Delving into the World of Author Liz Schulte

Once in a while there are stories that enliven your day or, helps you to endure your commute in an enjoyable pursuit.

Once in a great while there comes an epic story that commands your attention and imagination; drawing you into its world so deeply you miss your stop.  Or, you bypass favorite activities -- such as sleeping or eating -- in order to remain enmeshed.

Some of the great stories that have captivated us now and in the past have been Gone With the Wind, Harry Potter, Tom Sawyer, Catcher in the Rye, I, Robot, The Terrillian series, A Wrinkle in Time, The Time Traveler's Wife and so many more.


I think we have another book to add to our collective all-time fav list -- The Guardian Trilogy.  In October 2012, I wrote a book review about the first book in the series Secrets.  I read all three books in about a week.  I could not put them down!  I needed to know how my new friends were going to fare and if I could dare go to sleep lest they may do something and collapse our, ahem their universe.  As many of you know, in November I did NaNoWriMo and completed 51,107 words in 30 days.  This left me no time to do what I knew had to be done -- do an author spotlight of Liz Schulte the writer who brought the Guardian Trilogy into reality.


Sit back and enjoy the entertaining wit of Ms. Schulte and don't forget to pick up Secrets (Book One) absolutely free for Kindle users.

NB: Liz, tell us about yourself.

I never wanted to be a writer. It isn’t that I disliked the profession; I simply never thought about it. After I realized I didn’t really want to go to law school, there were a couple of Walter Mitty-esque years during which many careers sounded fun in theory, but not many appealed in practice. I finally found my way, with gentle pushes from my mother, to putting pen to paper—er, fingers to keys.

I have five novels, with a sixth on the way, and have been featured in two anthologies. When I’m not glued to my laptop (which isn’t as often as I would like), I enjoy traveling. I have been to Italy (twice), England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Austria, Canada and Mexico and all over the United States (including both Hawaii and Alaska). I am never home long before I get the itch to go again. I also enjoy spending time with my family, eight nieces and nephews, and two very ornery poodles.

Did writing this new book teach you anything and what was it?

This was the first series I had ever written. It taught me a lot about world building, pacing, and how much planning and work go into creating a series.

What is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think my greatest strength is creating very human characters. I like to make sure they react like a normal person would even though they are in exceptional circumstances.

Tell us about your latest work.  Can you share a little of it with us?

My next book comes out at the end of this month. It is titled Easy Bake Coven and I just so happen to have the blurb.

Being a witch wasn’t a big deal to Selene Warren. She dabbled in magic with her friends and never really thought much about it, but the Abyss was watching, waiting for her return. When her grandmother is attacked, Selene uncovers an ancient grudge that threatens to take her life and the lives of all those she holds dear. 

With no choice but to put her trust in a stranger who knows more about her past than she does, a new world of elves, half-elves, fae and one peculiar sekhmet, named Femi, opens up to Selene. If she’s not careful, this strange new world could swallow her whole, and she could lose everything that makes her who she is.

Does the writing get easier with each new book?

Yes, I actually think it does. You learn things as you go that helps smooth out the process a lot. But some books are still easier to write than other books. I can’t say definitively why that is. Some muses are just more chatty than others, I guess.

Olivia Martin is a normal girl with a fairly happy, peaceful life. She isn’t looking for an adventure, but when she runs into a man in a bar, the life she thought she knew begins to crumble away. Olivia is stronger than she thinks, stubborn, she always believes she is right, she always sees the best in people even when they don’t deserve it, and she isn’t afraid to risk herself for the people she loves.

How did you come up with the title?

For the longest time the title of the first book in the Guardian Trilogy was the first word, simply because that was how it saved on my computer. When it came time to title the work, I knew it was going to be a series and I knew I wanted them to mean something. In the first book everything revolves around the secrets the characters are keeping. In the second book, with most of the secrets revealed, it becomes about the choices they make. 

The last book is the natural culmination of secrets and choices—consequences.

The series title, The Guardian Trilogy, comes from the fact that this series is about Olivia’s journey to her ultimate destiny. The next series centered around her and Holden will be the Jinn Trilogy because it is about his journey.

