part was convincing myself to sit down and write. There was a couple of days there that I didn't really want to. So, I didn't and I goofed off. But I made sure to write enough the next days to make up for it. The easiest part? It was the last couple of chapters. I finally saw where my novel was leading to.


What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

I learned that I can write that novel. I am so used to writing short stories (my idols are Poe and Zelasny with their short story anthologies).


Where else can we find you online?

I have two blogs (same name, got hacked and made another blog and got control again and kept both blogs)

http://boxofjalapenos.blogspot.kr/ (living the expat life in Korea)

http://doddie-aboxofjalapenospart2.blogspot.kr/ (food recipes - basically Filipino, Korean, American recipes)

NaNoWriMo Spotlight 2014: Jaap Kemp

Today's interviewee is Jaap Kemp who goes by the name hereslookinatukd on the site. He doesn't have a title for his novel this year, but he won! He and his wife teach at a school near my own and it was a pleasure meeting them at a write-in halfway through NaNoWriMo in Seoul.

Who are you?

I'm originally from Wisconsin, USA, then received my formal education in Minnesota and Maine. I pursued many areas of vocation for many years (librarian, hotelier, internet cartoonist, preacher, mortician, etc.) but was poorly suited for all of them. During my years in Maine I fell in with a thoroughly disreputable cadre of fiction writers, and together we founded the literary movement FICTIONSHARK. I write fiction mainly, but to date I've received my widest audience as a playwright. In my younger and more vulnerable years I fancied myself a poet, but various circumstances and experiences have since convinced me that there is no higher art (written, visual, or auditory) than a well-crafted lie, and fiction, when employed properly, has the greatest potentiality for deception. A fiction is most always preferable to a perceived truth: most people know of the apple that fell on Newton's head, but very few know, or care to know, what gravity is, what causes it, and why. I realize now this is a very roundabout way of explaining myself and who I am.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

I'd attempted NaNoWriMo unsuccessfully for a number of years. Last year I was successful in achieving 50,000 words, but failed to achieve what I intended for the work when I first set out to write it, and ultimately I was deeply disappointed in what I produced. This year, having more free time available to me than I'd anticipated, I wanted to write 50,000 words, not merely type 50,000 words (the difference between 'write' and 'type' is as crucial as the difference between 'writer' and 'typist'). My sentiments towards NaNoWriMo are extraordinarily mixed. I deeply appreciate the improvement of literacy and the fostering of artistic endeavors, especially amongst people who do not consider themselves writers or artists. Yet when I see entire message boards dedicated to puffing out word counts by using as many descriptive adjectives as possible as often as possible, or by giving one's characters exceedingly long names, or by inserting a sudden and indefensible dream or drug sequence, this is an insult to all I have fostered within myself and all I hold dear regarding the purpose of writing. The goal should be the work itself, not the word count; the work itself should be encouraged. Word count is a byproduct of the process. And yet encouraging people who would not otherwise do so to write, and to write every day, is a very good thing, I think.

What was your novel about? Also, why did you pick that?

The entirety of my novel evolved from its first sentence, which was a sort of Frankenstein monster of mixed parts from the first sentences of three novels I esteem greatly and hold in high regard: 'Correction' by Thomas Bernhard, 'The Conversions' by Harry Mathews, and 'Grendel' by John Gardner. I took elements from each of these first sentences and then drafted my own. It was a sort of challenge, to see how far I could take a work just from its initial sentence. The narrator is hosting an evening of diversions at his manor house, and the novel covers the events of that afternoon and evening, a sort of highly irreverent 'Mrs. Dalloway.' Along the way to his diversions, the narrator meets with a number of other characters, both human and animal, both living and dead, and receives from each of them a story or sequence of stories, all of which seem to interrelate, and all of which center around the basic idea that the entire text of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem 'Beowulf', and, thus, much of Western culture in the 20th and 21st centuries, has been fundamentally misinterpreted. And yet none of this information truly fits together, or actually means anything. Which, I think, is how we take in most of our information anyway: Wikipedia, Google, and the media. So instead of sitting around glowing fires chanting poems, we now sit around glowing screens and search for information. At any rate, the entire thing is highly absurd and not to be taken seriously in the slightest.

What is your typical writing process like?

Most of my writing process consists of not writing at all. For me it's highly introspective, mulling through ideas and concepts, and yet also acutely observational, taking note of all words or concepts that come my way, because one never knows what thought, however insipid or useless one thinks it is at the time, might be the very thought that saves you or the work. Gene Fowler said that writing is easy, all you have to do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. Most of my writing consists of staring, and appearing to the outside observer to be either very useless or very stupid. But then when the actual writing comes, every word means something. I hand write everything. This, above all, slows me down. The computer is a very efficient machine for typists but a very dangerous one for writers. It allows one the convenience of not having to think out every single word. Writing long hand forces me to think. Then, when the work is finished, I type it into my computer and make certain or uncertain edits along the way.

How did your month go?

I survived. The book stayed with me after November and I finally finished it on New Year's Eve. A good way to end the year.

What was the hardest part? What was the easiest part?

The hardest part was finishing. I knew the ending very early on, so the process of finishing the work wasn't difficult. But it was immensely difficult to end the book, to complete my creation of and interaction with this world and its inhabitants. It was an enjoyable place for me to exist, thoroughly absurd, highly existential. Some might say it was difficult for me to 'come back to reality.' But that depends on how one defines reality. For me, reality is anything that, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. The characters and world will not go away. I abhor the thoughtless assumption that there's 'fiction' on one hand and 'reality' on the other, as if they are opposites and in contention with one another, and as if this so-called 'real world' is a more valid experience than a so-called 'artificial world'. Why does this assumption exist, that the two are mutually exclusive? What we read and how we read (and also the movies and TV shows we watch and how we watch them) inform our daily lives and experiences just as much as our life and experience inform our appreciation of books, films, and TV shows.

The easiest part was the moment just after finishing: setting down the pen, having completed the work, and saying simply, 'Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is.' That moment when the completed work is yours and yours alone, before you share it and it becomes something else to someone else.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

I learned above all else that there is no such thing as success. There are only varying degrees of failure. Samuel Beckett: 'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' It's that idea of always failing better, that is the highest aim. How to fail better was and is a good lesson to learn.

Where else can we find you online?

