Love Theme...

A theme song is always needed when writing about a girl who is looking for a boy. Sometimes the boy is there the whole time and you just don't see him. Will this be the case for Lolly? We will have to see. On the way into work this morning on XM Radio - "The Loft" station to be exact - I heard a remake of the Michael Jackson classic - Human Nature. This version was acoustic (which one can never really go wrong with) by David Mead. I just bought it off of itunes...and I am happy that Lolly now has a love theme.

In thinking about it....this song is perfect because sometimes what you find isn't actually what you are searching for. Sometimes...it is just Human Nature.

Two Days!!!

It is hard to believe that just two days stand before the NanoWrimo 08 experience. I can't wait. I am excited to have a list of characters fleshed out. I am excited that I know what each of them wants. I am nervous that I haven't yet worked out the list of scenes given the set of ideas that hit me on Sunday. My goal is to get that done tonight. Just a list...I don't even think I am going to worry about the order of them right now. If I have time...I may do that too. Then I am just going to chill on Friday and enjoy a fun evening without the voice in my mind saying..."You should be writing!!".

I can't wait for Lolly Friar to break out on the page. She is fantastic. She is uber-organized. She is addicted to Vera Bradley (tee hee...that is for my own fun). She is a loyal worker. She is a loving granddaughter. She is always worried about everyone else. She is a snazzy dresser. She is a fan of super-smart boys. She is kind of heart. She is a giddy girl. She is out to find a "real" job. And whatever you do...do not...and I repeat...do not...use the "S" word.

What is the "S" word? Hmmm....you will have to wait and see. :)

The Essentials for NanoWrimo

In the book No Plot No Problem! by Chris Baty, he outlines the essential tools for NanoWrimo - -

1) A notebook

2)  A Magical Pen

3)  A Word-Processing Device

4)  A Reference Book

5)  Music

6)  A Writing Totem

After reviewing this list, I realized that I had all but the last.  I wonder if that has been why I haven't finished any of my draft novels.  All of these years I have been writing totemless.  What is a girl (who recently declared Chick Lit as her genre) to do?  Hmm...let us see.  I was trying to think of something girly and pink.  I wanted to have something that was frilly and unique.  I hoped to find something fancy...that could be used while writing and for other occasions as well.  An idea popped in my head...a scarf perhaps?  When one thinks of scarves...there is really only one kind to have.  So it was off to the web to search for Hermes.  My nervous nimble fingers found the coolest website I had ever seen and then I found my precious!!  My beautiful silk twilly....

As Katherine Hepburn said in one of my favorite movies (The Philadelphia Story), she was yar. 

What do you think?

Picture from the Hermes Website -



My grainy pictures....

The Joy of Pieces Coming Together

As I am sitting with my writing group today...the lessons of past writing workshops and the advice in the writing books I have been reading are magically falling into place.  The comments of my writing friends on dribs and drabs of my past novel attempts are making much more sense.  Somehow, over the past few months, things are starting to sink in.  I'm realizing that writing is hard work.  You can't just open up a blank page and set off on the journey...well...not if you want to actually finish something that has a cohesive beginning, middle and end.

I remember being so intimidated in a workshop I took a few years ago because I couldn't comprehend having motivations for your characters.  Actually, I couldn't think of what they were for my main character, let alone the others.  That is a huge glaring problem!!  You can't have a story if there is no quest to move it forward.  Duh!!! 

This afternoon, without even realizing it, I created a list of the main pieces of my story.  In looking over the list...I quickly realized that they were the goals/motivations of each of my characters.  Yes...that is right...you read that correctly...each of my characters has a purpose in the story.  Each has something to drive them forward.  Each is related in some way to the other or in a way that makes the story work and come together in the end.

After all of my plotting on Friday, I had one hole to fill.  I didn't know what line of work that my main character's boss was going to be in.  After I figured that out, everything else started to fall into place.  Will this cause me to go back and clean up some things from my work on Friday - Yes!!  Is that a reason to stop -  Heck No!!

Woah...this is me figuring out how to be a writer!!!  It is a banner day!!!

The Books That Took the Fear Away

In my declaring a genre officially this summer "chick lit" my research revealed two books that I thought would help me feel less afraid.  The first of which was Will Write for Shoes by Cathy Yardley.  She revealed an logical outline for how to pace and a structure to follow in noveling.  Being of "project manager" mindset...having a plan to execute or at the very least a template gave me comfort.  I have never been (despite my type A personality) an organized writer or a planner...but one of my writing goals this year was to have more structure heading into National Novel Writing Month.  The other goal was to finish a full first draft...with no plot skips or blank spaces.  I have set up a bit of a plan to assure that this full draft happens in keeping with insane NanoWrimo pace that I seem to be able to handle.  Here is the plan:

* Create an Outline
* Break Outline into Chapters - with rising action noted
* Create an Excel Spreadsheet to track word counts and chapter sections 
* Write 60,000 words in November
* Spend the next two weeks in December plugging away to finish a full draft before Christmas
* Revise in January with a few touch-ups
* Share First Draft with Writing Group by my birthday - January 13

The other book that helped to take the fear away was a flitty, fun book called See Jane Write which had many helpful reminders for cohesive writing and traps to avoid.  It was written by a chick lit author and her editor...and the style and flow of information likened itself to a chick lit novel in some ways.  The great thing about both of these books are the resources noted for further research and writing.  As I read more books on writing, I love to see the cross references of the same books.  One of which is one that I keep putting off writing...yet I attended the author's workshop a few year's ago.  When I saw that title come up in more then one place, it got me to thinking or rather believing that perhaps I really could sit down and finish an entire novel.  It gave me comfort to know that I could still be wildly creative and work within an outline.  It is possible for my type a self to meet the aspiring writer self.  The two of them together could make quite the team!!

Welcome!!...A New Character is Born

As I embark upon NanoWrimo 2008, I wanted to start a space to capture the fun of the process. This coming November will begin my first smatterings of writing about Lolly Friar...a character who was born within my mind this past summer.  I have spent the last four months creating her on pages and pages within a hard bound journal...and she is quite eager to jump out finally upon the screen through my flying fingertips as they pace at 1,000 words an hour.

Lolly will go from here -    

To Here - 

Please join me for what will be one heck of a fun ride!!!