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

New e-Book Information

New and interesting information coming my way in regard to e-book publishing. In a review done by her local newspaper, writer Terri Main discusses her upcoming book, “Dark Side of the Moon”, which has been accepted for publication by Canadian e-book publisher MuseItUp Publishing. She also has two short stories that are due to be published by MuseItUp Publishing next summer.

What really grabbed me about the interview was the mention of the e-venues that her book will be available in, including e-readers Kindle and Nook, various smartphone applications and websites http://smashwords.com , http://fictionwise.com , and http://ereader.com .

I checked out MuseItUp Publishing, and they publish in multiple genres (including cozy mystery – the genre that I would love to break into!). They give precise information about submitting your work, including dates and formatting. I may do NaNoWriMo (hope I got that right!) this year – using that opportunity to move into the first draft of my first cozy.

I still have to go into my Kindle account and edit my book – it did not upload well format wise. In fact, it is so bad that I might delete it (if I can), and start the process over again. I can edit html, but that is one heck of a lot of pages of editing!

This week I start on my second Tarot book. I have the outline done, and I think there are places that I can go with it that don’t include the trash! ;-)

© August 2010 Bonnie Cehovet

The Sky Is Falling!

Incredible learning curve on book publishing! Sent my manuscript in, thought all was well with the Western world. Wrong! Oh, the manuscript is okay – waiting to be looked at after the spring books are put in place. This was to be expected. What was not expected was the little e-mail telling me that I was expected to have the graphic images handed in with my work, as I was primary on the contract.

This is a book (mine) and deck (someone else’s) venture. I am happy to be associated with this deck – the author/illustrator is a lovely lady, and the deck is phenomenal. I made the ultimate faux pas in assuming that we would hand things in separately. That “assume” word came back to bite me. It appears that all is (or soon will be) well. Our editor will send a template to the artist, she will get the deck scans in order, send them to me, and I will send them to our editor. Hopefully all of this works out. I am aging rapidly here!

I do have the outline for my next book done, so I will begin work on that book within the next week or so – if only to take my mind off the first book!

I had an interesting post in my e-mail this am, from author Joanna Penn (http://TheCreativePenn.com). It seems that Seth Grodin, best selling author of business oriented books, has made the decision to move away from print publishing to go directly to his reader public via his blog, videos, e-books and other digital media. This is a thought that I have been contemplating for a while now (as I am sure have many authors).

Joanna has a great video up explaining her thoughts on Grodin’s action. It can be seen here: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/08/24/seth-godin-gives-up-on-traditional-publishing/.

Lots to think about here! Wishing you all a great writing week!

Blogging As A Promotional Tool

I have been blogging (here, on Word Press and on Live Journal - each blog with a different, specific purpose)for some time now. As I define new directions in both my private and professional lives, the effort behind my blogging will be ramped up. Therein lies the problem. I have been spending a lot of time researching what constitutes a good blog, how to attract traffic, how and when to guest blog, and blog rankings, amongst other things. My head is spinning!

I do not want to be a professional blogger! I want to continue to enjoy writing my blogs, providing content, personal opinion (I do have a few of those!)and access to the availability of purchasing my books. (I promise to be very gentle with your checkbook/credit card!)

What I am trying very hard not to do is to get lost in the process - to take my attention away from my professional work and make the blog itself too high a priority. Quite frankly, right now I am standing here, hands on hips, fuming about how to bring traffic to my blogs without making the blog itself my priority. Hello blogs - you are a promotional tool, not the be all, end all of my promotions! Can we reach a truce here?

As in all things, my Cappie personality rushes to the fore. Like Mr. Sinatra, I will do things my way! ;-)

(c) August 2010 Bonnie Cehovet

End Notes

I finished proofreading my WIP Thursday, and coded it yesterday (Friday). For the most part I am happy with it - I think it says what I want it to say. Now I have to take today to write up the promo material, and next week I will get it sent off to my editor.

One thing that I am very happy about - the reference books that I needed to keep available have now been replaced in their proper locations. That certainly frees up some energy! I love my books, but they were taking up space!

Where do I go from here? Several directions - at the same time! ;-) I will be focusing on how to promote this project (my book, an artist friend's deck), and a promotion schedule. I know that the mss will be coming back from my editor with "suggestions" that will need to be acted on. I am thinking about the topic for my next Tarot book, about e-books on personal empowerment, about where to place my flash fiction, and firming up thoughts on a cozy mystery series.

I am coming to a better understanding of how artists and authors can be so into a specific porject, but when that project is done, one moves on to the next. We promote the first project, we don't forget it, but we move on to new thngs. It is not good to become all too attached to what we are doing/have done/will be doing.

Life is for the living - and we need to dream, and live, to our fullest potential.

(c) August 2010 Bonnie Cehovet