I can be found on the website Leanpub, where my eBook 'Gyrovagues: An Anthology of Interest' is freshly published and available for purchase. It's a collection of miscellaneous writings from the past few years that haven't found a home and I don't know what else to do with--a sort of literary orphanage. There's no fixed price for the book, so you can pay what you want, and 10% of every single purchase will go directly to Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), a non-profit that 'provides protection and aid to North Korean refugees hiding in China and, utilizing a modern-day underground railroad through Southeast Asia, rescues refugees and helps them to reach freedom.' That eBook can be found here: https://leanpub.com/u/jaapkemp

My full length play 'The Accusing Parlor' (published under the name Jacob Kempfert) is also available for purchase or performance through Breaking Fourth Plays & Press, and can be found here: http://www.breakingfourth.com/2011/12/02/the-accusing-parlor/

NaNoWriMo Spotlight 2014: ValNomad

For the next interview I have Valerie Hamer who goes by the username ValNomad on the site. Her novel this year was non-fiction and titled "Expats' Medical Mishaps".



Who are you?

I am a Brit who has lived in Asia since 2000. I've been writing since I was 13 but only got more serious about it a couple of years ago. I just started an M.A. in Professional Writing as part of my plan to transition to writing as a full time lifestyle.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

This was my 4th NaNo in a row, and my 3rd victory. For me it provides a brilliant opportunity to focus on producing something concrete from the ideas that are always swirling around inside my head.

What was your novel about? Also, why did you pick that?

I chose to work on a non-fiction piece this year, as it's been on the cards for a long time. It's a collection of true medical mishap stories gleaned from expats in Asia and beyond. Although some of the tales are absolutely crazy they all have an element of humour in them.

What is your typical writing process like?

During NaNo it's akin to word vomiting: uou know you'll feel better when it's all out of you! I do tend to jump around from section to section to avoid getting bored, and if I get stuck I write some fake reviews for the finished product.

How did your month go?

I finished but it was touch and go for the longest time. Some days I wrote thousands of words and others none. It helps to be a hermit during the month.

What was the hardest part? What was the easiest part?

The hardest part is getting over the need to feel every word you get out is useful or necessary. The easiest - the last line!

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

That I need a definite goal in order to push myself beyond what is comfortable.

Where else can we find you online?

Tweet me @Farawayhammer

Blog & more: www.farawayhammerwriting.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/FarawayHammer


My first book: http://www.amazon.com/Picky-Sticky-Plain-Blind-Conversation-ebook/dp/B009Y3TUZK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389532035&sr=1-1&keywords=hamer+picky+sticky

NaNoWriMo Spotlight 2014: Joe/Unseenedge

To start off the NaNoer interviews this year is our region's ML: Joe or, as he's known on the site, Unseenedge. This is his first time as an ML and I think he did a pretty good job. The title of his fantasy NaNo novel was "The Torch Bringers".

Who are you?

My name is Joseph Van Dorn, but most people call me Joe. I grew up in southern California, and after graduating at UC Irvine I started the post-grad job search. After finding nothing that I wanted, I decided to see what teaching English abroad was all about. I've been here in South Korea for 4 months now, and Iife has been awesome ever since. 

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

This was my third nano, and I've always loved the rush of creative energy that NaNoWriMo brings. I was hoping to meet a lot of fellow writers here in Korea, so way back in July I applied for the position of Municipal Liaison (ML), and the folks over at NaNoWriMo HQ gave me the position. As ML, it was my job to organize writing events and to rally the writers in forums. It was the most awesome volunteer position I ever did, and I look forward to keeping NaNoWriMo for as long as I can.

What was your novel about? Also, why did you pick that?

My novel takes places in a fantasy world similar to Harry Potter, though the mechanics of magic are pretty different. The magic users of the world keep their power hidden from the rest of the world, and as a result a lot of abuse and torment is inflicted upon the non-magical. The main characters of my novel seek to break this status quo, revealing the nature of magic to the entire world so true equality may happen. I've been thinking about this story for a long time, and about three months before November I decided to give it literary life. I hope it to be the first story in a fantasy series that I will write, existing as the explanation for the nature of my world. This is my first brush with fantasy, and I must say that I really enjoy the genre.

What is your typical writing process like?

For me, location is very important. I love being in areas with mild distraction, such as a coffee shop (Korea is an awesome place for this). Then, I set a writing goal and work through it, rewarding myself for reaching the half-way point with a pastry or another round of coffee. It terms of the actual process, its really just a matter of "go." Once my first draft is done, I give it about a month of rest before I starting the editing process, working on a writing project during the mean time. 

How did your month go?

This was actually an awesome year for me! I got to the 50K mark on November 20th, and by November 30th I was at 78K. I met a lot of awesome people over the month, and I'm so glad that my first time as ML went so smoothly!

What was the hardest part? What was the easiest part?

The hardest part was balancing the other parts of my life. Sometimes my writing would take me away from other social events and other responsibilities that I have.

The easiest part? Meeting other nano participants! I love being around writers, and I hope to meet with these people many more times over the year!

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

I learned that writing is a part of who I am, and that I want to make it a more permanent part of my life. Ideally, I'll finish my current book within a few months, and then send it to an agent or publishing house to see how I fare in the writing world. 

Where else can we find you online?

Check out my blog at jsvandorn.tumblr.com. I even wrote a blog post about my experiences as ML, where I go into more detail about what my month was like. 

NaNoers Galore

Yes, you read that right. A month late my usual NaNoWriMo Interview Feature will go live. Since my current region is Seoul, South Korea I have several interviewees lined up. Also, as usual, there are a few old faces who will come back to give us updates on their latest NaNoWriMo attempt.

The first interview will go live on February 3rd. In the meantime, enjoy an updated version version of the site and a new profile picture for me. (I thought it was about time to upload a more recent picture.)

Until next time!

Picture taken by the lovely Rebekah Smetana on the top of the mountain at Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto, Japan.

N = The Final NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Lady Arwen aka River_Song

And for the letter N, please welcome Lady Arwen to the blog as the final interviewee of my NaNoWriMo Spotlight series. You can find her on the boards under the name River_Song where she audaciously attempted a NaNo novel in french. But she'll tell you all about that in the interview. Click here if you'd like to read her interview from last year which continues to be one of the most popular posts on my blog. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for Angel Eyes here!

