NaNoWriMo

I just signed up for NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org), which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The website's goal is to have authors complete a 50,000-word rough draft during the month of November. Challenging, right? Definitely. This event comes at the perfect time for me because I'm not quite ready to start on another Kody Burkoff mystery. (By the way, in case you're curious, the next Kody book will most likely include her ex-Las Vegas showgirl friend, Nancy, as the main character.) During November, I plan to try something a little different. It's been in my thoughts since last spring when I taught a creative writing class to a small group of middle schoolers. This new book will be about an eleven-year-old boy and the game of baseball. My target audience is boys between the ages of 8 and 11. With two boys of my own and a baseball fanatic for a husband, I feel I am quite qualified for this topic. Not to leave my daughter out, the boy will have a sister who loathes the game.

I jotted down some notes yesterday about the plot and feel pretty good about it. What I'm having a dilemma over now is whether to write the story in first or third person. I feel more comfortable writing in first, but it would give me an extra challenge to write it in third. I'll have to let you know what I decide.

Book #3: First query submitted

After much thought and having scoured every word of my 276-word query letter, I made my first submission yesterday. I spent about a week and a half perfecting it, with the help of my mom, so it feels pretty good to (hopefully) have someone else read it. I'll get busy sending it out to more agents. Word is that I should send out 10 queries a week. So far, I have a list of about 30 agents, which means I'll need to keep researching. I can't imagine my luck turning around in just three weeks. But, hey, you never know!

I never really discussed my plan for book #3 on this blog. Oh, and by the way, I'm using the working title, Crossing Carol. It may not be perfect, but at least it's something. All the other names I came up with were so overdone. Anyway, Crossing Carol is complete at just over 80,000 words (Yay, me!) and I plan to make agent submissions until someone accepts me. Usually at this time, I would get the book ready for self-publishing, but I want to try traditional publishing. The perk being that someone else can help with marketing (Yay, someone else!).

Final edit compete, at least for now

Just past the deadline, I finished editing my manuscript. I'm happy, yet not ecstatic, probably because I know that if I was to start the editing process all over again, I'd make just as many changes. But...I must move on. The next step in the process is to write the dreaded query letter, luring a prospective agent to read a few pages and snag them with my excellence. I'm hoping for better luck this time. My past attempts have been futile and short-lived. I have vowed to put in more of an effort this time. I will query until I can query no more!

The synopsis is also on my to-do list. That's another daunting task. I spent almost a year writing an 80,000-word novel and am now supposed to write a three-page summary of it, double-spaced. Who came up with that idea? I bet it wasn't a writer.

Final edit of book #3 (still untitled!)

My goal was to have book #3 completely edited by the end of today. With 35 pages to go, I'm not sure if that's going to happen. UGH! My other goal was to send out my first query letter next Monday, and I'm not sure if that will happen either. UGH! But...I'm trying not to rush it, not to push something out there that I'm not entirely happy with. Deadlines or not, I'm looking at book #3 as my golden ticket. My husband hates when I refer to it like that.

Editing my own work is not my favorite thing to do because I know that no matter how hard I study each and every word, I'll miss something. Oftentimes, I'll catch myself reading the text for meaning, which isn't good. Reading for meaning won't catch grammar mistakes.

Are you wondering why I can't choose a title for book #3? Yeah, me too. It's driving me nuts, actually. Like I said though, this book is my golden ticket, and I want it to be perfect. I've been looking online for a pattern to the titles of the best sellers and have noticed that for the most part, the titles are a single word. I'm also considering moving away from the pattern I've created for myself with using the character's name in the title. Okay, so I'm leaning toward Buried Secrets. It's not a single word, but it fits the contents and has some mystery to it. I'm not sure if it will stick since plenty of other books have the same title. UGH!

Off to editing I go!

My first author presentation

I was invited to speak at the Kasson Public Library on Monday night as part of their Books and Beyond series, and I'm rather pleased with how it went. I'm also very glad that it's over and so is my dog. She had to listen to me speak out loud for hours on end as I practiced the presentation. Never having done one before, I was incredibly nervous. Public speaking isn't something I look forward too, but I'm getting better at it and feeling more comfortable. The small audience filled with friendly faces helped immensely.

My theme, or message, for the presentation was, "Everyone has a story to tell." It goes along with my books and the main character Kody Burkoff being a ghostwriter. As I told the audience, on any given day Kody hears interesting stories from the people living in her community. Her clients share with her their wonderful, disgusting, sad, depressing, and sometimes boring events from their life. These are the same stories we might hear from the people in our own communities, if only we were a little more open. For most of us, it's human nature to hide our true selves from everyone. I mean, think about it. What do you really know about your mother, father, grandmother, etc.? Probably not as much as you'd like. An example I shared the other night is when I went to the funerals of my great-grandfather and my godfather. After reading the programs, I was embarrassed to learn who those men really were. I had no idea what they did before retirement, and I had never thought to ask. If only they had left behind a memoir for me to read. I could go on and on about my dream that everyone kept a journal to share with their families, but I can't keep going on and on because this chick needs to finish editing another book. UGH!!!!

Side project: Conversation Starters

My parents will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this weekend and I've taken it upon myself to plan a dinner date for them. They have a reservation for two at one of my favorite restaurants, The Hubble House, and I called the manager yesterday to see if it was okay that I personalize their experience a bit. She said that sounded lovely. Here's my plan: a personalized wine label is on its way, my daughter made up a few wine charms with her earring making supplies (she is a crafty one!), and I wrote a small conversation starter booklet filled with questions pertaining to marriage. Wine glasses and roses are on my list to buy today, and then I'll drop it all off on Friday afternoon so the supplies will be at the restaurant ready for the big night.

Conversation starters:

I've been married for 15 years and needless to say, when we're out by ourselves, which is a rare occasion, we oftentimes don't know what to talk about. The day-to-day drama is something we try to avoid, therefore, the silence. I can only assume that after 40 years, it gets even harder to come up with fresh ideas. The questions in my booklet are ones that ask my parents to share their favorite things about marriage, their favorite qualities in each other, advice they might want to give their kids, and others along those same lines. If only I could be a fly on the wall to hear some of their answers! Regardless, whether they laugh through them or take them seriously, I'll be one happy daughter.

Giving up on a read

I hate to do it. I hate to quit a book, especially when it's by an author that I have previously enjoyed. BUT...there are so many other books on my to-read list that I can't validate continuing to read it when I'm not completely excited about getting to the end. The book is "Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver. She is a wonderful author that uses such beautiful wording and I truly appreciate that. The plot though, is boggling. (I've been using the word "boggling" a lot lately so maybe being boggled is simply a phase I'm in.) The book is about the flight of butterflies and also the flight of life. When I say that, I mean how we sometimes all want to fly away to an unknown destination because it might be a little easier, simpler, or more fun there. We don't know that of course, and as I grow older the less I believe in that theory. Life is as simple and as fun as you make it, regardless of where you reside. BUT...I'm not gonna lie...there will always be a small part of me that wants to take off for a week or a year to test it out.

I'm moving on to another book by an author I admire. She is a master at maintaining suspense. The beginning and end of each chapter is exciting and I can't wait to pick up the book at night. The author is Lisa Gardner and the book is "The Neighbor." I'll post my rating on Goodreads. Check out her work if you haven't before.