I Love to Read!

I love to read. After a long, hard day there is nothing better than a good book and a hot bubble bath.

This year I kept a list of book titles and I'm currently reading book #50. Not bad.... about a book a week.

Next year my goal is to read 60 books.

I Made It!

I made it! NaNo 2006 officially ended at midnight. I finished the challenge with 50,038 words!

I'm still processing the whole experience and will share this weekend.

Attitude of Gratitude

During this season of thanks I've been reflecting on all the blessings God has graciously bestowed upon me.

When I think about my writing aspirations, I thank Him for helping me grow this year as a writer. The year 2006 is ending with an increased hope in my heart and a larger vision for my writing future.

I look back with gratitude at all the opportunites I've had this year to grow as a writer:

1. Participating in weekly chats
2. An online writing class
3. Attending a three day seminar on Writing and Public Speaking
4. Participating in a Novel Creation 101 Course
5. Writing my novel during NaNo 2006
6. Joining a local writing group
7. Creating blogs and sharing my journey as a writer

If you have a desire to write, I encourage you to follow your dream.

Writing Marathon

NaNo is in full force. After a slow start I hit 46,449 today. Feels pretty good knowing I am on the home stretch. :)

NaNo has been a great experience. Some things I've learned are:

1. Turning off the internal editor! (at least for now, editing will come later)
2. The discipline of writing every day
3. Breaking a huge goal into bite size chunks
4. Starting with a thought and expanding it into a scene

When NaNo is over in a few days I won't have the complete novel finished. But I will have a good start.

NaNo Continues

Another week has flown by. Wow, where does the time go?

Hit a few snags this week with writing. So I took the advice of my writing instructor and did things a little different than originally planned.

First I worked more on my storyboard. This is my "blue print" and helps me know where the story is going. Some writers will not use one because they want to see the story "unfold" as they write. I like using it because it keeps me on track. If anything new develops as the story progresses, I simply add it to the storyboard as I write.

Then I took a few days from writing and read a book in my genre. It's amazing how inspiring this is for me. Reading Historical romance is actually what started me on the journey of writing a book. Every time I finish reading this type of book I think about my own story and how I want to write it.

Plus, I've attended several chats this week that keep me inspired. The moderator is a wealth of knowledge to an aspiring writer and the other participants in the chat have their own experiences to share.

I wrote about 2,000 words today for NaNo and plan to add more to the count tonight. I am determined to make this a successful writing month!

My Characters

One of the first things I did in my preplanning for NaNo was create the hero and the heroine.

The instructor of the writing course I'm currently participating in taught us to create a character outline. Not just form a bio but also include the character traits. I want to know who the character is now, how they will act and what motivates them. This will give my characters more dimension.

One valuable tool I used was the book "45 Master Characters" by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. I started with my heroine and from this book chose an archetype for her. Then I chose her personality type. May sound like a lot of work but it really was fun. I went through the same process for my hero.

I love to read a book where the characters come alive in my mind. And I want my novel to be that way, too!

National Novel Writing Month

I plan to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year. Ever heard of it? Go here for more information. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ The writing challenge starts November 1st so start planning now! You must write a minimum of 50,000 words by November 30th to be a winner.

Last year was my first attempt at NaNo. And was it an adventure! With lots of determination and hard work I had written 50,124 words by November 26th! Participating helped build the confidence I needed as an aspiring inspiredauthor writer.

This year I've done more pre-planning before NaNo starts. I'll share more about that next time.