Who are you?

I am a college student, a double major in Anthropology and History. I have plans to go into Irish Archaeology, but Linguistics is another favorite of mine. I am bilingual, speaking English (my mother tongue) and French, and have recently begun studying Spanish, which I hope to master in the next year or so. Outside of scholastic challenges, I am a hopeless nerd/geek, and an aspiring makeup artist (I’m currently working on creating a full Silurian costume for myself, makeup and all). I’m also single, 5’10” and always keeping an eye out for an adventure.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

Honestly? I didn’t want to feel left out when all of my writer friends were working on theirs. I was taking an insane number of units last semester, so I never even pretended to aim for 50k. I think my personal goal was 10k or 15k. And I could write off the hours as time spent “studying”.

This was my second year officially doing NaNoWriMo, and I loved it, as usual. This year, I took a rather unusual route for my Nano, as I’m sure you will discover shortly.

What’s new since I interviewed you last year?

Well, I’ve discovered some new techniques in the moulage (crisis makeup) business, had a birthday, and visited Kansas.

What was your novel about this year, and why did you pick that?

My novel for this year, Balafre de la Bête, was designed as a French project, meaning that the entire novel is in French. The story was originally based on Beauty and the Beast, but slowly grew to become a sort of fractured fairytale. The original concept had the Beast, or Balafre, as the female character and Beauty as the male, but that quickly devolved when I began adding in little seasonings of Dracula (Beauty is also a vampire), Robin Hood (Balafre reforms her character before she meets Beauty, and robs from the evil queen, who is also her evil step-mother), Snow White (see the evil queen bit) and Sleeping Beauty (Beauty is awakened from his vampire state by a kiss from the curious Balafre).

The novel was inspired by studying storytelling in French. I started with the idea of writing a novelette in French, and then began hunting for a classic French fairy tale to base my story on. And thus Balafre was born.

What is your typical writing process like?

This year, I spent a lot of time sitting with a dictionary. Writing in French cut my writing speed by about 60%, and the project definitely broadened my vocabulary. I wrote almost everything on the computer, and I had to re-read what I had already written before I could pick up writing each day. Obviously, this slowed me down considerably, but I think the end product made more sense.

How did your month go?

It went very quickly. I only wrote about a third of my goal, and my brain nearly exploded. It was a lot of fun, though, and I’ll definitely keep working on the story.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

No story is simple. Due to my limited proficiency in my second language, I had hoped to keep my story simple, and just tell Beauty and the Beast as a gender-swapped story. There was no way to stretch the story that much—it was too simple to hit even my very low word count goals. As a more complex story, I definitely was challenged in my language skills, but I find the characters adorable (as well as my sorry attempts at writing fiction in French!).

Where else can we find you online?

A couple different places. www.taintedloves.blogspot.com is my makeup and costuming blog, but I’ve been a bit lax on posting there. I’m also a member of www.theteaspitters.blogspot.com which is a blog that actually grew out of last year’s Nano. I’m Wren/Gunpowder Organic on that blog. Be forewarned that it can sometimes be a scary place to visit.

Lastly, I’m working on launching a new blog and showcase for my work at www.wrenaissancewoman.com. There is nothing up there right now and I don’t expect it to be ready for launch for another month or so, but if you think of me this summer, stop by and see what projects I’ve put up!

I = An Interview in the Works?

Why yes, one is. It's more of a guest post with a predetermined prompt/topic though. But I'm not telling you who's interviewing me though! You get one clue and the date. No more than that.

The clue: I've interviewed or featured this person before on my blog.

The date: April 15th

While you're waiting around to read my guest post (and to find out who I'm talking about) why not check out some of the interviews on my blog? 

Try the NaNoWriMo Spotlight for the interviews from this year. 

Or, try the NaNoWriMo NW Feature for the interviews from last year.

Remember, the giveaway for The Eye of the Sword lasts until the 14th so make sure to enter!

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Jennifer Mitchell aka jenngersnap

Introducing Jennifer Mitchell, known as jenngersnap on the forums. Her NaNo novel was titled "A History of Euron" and was a collection of short stories. It was fun to participate in NaNoWriMo alongside Jen, as I've known her since middle school. She's the wife of Will, and also plays in my pathfinder game (Her character is Stormy, so keep an eye out for her!)


Who are you?

An IT professional at CPCC, as well as an amateur artist and lifelong reader.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November? 

This was my second serious attempt to do NaNoWriMo, although I've done it three or four years total, I think. I still didn't finish, but I did better this year than previous years.

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

I really wanted to flesh out the world of a comic I have been wanting to draw. I felt that by creating myths and legends and histories that take place long before the comic, the world will feel richer even though those stories may not directly impact the comic itself.

I got a lot of great ideas and myths, even though I didn't make my word count. It was definitely worth it!

What is your typical writing process like?

I like to think about the overall framework first, and then go back and fill in some of the specifics of the story arc or whatever type of writing it is. Then I go over it again, and fill in the specific details. Sometimes, while I am making up the details, I think of a new direction that I want to take the story. In that case, I change the framework and then figure out how to re-adjust the previous details to fit the new shape.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

I learned that I need to do a lot more research! World-building is hard, but we live in an amazing world already, so there are tons of very cool ideas to draw from it. The more "stuff" I know about, the more ways I can find to fit it together in a new yet logical way.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Nicole Lewis aka Wonder Writer

Introducing Nicole Lewis (otherwise known as Lucy of Narnia and Wonder Writer). I'm very pleased to welcome her back for her second interview! She was another word war buddy of mine on the NarniaWeb chat and we wrote many a word while racing each other and the clock. See here for her interview last year.

Who are you?

I'm a 19-year-old girl who is interested in a variety of creative expressions, including writing of course.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November? 

This was my fourth year attempting NaNo- 2008 and 2010 were fails, but I won 2011.

What's new since I interviewed you last year? [last year's interview]

I started dance, which inspired my original novel idea.

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that? 

My novel started out as a Mulan remake, set in a different time and place. Mulan has been my absolute favorite Disney movie since I was five, so I thought it would be fun. Problem is, I stink at writing war scenes (much more of a drama-oriented person) and so my novel went through a few (huge) remakes this year. It ended up being a mash-up of three stories, tied together by time travel (thank you Doctor Who).

