Today's coffee is a skinny White Chocolate Mocha, which is total yum!

First off, I'd like to thank all the participants' for making my first blogfest such a fun and learning experience for me. It really choked me up to witness so many fabulous writers support each other without agenda. You all are stars! I was shocked and humbled to be mentioned in this post by Karlene Petitt on Scribe Sisters here. The four writers who host this blog is completely awesome, and you should all follow them. And finally, thank you to the very supportive and friendliest editor for writers, Cassandra Marshall. Check out her site here.

With that said, in keeping with the theme of the blogfest, I wanted to give you all my plan of attack for NaNoWriMo. If you read my post about my project notebook, you would have seen this . . .



This is what I use to jot down scene ideas for my story. I use three to four sheets. The first sheet is used for scenes that establish the defining event and the rising stakes, which usually takes me a third of the way to the next page. On that second page, the scenes move the story with rising action. Then in the following scenes the character has no choice but to move forward--there is no turning back, and she must keep going to resolve the problem.

As we move to the next several scenes, the character is over her head but has small successes on her way to resolve the problem. Now my scenes are moving into the dark moment where all seems lost and the character must make a great sacrifice to prevent a tragedy (could be physical or moral). And finally, I move the scenes into the climax--the final obstacle to conquer before we can move on to the Resolution--where all the loose ends are neatly tied.

During NaNoWriMo, I'll be working with my scene prompts for inspiration. I'm going to write in scenes and not worry about chapters at all. Each scene will have it's own arc--a beginning, middle, and end. Keeping my focus on a scene at a time will help me to reach my goal. I'm not worrying about the big picture, because I've all ready mapped it out.

It is in the revision process that the magic happens. I'll find the cliffhanger of a scene (or more than one scene) at that time and make my chapter break there. That is how I'll find my chapters' ends and beginnings. How I'll make each chapter end in a cliffhanger.

I used to be a "fly by the pants" kind of writer without having a plan, letting my characters take me on the journey, but I found that they were like new computers and needed a program to follow. Their words are their own, and sometimes they point me in a different direction, taking me off my clear path for a bit. We may wander in the overgrowth for awhile, but we always find the main road in the end.

If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, good luck!

That's it. Slurp!

Voting ends at 6am MST (8am EST) !!!!

Woohoo! It's been such a thrill! I've been blogging, tweeting, dreaming, sleepwalking, and totally driving my family and friends crazy with my obsession over my first ever Blogfest. I wanted it to rock! Every detail  implemented to perfection. However, just like planning a wedding, things don't go as smoothly as you'd like. We had a couple of URL problems on Mr. Linky, and we couldn't narrow down to only six semi-finalists. It's when you let go of those niggling little details that something wonderful happens.

When I first decided on selecting six semi-finalists, I had thought I would only get maybe twenty or thirty participants. We totally exceeded that number, so we decided on ten semi-finalists for you all to vote on.

Size mattered. There were several entries that went over the word count that we couldn't choose because of the rules. Some I truly loved and I applaud your talent! It wouldn't have been fair to those who followed the rules to keep them in the running. Here's a recap of the rules:
I'd like to extend a huge and grateful thank you to my fellow judges, Connie and Joannine, for giving up their time to help me read and decide on the entries. They tirelessly stuck with me as we whittled down the list. I learned what agents mean when they say this industry is subjective, because everyone has different tastes. This was an asset while judging, enabling each genre to have a cheerleader so to speak. It was a difficult decision, and each entry was read several times as we were trying to narrow down to the semi-finalists.

LS Murphy
Tessa Conte
Rachel Morgan
Jamie Manning
Marieke
Rachael Harrie
Dominic de Mattos
Jodi Henry
Shelley Watters
Wendy Tyler Ryan 

The Never-ending Scene Blogfest (or cliffhanger--whatever)

I had her do an edit for me. When I got the thing back, it was a hard pill to swallow. I had some issues with dialogue, character development, and scenes that weren't doing anything but weighing my story down. Working with her edits, I've brought my story to a higher level with better developed characters, action scenes that moved the story forward and dialogue that worked.

Okay, so coffee this morning is Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. It's so yummy that I think the cute nerdy guy with the wide grin behind the counter forgot to make it skinny. Anyway, I'm getting a lot of disdainful glances today. Probably because I'm wearing a track suit and everyone else is in business attire. I know those sidelong looks are because they wish they could be wearing their sweats, kicking back, drinking coffee, and staring at their computers at Starbucks, just like me. 

Anywho, I just finished my preparation work for NaNoWriMo. This is my character/setting note book that I prepared for my new project.

 
I don't like to use a large notebook or a character board. I'm sort of OCD and I like all my notebooks to be the same. I hate putting things on my computer (cause you never know). In the first part of the notebook, I tape pictures of people who resemble my characters and then I write a biography for each. Like this ...


Next I attach pictures of every setting I'm going to use in the story and make notes on each location. Like this...

and this ...

 
Then I just add other stuff that will inspire me during my writing. Like, how a group of kids look together. A teapot. A tree. A tradition. Or a fashion. Any random thing that I'll need to see because I'm not familiar with it.



The final part of the book is for my outline. I usually fill in scenes on several sheets of this ...


I cut them out and arrange them as they would come in my story and then tape them in order in my project book right after all the pictures. This is what I'll work with while writing to keep myself on track.