Can you tell us about your main character?

This series really has three main characters. Each of them grows in their own way by the end.

Holden Smith is bored. He is cold, calculating, and so over everything he thinks life as to offer. He is cynical about people and their motivations, but often sees the situation more clearly than Olivia and her rose colored glasses does.  Holden is obsessively neat, controlled, and withdrawn. When he meets Olivia, he begins to question his world view and gut reactions.

Quintus is the last main character. He is good. His heart is always in the right place, He has lived a long time, but maintains a certain degree of innocence; however, being immortal makes it hard to sympathize with mortals. Quintus is a company man through and through. He believes strongly in rules and following orders.

How did you develop your plot and characters?

I like to write the first draft with no outline or notes. However, when I finish, I make an outline of the story I wanted to tell. That way when I start revising I can see where I got off course or the parts I need to expand. I also make a timeline of event, notes about layers to foreshadow earlier in the book and any other details that need to be changed.

For characters, I like to get to know them. It isn’t always easy. Quintus was an especially difficult character for me to connect with, but by the end of the series I finally found a good rhythm with writing him.

What do you look for in a cover?

I had a very particular idea for the cover of this series. I wanted to show the progression of the storyline with my covers. I chose the ying-yang symbol because it represents conflicting ideas working in harmony and that is how my fictional world of the Abyss is set up. The series has many internal conflicts between good and evil, light and dark, angels and demons, guardians and jinn, love and hate, and it all exists in harmony until the natural order is disrupted by Olivia, who is the color gray in a world of black and white. On the first cover I have the symbol with a light coming from it. The next book is the symbol on fire and the final book is the symbol flaking away. 

Have you included a lot of your life experiences, even friends, in the plot?

I have some. The dreams Olivia has in the first books are all dreams I took from my dream journal. Certainly conversations and personality quirks might allude to some people I know, but most of what is there is complete and utter fiction.

How important do you think villains are in a story?

 I think villains are extremely important. It is good to allow the reader to understand why the bad guy is doing what he is doing, maybe even sympathize with him or her. A good villain can make a story.
 

* * *

Here's where you can find out more about The Guardian Trilogy and Easy Bake Coven.

• Blog - www.LizSchulte.com

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLizSchulte

• Twitter - @LizSchulte

Where can readers purchase your book?

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Liz-Schulte/e/B006K0IQC8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1355197957&sr=8-2-ent

Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secrets-liz-schulte/1107549355?ean=2940014943758

Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LizSchulteBooks

 

An All-Dialogue Short Story: Loch Ness

Several years ago, a colleague challenged me to write a story using only dialogue.  I thought that was the silliest thing ever...until I tried it.  Very very challenging.  No omniscient voice to fill in the blanks.  No colorful descriptions to help paint the scene -- just the characters' own dialects, words and attitudes drive the plot and story to completion.

Well, here's my all-dialogue story called Loch Ness.  Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think!
_______________________________________________________

The Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness

By Rochelle Campbell

“Do you hate me, Kirsten?”

“I wouldn’t say that…exactly.”

“What would you say?”

“I’d say you’d better keep your eye on the Loch.  If we’re really supposed to be looking for Nessie this would be the time.  It’s dusk. “

“I prefer a different view at the moment.  A twin peaks view…”

“See?  That’s why we have issues!”

“Ahoy there, Matey!”

“You guys couldn’t have more perfect timing!”

“Really?  Jeff staring at your boobs again?”

“Well, if she’d cover them up…”

“Why you dirty little…”

“What’s that sound?”

“Maria, Perkins, Jeff and Boob Lady – get into your positions!   This might be it.  I’m going to get the skiff in the water and take out the ROVNav6 equipment to see if I can get a bead on our favorite mythological creature.  Everyone, remember what your roles -- go!”

“Aren’t I supposed to go with you?”

“Kirsten, only I’m on the skiff, ‘member?  Too much is at risk if more than one person goes out there.  While we haven’t heard any man-eating stories about Nessie, I’m too much of a pragmatist to take any chances.  You’re working the night vision camera, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Got all your equipment?  Including your radio?”