What is your typical writing process like? 

I usually just get some idea that catches my fancy and I take it, maybe plan a very basic skeleton of a story, and then...pants, pants, pants.

How did your month go? 

I got discouraged due to having to 'restart'/being behind in wordcount so I didn't finish, but at least I got a lot of words down, and I know there's bound to be some good in all the mess.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year? 

Start with something you know, so you don't regret it and have to rethink your ideas once the month's already begun.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Will aka Constant Reader

Introducing Will, aka Constant Reader on the site. His novel is titled "A Rose Rent". I was thrilled when Will and his wife informed me they were doing NaNo as well. Will is the magnificent DM for the Pathfinders game my blog serial is based upon.

Who are you?

Born in Tennessee, raised in Arizona and Indiana. Moved out to NC last Summer after getting married and graduating. Currently looking for a career.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November? 

It sounded like a good way to get better at writing. I have a series of books I want to write some day and I need to actually learn to write. According to my favorite author, Jim Butcher, the best way to learn to write is to write.

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

It was about the decent into madness and restoration. It was a fan fic story that I diagrammed when I was in High School and I decided to finally write it for practice.

What is your typical writing process like?

I have to know what I am going to write. I can't just organically what out what happens, I tend to ramble if I do that. I have to diagram a story with all the important parts so I can link them all together and have pacing and plot and other things readers seem to enjoy.
I'll sit down at my computer put on some music and just start banging away. There is a mental state where your head is in the story and the words just flow that is really hard to cultivate and is extremely fatiguing. 

How did your month go? 

I missed a couple of days and my school work suffered, but my story fell to pieces. I did not finish it because the plot fell apart from so many holes you could have used it as a very flat sponge. I should have gone over the ten year old diagram and re-worked it, but I didn't and paid the price.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

You have to plan out the story, do research and have well-developed characters with a well-thought out plot with coherent events that pace the story along well. This provides a solid skeleton on which to flesh out the actual narrative. Once you have the planning done it is simply a matter of self-discipline to actually do the writing, which is by far the most difficult part. It helps to schedule a set time to start writing and use word counts not time amounts to gauge your work. Set up a place where you are comfortable to write and write, just write. Do not worry about anything other that vomiting the story out on the page. If you did the planning correctly the superstructure of the story will hold up the vomit of your writing until you can get around to editing the tea and PB&J smelling mass.

Where else can we find you online?

I hope to start a blog some day, but nothing now.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Lia Noel aka Melian

Introducing Lia Noel, aka Melian, who, if you read my blog last year, participated in my first ever round of NaNo interviews. This is the second NaNo we've warred through together. Her novel is titled "And When the Ocean’s Rage".

Who are you? 

My name’s Bailey, but I go by Lia on the interwebz and I’m a homeschooled junior in highschool. I have four siblings, who are pretty awesome, and two clown fish named Romeo and Juliette (names courtesy of my younger sisters).

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?  

Way back in 2009, when I did NaNo for the first time, it was to avoid having to give a presentation in front of the entire homeschool group. Public speaking of any sort gave me anxiety and I was willing to do anything to get out of it - including writing a novel in 30 days. To my surprise, I actually won and since then it’s become something that I look forward to doing. This past November was my fourth NaNoWriMo.

What's new since I interviewed you last year? 

(Was I interviewed last year? I don’t remember. :P) [Note: Yes, she was. Here's last year's interview]

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that? 

My novel was a mash up of several different ideas that had been floating around in my cranium for several weeks. Basically it’s boiled down to being about two ex-thieves, one [Aislin] who wants nothing more than to be at home with her daughter and one [Alex] who is obsessed with revenge. After a man is discovered dead in Aislin’s living room and everything she’s been running from for years surfaces, she and Alex team up to bring down a corrupt government.I guess I picked it because I needed an excuse to write this particular story. I’d been too busy before to get it done.

What is your typical writing process like? 

Open computer and Word doc, open Facebook, procrastinate for an hour, realize my word count is going to be behind unless I write like a mad person, write like a mad person, think about all the pretties on Pinterest, open Pinterest, browse until I remember I was supposed to be writing, go write, decide it’s time to find something to eat, and repeat. 

How did your month go? 

The first two weeks were great! I met the 50,000 word goal on day 16, which was incredible. I didn’t think I was capable of doing that. I went on vacation during week three, but still managed to write about 20k. When I got home, I kinda got lazy. I was determined, however, to get to 80,000 words. I stopped writing at 11:56 pm on the 30th. I had 81,000 words. It was awesome. During November, I was also taking an SAT writing class, which was interesting to say the least. I was kind of hesitant to add NaNo to my schedule at first, but now I’m happy I did. 

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year? 

I learned that I can write massive amounts of words in a very short period of time. Originally I wasn’t going to participate, but changed my mind at the last moment.

Where else can we find you online? 

My blog: http://itsbaileynoel.blogspot.com/ and my writing group’s blog: http://theteaspitters.blogspot.com/

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Ryn aka FallenFaerie

Introducing Ryn, aka FallenFaerie. Her NaNo novel is titled "Scientific Wings". I met her at the very first write-in I hosted and she came to most of the others as well. We had quite a good time conversing. She hosted some write-ins at Smelly Cat, so she was kept very busy throughout the whole month!

Who are you?

I’m Ryn. Not short for anything cool but makes me sound like a faerie.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November? 

I decided to do NaNo because it’s a challenge in a hobby that I truly love and aspire for. I attempted NaNo in 2011 and then the two camps in 2012 before trying again for the regular NaNo in 2012. Life threw up on me in 2011 so I didn’t finish but learned a lot of tricks and actually got to about 30,000 words anyway. The camps were massive failures. The first one I was ready with a vague outline and when I started writing I realized I could take the story in five or so different ways and took half the months trying to figure out which one to go with. I finally decided to eventually write all five stories out and then never did. The second camp I had nothing - because it would have been too easy to go back to one of the five stories from the prior camp of course - and never really started anything.

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

Nick explores different relationship styles and gets life slapped when her ex-boyfriend returns offering her the chance to mutate wings as a sort of apology.
At least that’s my working “hook.” I chose this story because non-typical relationship types are interesting and very much underrepresented in popular fiction. And I like to think about that stuff anyway so it’s easy to write about. Also, wings are really cool! And usually sneak their way into every story I write.

