This month's newsletter is out, and with it an excerpt from my newest NaNoWriMo novel, Christmas On Mist Creek! You can find it here:

https://mailchi.mp/44770eabb377/a-free-read-from-nanowrimo?e=2b1e842057  (By the way, if you sign up for the newsletter your e-mail address will NOT be sold or given to anyone else ( Read more... )

Recently I spent two days sending queries to literary agents. Several hours of researching the agents and their agencies, composing query letters, enclosing requested materials, and sending out twenty-two e-mails. Most agents accept simultaneous submissions, but they also appreciate a personal touch, so researching whether we'd be right ( Read more... )

Well, I finished my first draft of the synopsis for Fire On Mist Creek.

3,642 words.

Now, opinions differ on how long a novel synopsis should be. (In my opinion, I should be rich enough to hire someone else to write my synopsis and not worry about how long a synopsis should be.) The general consensus in the writing community is that a synopsis should ( Read more... )

I spent some time last week judging 4-H writing projects. As usual, I marveled at how good  the entries were ... many of them much better than I was at the same age. It's great to know there are still young writers and readers out there. It's also great to know my own childhood writing has disappeared.

Then I dove back into revising Fire On Mist ( Read more... )

I finished the second draft of Fire On Mist Creek, and didn't have to make as many major changes as expected. This was surprising, considering it was a NaNoWriMo novel, and the first draft was completed in about thirty-five days. (But I had an extensive outline going in.)

I added about a thousand words, fleshed out a character who didn't exist in my ( Read more... )

I haven't really given a full report on how National Novel Writing Month went for me way back ... gee, was that a whole month ago?

My NaNoWriMo novel, Fire On Mist Creek, topped out at 58,735 words on around November 26. I even managed to write a few hundred more words on a short story before the thirty day period was up, so all in all it went ( Read more... )

Who's a National Novel Writing Month winner???

That's right ... I am!

52,265 words so far, baby. Actually, One more chapter and I'll have the first draft of Fire On Mist Creek done ... although I've already thought of another scene I need to go back and put in, and a few more things to add along the way. I'm figuring around 65,000 words when all is ( Read more... )

45,000 words! Way ahead of schedule.

Naming characters is one of the great joys of a fiction writer, when it's not one of their great nightmares.

We all want to come up with the next Sherlock Holmes, or Indiana Jones, or Stan Lee. (Isn't he a character?) It can be more complicated according to the genre: With science fiction you might need a Han ( Read more... )

Now remember, this is still the rough draft of the book I'm doing for National Novel Writing Month. Certainly changes will be made before it's finished, maybe many changes--it's already different from how I originally envisioned it. Changes might include the name of the dog, which right now is named after a Dalmatian I once owned--I just gave it ( Read more... )

 Aaaaannnnddd ... away we go. 2,196 words done on the first day ... but because I didn't insert the word count into the NaNoWriMo website until just after midnight, it's assuming I did them on the second day--so I'm already behind.

National Novel Writing Month begins.

I feel like I'm one of those guys who walks a marathon. I'm definitely going to ( Read more... )