“You know I do.”

“Right, I do.  I know everyone does because you’re all my best students.  That’s why you’re here.  Ignore Jeff.  He’s just hot for you.  You’re too good for him anyway.  Now…go.”

“Thanks, Professor Tate.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Aren't I supposed to be seeing your fanny right about now?”

"Going…"

"Damn, it's nippy out here.  How long do we have to stay?  It's been 3 hours already!"

"Stop whining, Jeff.  We have no idea how sensitive that 6G sonar is."

"You need to pay attention to more than Kirsten's boobs, Blockhead.  The sonar won't pick up voices.  Its focus is beneath us -- 784 feet beneath us to be precise.  Think he's captured any contacts?"

"Dunno.  I keep remembering Operation Deepscan in '87.  They captured 3 contacts that were -- what was it, Kirsten?"

"…bigger than a fish but smaller than a whale.  Why don't you ever remember that, Mare?  Oh, and Perkins, it's 812 feet -- that depth was recorded in 1989."

"See?  You're the brainiac, Missy; the blonde hair and hazel eyes are just camouflage."

"The radio traffic is bothering me, kids.  Can we cut the chatter?"

"But the sonar doesn't pick it up!"

"No, but I do."

"You sound like my Dad."

"That's because he could be!"

"Knock it off.  I'm not…well, forget it.  I'm only a few years shy.  Leave it to you guys to bring up my existentialist issues when I am attempting to solve the mother of all myths.  Good Grief, kids!"

"What was that?  Sounded like a huge blip, Professor."

"Yeah…it was."

"Leave him let him calibrate to lock in on the contact signal.  Are you already set up to record to the chart paper, Professor?"

"Damn.  Thank, Kirsten.  What would I do without you?  Got it on.  Yeah…yeah.  This things moving fast and it's big.  I have it at 190 meters and it's going deeper!  Hot damn!  Recording now for a full 2 minutes.  Think this is the longest recording in recent Nessie history…"

"You think it's Nessie?"

"This thing is huge -- bigger than a shark.  Like the size of a calf, say 9 or 10 months old."

"Professor, really?  How dumb do you think we are?  A baby cow?  That's not that big…"

"The Idiot Pills are working…"

"Perkins, quit it."

"You're defending him?  Wow.  Jeff, you may have a shot after all."

"Owww!!!"

"Ow!  You hit me!"

"Someone clocked me, too."

"We're all trying to protect our ears, Blockhead.  That high-pitched keening sound is worse than nails on a blackboard."

"Professor?!  Are you all right?  The sound's coming from your direction -- Professor?"

"Anybody have a visual of him?"

"Nothing here by Castle Urquhart.  What about you, Blockhead?"

"I'm in position 1/2 a mile down from the Castle and I got nothing; can't even see his boat anymore."

"Kirsten, you're the one with the best vantage point, up on the hills with the night vision equipment.  What do you see?"

"Just a sec, got so worried, forgot I had it.  All right, scanning all sectors -- nothing!  No boat.  No, Professor.  Nothing.  It seems like he just…vanished."

"What was that damn noise?  Could that have something to do with Tate's disappearance?"

"For a numb nut, you may have a point there.  What do you think, people?  Do you think we just heard Nessie's voice?"

"If we did, did it sink the Professor's boat?"

"Or, did Nessie take him into her cave?"

"Remember the walls of the Loch are similar to all other lochs; no caves."

"Quit it, Kirsten.  This is not just a school trip anymore.  This is serious.  We just heard a God awful screech and now the Professor's not responding to his radio and we don't have visual.  This shouldn't be happening but it is so we have to think outside of the box.  We're Americans; we don't know this place like the Scottish do.  Maybe the information we have is not as current and up-to-date as the Professor likes to believe.  Maybe there is a cave or two down there."

"Well, we do have some Sonar wetsuits back at the hotel.  Wanna go look?"

"Jeff, you can't be serious."