What is your typical writing process like?

Typical? I don’t know that I have one. I guess it would be Step 1: launch Scrivener, Step 2: start typing. I experimented with writing sprints and a few word wars and discovered that I write better with writing company.

How did your month go? 

I won! I didn’t finish my novel but I hit the 50,000 word mark. That was a really awesome feeling. My normal social life died down a bit but my writing social life took off. Made some new friends. And as soon as NaNo finished and I posted my winning up on Facebook, everyone seemed to think that meant I was available to hang out again. I don’t think they understood the whole “I still have to finish the book!” thing.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

Write with people. Write alone. Write often. And when all else fails, grab chocolate (or your revival snack of choice) and write more. 

Really though, most of my successful writing times happened when I was doing word sprints. Whether by myself or with anyone else, setting a timer for about ten minutes and then just writing was awesome. Usually I’d allow myself a break of however long I wrote for a break in between sprints. So usually ten minutes or writing and then ten minutes of talking, texting, snacking or bathroom runs. It worked really well for me.

Where else can we find you online? 

Well, I just stopped writing on my old blog but https://authorfaerie.wordpress.com/. Most of my blogs there are opinionated political rants.
I just recently started a blog for me to just dump words out of my head and somewhere for others to possibly enjoy reading as well. You can find that one over at http://just4ryn.wordpress.com/.
I’m also on most social media sites but those are boring compared to blogs.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Reka aka RekaStormborn

Please welcome Reka, known as RekaStormborn on the forum. Her NaNoWriMo novel is titled "Wild Witch: Imprint". She falls under the category of yet another writer I couldn't meet during November, being all the way out in Gastonia, but I think we would have had a good time had we actually met. Reka was one of the first in our region to cross the 50k goal line. Congrats to her!




Who are you?

At 28, I’m happily married to my high school sweetheart, working in a field I never expected, and still writing after 17 years. It’s been a bizarre journey. We moved periodically when I was a kid because of my dad’s changing jobs. Who knew that managing hotels would mean as many moves as most military careers? After four states (PA, NY, MI, NC), two elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, and my dad moving into the IT field, we landed in Gastonia, NC fairly permanently.

It was there that I wrote my very first completed novel length work, a YA fantasy completed the summer between my sophomore and junior years. My writing continued to flourish and improve as I moved through high school, made it into NC State where I earned an English BA with a concentration in creative writing, took 9 months off school, attended Appalachian State for an MA in English with a concentration in community college teaching, and got married.

Having learned that teaching freshmen English didn’t pay nearly enough to make up for the fact that I didn’t love it, I reverted to my previous part-time jobs in retail and at an ice cream shop. This left me plenty of time for writing, which I took advantage of to write several more novel length works. Then, the downturn in the economy hit home. Seasonal and temp retail dried up and the ice cream shop had to shut its doors.
After two weeks unemployed, a friend called to offer me a spot as a data entry temp at the family owned supply company she was working for as a graphic designer. In the way of things, it turned out to be who I knew, not what I knew. That data entry project was completed, and then they realized they had another one, so they put me on that project. And somehow, pulling the customer, vender, and item information from their old system into QuickBooks Enterprise, turned into a full time job as something between tech support, IT help desk, QuickBooks expert, and general data processing/entry/control person. Two English degrees, and I’m working in IT. Go figure.

These days, I’m working in the office in Shelby, NC four days a week, and telecommuting from Raleigh, NC on the weekends so that I can see my husband who is finishing up a degree at NC State. It means 40 hours a week working, 10 hours a week driving, and precious little time to write regularly, but I’m still at it, working away on manuscripts that I hope to publish soon.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

My NaNoWriMo career started out in 2010 when a fellow fanfic writer encouraged me to join her in the challenge. I was only working 32 hours a week at the time, and could sneak writing time between customers are work too, so I was confident that first year. I’ve been writing stories far too long to be called short almost since I started writing in the 6th grade. My short pieces were over 20k, so 50k should be easy.
That first year, I restarted twice, didn’t finish the story line, and wasn’t particularly happy with more than a few scenes here or there, but I did write over 100k that 30 days of November. I considered it a success because I met great people, found a wonderful event to do every year, and wrote 50k twice in 30 days.
My second year, I was in the middle of crunch time at work pulling anywhere from 45 to 60 hours a week, had family coming in for Thanksgiving, and was doing my 10 hours of commuting every week. It explains why I only managed 50,044 that year and crossed the line on day 30. But I still met good people, got a lot of work done on a sequel to a novel I’m almost ready to publish. So all in all a good NaNo year.
So this year was my third, and I knew going into it that it was going to be another year like the last. With a 3-month-old niece recently arrived, 3 family members coming to stay at my parents’ for Thanksgiving, having to move my daily needed belonging from one residence to another not once but 3 times during the month as I shifted from staying at my in-law’s soon to be sold house to staying at my parents’ during the work week, 10 hours a week of commuting, and far too much work to get done, I wasn’t even sure taking the 1st off of work and building up 8 hours of comp time in October was going to save me this year. But then I managed to get 30k written in the first five days. The head start kept me positive, and while my average daily word count continued to shrink, I managed to pass 50k on day 13. Then I wrote less than 3,500 words in the next 15 days. But I still beat the challenge, and have my winners T-shirt to prove it.

One of the reasons I’ve continued doing NaNoWriMo even when it’s a harrying experience that stresses me out and leaves me without enough time to sleep, is the people I meet every year. Even when I only keep in touch with them that once November, it’s a great way to meet other writers, swap ideas about stories, storytelling, and the life of a writer, part- or fulltime. The networking potential, the write-ins (even when only two of us show) and the bits of shared story, misery, success, and encouragement are well worth any discomfort or stress.

Being in two different regions the past two years has brought even more advantages, this year especially. During NaNo 2012, I started a standing Tuesday night write-in. It ended up just being two of us, but we’re continuing to meet every Tuesday for a chat, some writing, and even a bit of critiquing so far. In addition to that, I’ve met a great group of women who are all interested in keeping the community feel of NaNoWriMo going all year, so we’ve started an off-season group of sorts as well as a critique group. It also gives me a built in group of fellow writers, so maybe I can talk them into doing Camp NaNoWriMo with me this year. This has to be easier in a month without a major holiday after all.


