NaNoWriMo 2010

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) – I have been following NaNoWriMo for several years now – starting when my good friend Winter Wren took part in it. Last year it was all over Twitter, so this year I decided that it was my time to “test the waters”.

Every November this contest is held. The objective is to write a novel (50,000 words) in one months time. Whew! That is close to 2,000 words a day! I am perhaps luckier than most writers, because I only have myself and my cats to take care of, so I have the time to devote to this. I have a job that pays the bills, of course, but in the main my time is my own.

I have already gone into the site - http://www.nanowrimo.org - set up an account, named my novel (The Rosenwald Papers), and set the genre (Mystery, Thriller, Suspense). During the next month I will develop a probable plot, flesh out a couple of the characters, write a synthesis of my story to place online, and put together a chapter outline.

I also went into “Regions” online and picked three regions that were close to me, defininf one of them as my home region.

I plan to hit the ground running on this one, and come out with, at the least, 50,000+ words that are good enough to form the basis for the first in a series of mystery novels that I have had running around in my brain for a long time.

I hope to see many of my on line friends doing NaNoWriMo also! See you there!

© September 2010 Bonnie Cehovet

Developing Characters

I have had a cozy mystery series in mind for several years now. I know that the lead character will be female, that there will be cats involved, and a touch of esotericism and magick. Where I am right now is in the process of defining my lead character. I have given her a name many times – only to let it go, as not the “right” name. So I decided to define her character first – what makes her tick, what her back story is, why I would ant to know her, what she has to tell me. In doing this, I know that she will tell me her name, which is how it should have been all along!

Once I have my lead character defined, I will know what type of secondary character she would surround herself with – sometimes intentionally, sometimes incidentally. Life happen, you know! I am sure that one or more of the “support cast” will want a larger role. My hope is that they will be satisfied with a recurring role.

I also know that the plots will often revolve around my characters back story – what she has gone through will be more important that what she is currently going through. What got her where she is has greater relevance than where she is.

Out of this murky past will come both the victims and the villains – all painted in shades of gray. Bright colors cast into the shadow of their deepest, darkest secrets.

Is every ending going to be a happy one? Every ending will be an ending, but it will also act as a beginning for the next book. This is a series, after all!

How long are my books going to be? I will start writing, and stop writing when the story is over. If I go through a publisher, I may need to cut down words, or add words. If I self publish, I get to be as wordy as I want to be – within reason! If I self-publish, I will avail myself of the services of en independent editor, who hopefully has the guts to tell me where my story needs tightening up, what I need to let go of, and what I need to expand.

Life is good!

© September 2010 Bonnie Cehvovet

Soul Purpose

I just finished reading a very interesting article on identifying and living your soul purpose. Why do author’s need to know about this? Does it just give us ammo for a new storyline, or perhaps justification (i.e. a “reason”, or “purpose”) for becoming a writer? Writing is an extension of who we are – it allows us to express our beliefs, our way of being, in many different formats. We don’t need a reason, or justification of any kind, to do this.

Soul purpose goes to the core of who we are as individuals, it speaks to what we are here for in this lifetime – our very reason for being here. When we are aligned with our soul purpose, life has a very nice flow to it – things go smoothly, what we need comes to us in a timely fashion, with very little effort, and with no strings attached.

There are some easy “tells” that will let you know that you are not aligned well with your soul purpose:

1. You are not happy with your work/career – you no longer find it fulfilling.
2. Long-term relationships are falling away, and you don’t understand why. 3. You want to relocate, but are not sure where you want to go.
4. Your career life, personal life (or both) seem to have come to a standstill.
5. Your health is not what it once was, or what you would like it to be.

Yes’s to one or more of the above indicate to me that a little “time out’ is necessary. You cannot envision your big dream, much less achieve it, when your life is not functioning!

I don’t have a stock answer as to how we discover our soul purpose. From my own experience, I can say that, generally speaking, what I am fighting in my life is what I need to pay attention to. If I am drawn to something, t hat is whee my focus and intent need to go.

The Internet has many resources, as does your public library. Take the time to identify your soul purpose, and your life as an author will thank you!

© September 2010 Bonnie Cehovet