"Way, serious.  The Professor's gone AWOL and I don't like it.  I'm getting more creeped out with every passing minute.  We can't just stand here and wait for him to reappear.  What if he doesn't?"

"Damn, I hate this.  But ladies, Jeff's right.  We can't just stand around hoping he'll show up.  What if he's drowning as we speak?"

"Was that a splash?"

"Damn him!  Jeff!!  Get out of the water!"

"Kirsten, keep an eye on him.  Start recording now, too."

"Good idea, thanks Perkins."

"Jeff's nearing the spot where Professor Tate's boat was last seen.  Okay, he's splashing around -- he dove under!  Yeah, forgot he was on the friggin' swim team."

"Don't forget he's a surfer dude as well…"

"You sound jealous, Perkins…"

"…what's Blockhead doing now?  Did he come up for air yet?"

"He's only been under for 15 seconds."

"I can't stand all this waiting.  I think I was holding my breath!  How long has it been now Kirsten?"

"Almost two minutes."

 

"Have you seen Jeff come back up?"

"No."

"How long can he hold his breath?"

"Dunno.  But David Blaine held his for over 17 minutes in 2008..."

"That's not real helpful information right now, Perkins.  The average person can do about 2 minutes before coming up for air.  But Jeff?  Maybe he can do longer."

"Okay, Kirsten.  Let's hope so.  You're the leader now so what do we do?"

"Well, we can track Professor Tate through the USBL Scout system and the GPS I suggested he equip it with.  We'll have to contact the local authorities and let them know about this."

"Are you crying, Kirsten?"

"Let's pack it in and get help for them both NOW."

"How many minutes have they been under?"

"Tate's been missing for about six minutes and four for Jeff"

"I'm heading to the hotel.  Meet you guy's there."

"Should we turn off the radios now?"

"No, leave them on.  I don't want to take any chances and please -- no more heroes tonight, okay?  There's only three of us left."

"Should we change?"

"No time; got to get to the authorities.  It's been 16 minutes now for the Professor.  Let's get going.  It's 17 miles to the Northern Constabulary.  You're driving, Perkins."

"Why me?

"'Cause you're left-handed.  With me being nervous, I don't want my instincts steering me towards the wrong side of the road."

"Good point.  But, my being left-handed doesn't matter.  I drive on the right side just like you do."

"You're driving."

"I'll drive!"

"NO!!"

"Geez, both of you didn't have to yell.  And why can't you forgive a little fender-bender?"

"Because it was with a Mercedes-Benz, that's why."

"It's just a car.  Hey, my legs are shorter than both of yours.  Wait up!"

"So, let us get this straight.  You three are from Columbia University and you had two others with you, your Professor and this feller named numb nuts?"

"No, his name's Jeff Dawkins."

"I prefer numb nut.."

"Shut it, Iain.  Sorry there lassie.  Jeff.  And then while your were looking for, hehe, Nessie, the good ole Professor disappeared after you heard a loud noise.  And two minutes later, Jeff jumps in to save the drowning Professor.  Is that about right?"

"Yes, Constable it is."

"Ach awa' an' bile yer hied!"

"Iain!  None of that.  Come back here!"

"Er.  A roundabout translation would be, 'go away and boil your head' but he really didn't mean it.  We get so many crazy stories from tourist that after a while…let's just say, Iain's a beat cop.  He's heard and seen it all."

"So what do can you do to help us find our friends?"

"File a missing person's report and in the morning, we'll send out rescue boats."

"That's hours away!"

"Maria, is your name?  Well, we're a 24-hour operation, but the rescue boats can't see out there in the dark and it would make no sense to send more people out into risk, now would it?  Go back to your hotel and we'll meet you at Castle Urquhart at 9:30.  The fog will have burned off…mostly and we should be able to see clearly.  Get some rest."

"Can't sleep, Kirsten."

"Neither can I."

"That makes the three of us."

"So, what're we gonna do?"

"Go down and have one more look around."

"I'm with you!"

"Me, too."

"Take all of your equipment.  Never know what we might need."

"Okay, over here is where Jeff jumped in and out about 80 yards is where the Professor was last seen.   