What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that? 

This year’s novel was a WIP I’ve been typing away at for more than a year. While I may not have been starting from a blank slate, I did start with a word count of 0, even with 27k already written, so that every single word of my 50k would have been written in November. The story is a paranormal gay romance. This is a niche market I stumbled into via fanfic work with a good friend I met in grad school. Through my fanfic stories, I developed a small fan base, many of whom encouraged me to publish original works. So I’ve been working on stories that interest me, and also fit the criteria for a press I discovered through that same fanfic community. Torquere Press (http://www.torquerebooks.com/) deals in LGBT Romance in almost any genre. Paranormal is one of the genres I’ve been dabbling in for years now, so I thought I’d kick my own butt and get this started story finished so I could submit it for publication.

The story starts out with Kyle, a Wiccan PI, staked out in a tree to observe Lee, a young man who was supposedly kidnapped as a child. What Kyle doesn’t know is that Lee is a Wild Witch, a type of magic user he can’t sense like he can others, and his two friends are far more than they seem as well. When one transforms into a wolf before Kyle’s eyes, he falls out of the tree in surprise. Now that Kyle has literally dropped into Lee’s life, they have to deal with conflicting goals, an unintended magical bond, Lee’s werewolf and vampire protectors, Kyle’s Wiccan PI uncle, and their growing attraction to one another.
It was a really fun story to write and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. I’m working on revising now, and plan to submit it by the end of the year, so hopefully I’ll be able to share the whole story soon.


What is your typical writing process like? 

I write off the cuff for first drafts. Similar to how we are encouraged to write during NaNo, with our inner editor silenced and the words just flowing onto the page. I may go back to fix a typo or run spell check occasionally, or re-read a section to remind myself what happened, but generally I start at the beginning and write all the way to the end. I can knock out 30k in a week or over 100k in a month if I have the free time. Revision is where most of the time commitment is for a story. I probably spend ten times as many hours working through revisions and edits than I do writing the zero draft.

I call it a zero draft for a reason. Zero drafts are very rarely if ever seen by anyone else. I’ll read back through the zero draft to find any glaring errors, sentences that don’t make any sense, or major plot holes and contradictions. That becomes the 1st draft, which I’ll often send to a trusted beta reader or take to a critique group. That process will be repeated four, five, ten times depending on how much I feel needs improved, changed, etc. It takes time, but it usually gives me a much better story in the end.


How did your month go? 

I made my goal of 50k super early, then managed a measly amount of words after that. Planning ahead saved my win this year. The week of Thanksgiving was chaos. I spent more time at my desk with my head in my story than I spent with my husband this November. Thankfully, he’s amazingly supportive of my writing and didn’t mind. And I do try to make it up to him in October and November. My social life consisted almost exclusively of write-ins during the month, but I still managed to be social. I even finished the story, getting to a nice happy ending, at least for the moment, so it was a resounding success this year.


What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year? 

This year, I learned that I really needed other writers in my life. After leaving grad school, I wasn’t in a place near other writers, at least that I knew, and I lost touch with many of my long distance writing friends and those I exchanged critiques with over the last few years. So realizing that I needed to have a community of writers I could stay connected to year round, rather than just during November. Having come to that realization, I’ve worked to keep in touch with some of my fellow NaNoWriMos over the past two months and have managed to collect a few who I’ll be seeing regularly.


Where else can we find you online?

You can find a short original piece of fiction, and various other writing and reading related posts on my live journal: http://rekastormborn.livejournal.com/

http://rekastormbornwriting.blogspot.com/  I've decided to try my hand at the whole blogging thing and see how it goes.

The fanfic community I mentioned above is Pomme de Sang, an Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter fanfic archive. http://pommedesang.com/ Do be aware that there is adult content and only those 18 and older should view content labeled as such. My stories appear under the author name RekaStormborn and are for entertainment purposes only.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Cathy St.Onge aka Delia Tracy

Introducing Cathy or Delia Tracy as she's known on the forum. She falls into the category of fellow NaNoers who I failed to meet with though I'd love to have met her at a write-in. See below for her very interesting story behind her pseudonym/forum name. Isn't it neat?

Who are you? 

You can refer to me as Cathy St.Onge or as Delia Tacy (my pseudonym). There are two interesting stories behind the second name: one is that it's actually a great-great grandmother's name that I discovered in the eighth grade when researching my family tree for a school project. The other is that an elementary school teacher once told us that authors tend to pick pseudonyms with the same initials as their own. I don't know how true that is, but I was determined not to make the same "mistake." I eventually noticed, however, that the initials are one letter over from my real initials.

On the resume level, I'm a high school English teacher originally from Massachusetts. I've lived all over North Carolina -- and briefly in Hungary -- and moved to Charlotte seven years ago. I am also the pet human to two rescued cats -- the youngest rescued by my students -- and do a lot of knitting, so I like to say I'm living the stereotype. :)

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

I did NaNoWriMo in 2011 for the first time and couldn't/didn't "win" or finish. (Never try to write a novel and your Boards at the same time.) I wasn't planning on doing it in 2012 when it suddenly hit me that "someday" wouldn't arrive without some effort. I'd also been working on taking back my life from my job, and doing something so intensely personal seemed to fit the bill.

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

This year, my novel was a work of historical fiction set in the Civil War. It deals with two people who end up working together in the radical branch of the Anti-Slavery Society (the society was real, but the search-and-rescue branch of it is fictional) and end up on the run together for several years. It's a story that's been with me in some form or another since I was nine, and I felt confident that it had far more than 50,000 words in it.

What is your typical writing process like?

My Wrimoing process is different from any process I use for my work writing. I start by picking a scene I want to work on that day -- or finishing a scene I started the previous day -- and write from there. I sometimes stop in the middle and look something up, though if it's too time-consuming I'll just add a virtual sticky note to the manuscript and do the best I can with the facts I'm unsure of. Often I'd break my word goals into three or four chunks and do some cleaning and/or correcting in between. Tackling it in small bits helped me stay disciplined and motivated.

How did your month go? 

