Jodi the Author

For now and most of the rest of the year, I’m going to work on “Misty’s Magical Shed”. It was my second attempt at NaNoWriMo. So far it is the only one in which I did not reach the 50k word count. If you have read or want to read previous posts, I used this story over the past couple of years for posts here on my website. I decided to stop building a running story and take what I have to format a book. So far a few things have changed. The protagonist has evolved to three protagonists and I am working to build on the tension.

In my writers’ group, two of the participants who have been with me the longest are elated. They have always given me kudos on this story. Starting this week, I will take excerpts to the group for critique, 6-10 pages at a time. Who knows, maybe by the first of this coming November, I might be very close to another book ready for submission.

I wrapped up NaNoWriMo 2016 with just over an hour to spare. I’m happy with what I have to work with now. I believe it’s a good story for book 4 in my Naldo series. I ended with at least two extra friends. They will be the protagonists for book 5 in the series. One of the things that helps me with my writing are the conversations I have with my characters. When I get stuck, either not know how to continue or how to describe something, I turn to them. Many times I find the conversation goes into the story with very few change. Usually these changes are in the pronouns and matching verbs.

I took a break from 50k word count and took the challenge of a story of 15k words. I will submit this to the Writers Digest Short Short Story contest.

Now I go back to work on book 2 in the series and “Misty’s Magical Shed. I like variety in my writing and my characters.

The past couple of week s I have been working to get to know my characters better. The first step is to learn their names. So far I have the protagonist, Alexandra, Allie, M’Ren. The first born of her generation, she is named for her grandmother. She is set to follow her grandmother’s example of uniting the cultures of her planet, Naldo. After the devastating destruction that took place in the previous book, the cultures of this world need a leader to unit behind once more. When an accident leaves Allie to believe she is to blame for the death of a friend, she runs away and leaves her future and her hopes behind, or so she thinks.

This is the beginning of my story. I will find out more in November. In the meantime I need to get to know the other characters. I will share more with you as we go along.

Saturdays for the next couple of months are dedicated to getting ready for this year’s NaNoWriMo. I need to get to know my characters and at least have a vague idea of what the inciting incident is.

Saturday, September 10, I opened up a file titled “Information for book 4”. The information talked about the Ciboney, the cousin culture to the Sasquatch in book 1. These beings are more like the abominable snow people. I still need to do a lot of work, but discovering the characters is the most enjoyable part of writing.

Lately it has been more difficult to get time for my writing. I have been making more family time. That comes in the form of walking later at night. The city where I live is beautiful and well lit, so walking late is not a scary thing. This is especially true with my two nephews. This and the challenge from my fitbit and the time for writing is easy to let slide by.

I say easy as far as not sitting at my computer. Easy to not make time for the posts on my page, here. Now that I’ve got that habit developing, it’s time to get back on track in the evening with my writing.

Today, walking, work, writing, work, pickleball, writing, walking and writing. If I keep this going, I will be ready to send in my next submission tomorrow evening.