So, that's what I've done. I have one for every story I've written. Then, when I've finished writing and revising my story, I download the word document to a disk, slip the disk in the pocket divider of the project notebook, and file it in my writing box.

What neat preparations do you do to prepare for your new project? 




That's it. Slurp!

Elle Strauss over at Monday Musing is hosting a First Page Blogfest. Go to her site here to check out the other participants' entries. Elle dusted off an old WIP for this and so have I. So, here it is:

I received this wonderful blog award from N. R. Williams, Fantasy Author and from Talei Loto at Musings of an aspiring scribe Thanks to both of you! It's so sweet when someone thinks your blog is lovely.

Conditions of the award. Post the award on your site and mention the person who gave it to you with a link to their site. Pick 15 (I figure I can go as high as 30 then, if I can) other bloggers to award the One Lovely Blog Award to, link their site and email or leave a comment on their site letting them know that they can come by and pick it up.

This is hard to do, since I love all the blogs I follow. So, I decided to pick blogs that had followers under 100 and I felt were doing an awesome job! Also, I had to make sure they hadn't already received the awards. Here they are, follow them and spread the love!

Arcana Chronicles
Books Quotes Poetry
The Oracle and The Muse
Misty Dawn Waters
Mara Writes
Garden Full of Lily
In My Write Mind
Little Red Writing Hoody
Marieke's Musings
Writes My Life
Hold On To Your Bloomers!
Joanna St. James-Biontic Writer

So lucky winners grab the award picture above, post it to your blog, and let your freak badge fly!

Before you go, don't forget to sign up for my blogfest for a chance to win a 10 page critique and synopsis critique or $50 toward edits from CA Marshall. Plus there are two runner-up prizes! Click here for more information on The Never-ending Scene Blogfest (or cliffhanger, whatever). 

Umm.. lots of sleep. Lots of reading, queries, fulls, and books. Lots of twitter surfing and email sending. Time outs for playing with my dog Mollie, watching movies, doing things, and going places. Lots of blog reading, client editing, writing, and then a bit of laying around before more sleeping. :)

You don't work for any sharks, do you?
I'm very proud to say that I do NOT.

I hope this wasn't too painful. I'll remove the cuffs now. And thank you, Cassandra,  for being my first victim ... er ... guest. 

Now go to her site here and seriously use her fabulous editing skills. In her brief review of my first ten pages, she pointed out a major problem in my manuscript. And that was in her initial quote letter, just imagine what she could do to your entire novel to make it shine.



Before you go, don't forget to sign up for my blogfest for a chance to win a 10 page critique and synopsis critique or $50 toward edits from CA Marshall. Plus there are two runner-up prizes! Click here for more information on The Never-ending Scene Blogfest (or cliffhanger, whatever).

Justin W. Parente is hosting the Hook Line & Sinker Blogfest over on his blog In My Write Mind. Click on the link above to check out all the participants' entries and friend Justin--his site is awesome! Here's the challenge in Justin's words:

"Just to remind you, the theme of the blogfest is such: Please post a 1000 word (a few over is okay) sample of your hook. Preferably, chop it right out from the opening of your manuscript. I'd like to see the range of openings various writers have to grab attention. Can you establish a great character relationship in just those few words? How about showing the world? Whatever your hook is, post it for the fest and we'll do the little jig around it (and give you comments along the way)."

I didn't want to use the same story I've been using for other blogfests I've participated in. So, I dusted off a story I had started because of a dream.I had planned to go back to it after I finish the project I'll be doing for NaNoWriMo in November. I have several first scenes of stories that have come to me, and I write them, so I won't lose the inspiration.I put them away  for when it's their time to be written.This is one, so I hope you like it.

******************************

So here's my entry ... It's at the point in my story when my protagonist comes face to face with my antagonist.

You MUST sign into the Linky below in order to be eligible for prizes.

Here's the wicked awesome prizes from C.A. Marshall, Freelance Editor, Author, and Literary Agent Intern Extraordinaire:



1st Place: A 10 page manuscript critique AND a synopsis critique OR $50 towards manuscript edits,which average about $500.

Two runner ups will get: Either a 10 page manuscript OR a synopsis critique OR $25 towards manuscript edits, which average about $500.

I'll be using CA Marshall's editing services on my new project--I heard she rocks! Just saying. Check her out.


Way cool, right? So what are you waiting for? Sign up NOW!

Please pass the word around on your blogs or twitter or elsewhere, whatever.

SIGN UP HERE TO ENTER THE BLOGFEST! (Really, I am yelling so you won't forget to sign the linky - heehee :D)

Francine over at Romancing the Blog is hosting the Bad News Blogfest  October 2-3. Check it out here and go and view her entry and all the participants.

And please check out my entry for They're People Too - Blogfest below.

(redacted)

Tessa is hosting They're People, too - Blogfest over at her blog Tessa's Blurb today. Click here to see her entry and to go to all the participants' blogs to view their entries. I can't wait to read them all!


The challenge for They're People Too Blogfest in Tessa's words: Pick a more or less abstract concept... hate, love, weather, clouds,  death, life, anything you can think of. Write a monologue/dialogue/scene featuring said personified concept as the MC and do so using somewhere in the region of 500 words.