I won but didn't finish. Teachers have a negligible social life in November anyway, so that part wasn't affected. My friends were super-supportive and let me ramble on about things that didn't interest them whenever we talked. My mom -- a published author -- had fun listening to my weekly progress reports on Sunday nights. And, surprisingly, it helped me bond with one of my advanced classes. I was telling them that I personally understand how hard writing can be because I was trying to writing 50,000 words in 30 days, and of course they grilled me until I ended up telling them the whole story. After feeling like a bad teacher keeping a shameful secret (so much class time wasted!), a colleague pointed out that that showed the students a real-world application of the writing process as well as the fact that writing is actually used beyond school. They also got to see that teachers sometimes struggle, even with a subject they know.

That class, by the way, gave me a great idea for the story when they said that one of the slaves who helped the secret society should be a witch. When I acknowledged that that would work and was a great plot point, they immediately began drafting my acknowledgements page for me. I have to admit that it was a shot in the arm to have sixteen teenagers listen to the outline as if they were enraptured kindergartners at story time.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

I wrote down so many snippets from the pep talk emails, but most come down to these lessons: you have to let yourself have fun, you have to give yourself permission to write, and you have to take your work seriously, because no one else will if you don't. I also learned that I have lived at both ends of what was, at the time of the Civil War, the longest continuous stretch of railroad in the world.

Where else can we find you online?

I don't have a blog, and I'm sure my teaching wiki is of no interest to anyone!

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Evelyn aka EvelynElizabeth

So I lied. Instead of posting Eveln's interview last week I decided to postpone it to today. But here it is. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet Evelyn as she lives all the way out in Gastonia. Even though she doesn't mention it here, she went through both terror and relief during November when she lost her flash drive containing her entire novel! We were all relieved when she reported finding it, though. Let that be a lesson about backing-up your novel in multiple places to all of us! Her novel is titled "Ruby Red".

Who are you?

My name is Evelyn. I am a college student right now, going to a community college, and I write as much as I can. Writing is not the only thing I have to do, though. I also play the flute and piccolo, ride horses, and volunteer at a therapeutic riding center for children with mental and physical disabilities. That’s about it I guess.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

I love to write, and also love to challenge myself, which NaNoWriMo definitely does. I did it for the first time last year, my senior year of high school, in my creative writing class. It was a lot of fun, and I went above my 50,000 word goal. This year was not as successful, but shortly after November ended I finished my novel, and I plan on doing it for years to come!

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

This year my novel was a historical fiction, based in Europe in 1900. It’s more of an adventure/romance than anything I guess, but has a lot of stuff going on in it. I picked that because historical fiction is something I really like writing and history is one of my favorite subjects.

What is your typical writing process like?

I usually start by writing out a summary of the story in bullet points and when I get done with that I just start writing. I also usually put in some character development and stuff like that as well.

How did your month go?

While I still felt good about my progress in NaNoWriMo, I did not reach the 50,000 word goal, but I was still proud of myself in the end.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

I learned that even if you don’t reach 50,000 words, you still accomplished a lot by attempting to write a novel in a month.

Where else can we find you online?

I use Google Blogger occasionally and tumblr, but I don’t use either of them very much (tumblr: evelynelizabeth214, Google: evelyn.mauney)

I've been Interviewed!

I've been sitting on this happy, happy news for about two days since I had the tour to complete first, but...I've been interviewed! And by Gus Sanchez who, if you remembered, I interviewed first in my NaNoWriMo Spotlight series this month. The interview and the process was fantastic. Check it out!

Courtesy of Klo

Also, look forward to a juicy bit of news on Monday for my next Weekly Roundup post. If you follow me on twitter then you will have already seen the news/link.

The next NaNoWriMo Spotlight interview will be posted tomorrow as it couldn't be posted on the last day of the tour.

Until next time!

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Sarah aka packedsuitcase

Introducing my favorite writer from our write-ins this past year - Sarah, known on the forum as packedsuitcase. She's an internationally traveled writer and her story this year, "The Story of a Year", reflects that. I quite enjoyed our conversations each week even if it distracted me from writing.

Who are you?

My name's Sarah. I'm a hopeless wanderer and mini adrenaline junkie, a rootless whoknowswhat who would be quite content to live with just the contents of a backpack and two cats. And a laptop. And a comfortable couch. And probably a bed, if we're pulling furniture into the picture. Actually, I kind of like furniture. I would miss it. And dishes, I have a mild obsession with mismatched plates. And, frankly, semi-permanent hostel living doesn't sound thrilling. Plus they don't usually allow pets.


Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November?

I've wanted to write a novel since I was 14, but I only ever got short story ideas. I finally got the first taptaptap of an idea in May and by October it was insistently pounding on the door to my brain demanding to be let in, so I decided to welcome it home in November and see how we got along. Plus, I had surgery in October and so I finally got a break from my overscheduled life and realized I had time to both do NaNo and get a full night's sleep.


What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

My novel is about a girl who finds herself smack in the middle of a life she hates who gets coerced into taking what becomes a very long vacation. She spends a year traveling around the world, meeting new people and trying to figure out how to survive on her own.

The story came about in a few ways. A couple of years ago I went through one of those soul shattering break-ups where I had to end a relationship with somebody I loved but who wasn't the right person for me. At the same time, several of my friends were going through the same thing and we were all trying to figure out what our lives were supposed to look like. At some point each of us said, "What if we could just run away and start fresh? What if we didn't have to be here, dealing with the pain of reconciling what we want our lives to be with the choices we made to stay with this person?" And then I spent the summer living in Copenhagen, and while I loved it, I experienced some of the most acute loneliness I'd ever felt. I spent my birthday on my own, feeling sorry for myself, and I thought about my main character, Jess, in a really concrete way for the first time. That she would experience that same loneliness, that it would be magnified by the break up and her lack of conviction in both what she is doing and what she has done.


What is your typical writing process like?

At night: Drink. Swear. Type a hundred words or so. Pour more wine. Look at the clock. Push the cat off of my lap and type for about an hour. Roll my eyes at myself, but keep typing. Type until I'm finished, whether because I have come to a good stopping point or because I am so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open or because it's midnight and I'm sick of doing this.

In the morning: Wake up. Laze around in bed. Pour a cup of coffee. Enjoy the coffee. Pour another cup of coffee and fire up the laptop. Drink half of the cup of coffee while getting set up. Put on a CD. Pound out 1500 words without too much effort. Realize the coffee has gone cold. Drink it anyways, and write another 1500 words.

Both processes start around 9.


How did your month go?

It went well! Surprisingly well, actually. I got a lot written. But. (There's always a but.) A lot of what I wrote isn't really true to the character, and the story is very episodic. I'm focusing on a few other projects right now with more pressing deadlines, but once they're done I'm going to do a very manual timeline and really focus on what Jess would do and not what I would do in the same situation. I think there's a little too much of me in there, and most of that is in what I wrote in the last third of the month where I was so desperate to finish that I stopped being as critical of my writing. I need to spend more time with Jess. I think I need to think through (and write down!) a lot of her backstory and figure out what makes her tick.


What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

That I am happiest when I write. I hate writing because it's hard and it's scary and it's risky, but I love it. I love telling stories, and I love challenging myself to tell them well and beautifully and to show the world at its best and its worst and everywhere in between. I learned that I can't let myself stop writing both because I need as much practice as I can get and because it is the best way for me to process the world. I also learned that it is possible for me to ignore the voice that chants "Not good enough not good enough not good enough" and throws popcorn at the back of my head. And that that voice only comes out at night - when I could write during the day I never heard it. Things are always scarier at night, I guess.


Where else can we find you online?

You can follow my ridiculous adventures and random musings on life at http://www.packed-suitcase.com.

NaNoWriMo Spotlight: Sherry Rentschler aka poetphoenix

Interviewee #2 is Sherry Rentschler, aka poetphoenix on the NaNo site. As much as I would have liked to, I never had the opportunity to meet Sherry in person during November. However, I have enjoyed talking with her on the forum. I was delighted when she agreed to an interview. Her novel is titled "The Flood of All Bones".

Who are you? 

I'm a retired US Air Force veteran who has been writing since she was 5. When I was 13 yrs old, I was paid $5 for an article published in a local newspaper. That started my journey. During my time in service, I had my own byline in a base paper, did commission poetry work, won a few writing contests. After I retired, I've had a serial story published as well as poetry, spent several years as a contributing writer and photojournalist for a local town newspaper, and was a contributing writer/Asst Poetry Editor for online magazine Amateur Poetry Journal. I ran a highly successful web site designed for live action story-telling, breaking new ground in how writers developed role playing worlds, recognized in its day by Writers' Digest Online.
The last several years I have decided to devote to novel work, collaborating on one novel (currently in a drawer), and actively working on a murder mystery novel, while preparing to self publish a poetry collection. I'm happily married and when not writing, am a domestic goddess who likes vampires, dragons, cooking and old movies.

Why did you pick NaNoWriMo to consume your November? 

I've spent years doing research, planning, preparing. I was stuck in the perpetual research mode. I needed the shove over the cliff to get me going and remind me how much I believed in this project. For over five years I've "built" on the novel's premise with a family tree, lots of photos to help me with visual suggestions and an outline. But I was getting so far from the actual writing that I nearly lost who my murderer was supposed to be. I'd tried NaNo twice before and I hate that I quit once and failed to finish the second time. I needed NaNo to show me I could do the work and that my work was doable.

What was your novel about this year? And why did you pick that?

The Flood of All Bones is a murder mystery spanning across 16 generations. It begins in France moving from the Huguenots migration to this country, to my core family's settling in western NC around the mid 1700's. The tale involves incorporating historical facts into the tale including the local Cherokee Indians and creation of the railroad. But I wouldn't say it is historical fiction because history isn't important to the story. My town is completely fictional.

I can't say I picked this subject. I actually dreamed it. The matriarch of my story came to me in a dream several years ago. She's been whispering in my ear on and off for years and she's really miffed this story is taking so long. Haha But I have always loved a good mystery and love and murder are like good chocolate. Sometimes you just can't get enough. There's also a huge market for good stories like this.

What is your typical writing process like?

I can be a bit of a mood writer. Depending on what I want to work on, I select certain kinds of music. However, lately I seem to prefer quiet. I turn on my fake fireplace (a DVD fire on my portable player), set up a pot of good hot tea, lay out my materials, settle into a firm but comfortable chair and think of where I am in the story. I've been known to use my digital recorder while I pace and try out various conversations. Recording and playing them back allows me to hear whether or not the convos sound believable or stilted. A digital recorder is also invaluable in the car and next to my bed. I never ever want to miss a possible magic moment. A passing phrase can end up being a scene's major gem later.

I also set goals for myself. When I sit down to write it can be to finish a conversation, complete a chapter, develop a new opening in a new chapter or editing. Then I determine a word goal in my head. However, I've found that if I don't put too much pressure on myself, I can accomplish a lot more. I think we can be our own worst enemy when it comes to word goals. I just try to let the words flow out and worry about counting them later. What I do hold myself to is a time frame. Never less than 2 hours.

How did your month go?

I won! I went over 51,000 words and amazed myself. I must confess I had many initial worries and during the month I was worried I would run out of ideas before finishing the month. But several people, especially you, kept the encouragement coming. The writing got easier as the month went on and I found I liked the daily habit I had established for myself. My husband was very supportive of my mood swings and my fretting. He was also very encouraging, asking me every day how I was doing and what was my word count. Having people to be accountable to was also motivating.

What did you learn from NaNoWriMo this year?

NaNo showed me I was more capable than I thought I was. It proved to me that I do know how to write. It showed me that practice makes better and good habits make better writers. I also learned that giving yourself a goal is important and sticking to it until completion is the best personal reward. The hardest lesson is just write. Don't write and edit as I have done for years because you'll get lost, your story will falter, your momentum will die. Just write. So, ok, you'll do multiple edits later. That's the price we pay as writers. First just say what you need to say. Those are the words that matter. Get them out. Write with abandon. You'll feel so much better.

Finally, let others in. I used to worry about people hearing and stealing my works. I guess I thought I was so good or so important that anyone could say better than I could what my original story might be. Sure, there may be some unscrupulous types out there but the majority of writers are selfishly bound up in their own work. Share your work with others and listen to their thoughts. Find beta readers who are specialized in certain areas too like grammar, plot and punctuation. And let others help you keep your story straight. Usually you are rewarded for giving them your trust because you will learn and your work will be better.

Where else can we find you online?

my blog: rentschler.wordpress.com
Twitter: poetphoenix
Klout: poetphoenix