Right, Kirsten?"

"Yeah.  Okay, I've set up the GPS tracker and its calibrating.  Do you have the GPS tracker code of the RovNav6 unit?"

"Got it.  I'm entering it in.  There, done."

"Good.  It's tracking it.  Damn!  It's 685 feet down!  If it's there, that's not good for the Professor…"

"Guys…"

"He could have swum downstream and is exhausted and looking for us.  Look at this, it moved!  How is it moving??"

"GUYS…"

"How the hell should I know?  Let's recalibrate and see if it's maybe an anomaly --"

"GUYS!!!  Look and don’t you hear the sound starting up?"

"The RovNav6 is almost to the surface!  What does that mean?"

"RUN!!!!"

"Stop dragging me, Perkins -- Aww you made me drop the --"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--- "

"Keep running, Kirsten.  Don't look back.  Mare's gone."

"But --"

"Let's go faster.  I'll explain later."

"Okay, you've had 4 cups of tea and about a million crumpets.  What the hell did you see, Perkins?"

"I saw something long and smooth come out of the water and faster than I thought possible it snaked up close and grabbed, Maria.  That damn noise was so piercing I had shut my eyes and was already running inland and grabbing you so I didn't get a good look."

"Was it Nessie?"

"Who knows?  All I know is all three of them are gone.  The RovNav6 is inside of whatever that thing is.  They're all gone Kirsten.  It's just the two of us left and I, for one, am not going anywhere near the Loch again.  I like being a landlubber."

"How can you say that?  What's wrong with you?  I'm going back out there!"

"I suggest you wait for the rescue crew to come in the morning, Kirsten."

"Why??  So I can be sure my friends are dead?"

"You're already sure they are right now."

"Let go of me!"

"I'm not going to let you kill yourself.  I know you were in love with Tate and having an affair with him but…he's gone."

"Oh God…no!!"

"It's okay. Let it all out…it's all over now…"

The End. 

To read more of my short stories, pick up a copy of Leaping Out on Faith today!

NaNoWriMo - Done!

It's official -- I am a National Novel Writing Month winner!!!! Yipeee!!

Okay, so now what?  Finish the book, of course.  Fifty thousand words does not a novel make.

Thanks everyone for your support, encouragement and friendship.

Ta-ta for now,
Notebook Blogairy

Day 28...

Colored kaleidoscopes are a nostalgic way to view one's past.  The hues help one to see previous events with a different lens; a different perspective.  But that's all it is, a different perspective.  The events are the same but how we now look back at those events tells the journey of how we came to become what we are today.

It's now the predawn of Day 28.  It's really early, or really late -- depending upon your perspective.  Day 28 of what?  National Novel Writing Month.  I've been totally obsessed with it all month.  My word count is almost at the desired goal of 50K.  It's now standing at 47,060 -- less than 3,000 words away.

But what, why do I hesitate?  Why did I watch 5 episodes of Fringe yesterday delaying and shortening my writing time so close to the finish?  The last of the demons?  Who knows.  The real significance of doing this writing blitz challenge is that I've done something very differently from what I've done before.

I've pushed through quote, unquote barriers in time.  I said I didn't have any time to write.  Well in 27 days I wrote over 47,000 words.  I'm not going to denigrate my success by qualifying if the words are "good" I'm going to say they are but that's immaterial.  I wrote an outline with all the milestones of the story.  I have stayed on plot and on track throughout the month.  The characters are relating well to me (they're still kind of pushing me around and doing what they want to do but hey, you can't have everything!), writer's block?  What's that?  And I've done research as well.

I can never say -- it can't be done -- ever again.  I just need to focus and find the time to get the story out of my head and into reality.  Thoughts float from head to head, I've been told.  So, if I don't put it down in reality...someone else will.

I hope you all had a very enjoyable and memorable Thanksgiving.  I know I did.

Day 19...

 National Novel Writing Month was something I had vaguely heard about.  It was so vague that all I knew was that it was some sort of speed writing thing where insane people decided to write a book in a ridiculously small amount of time.  My brain could not conceive of such a thing so it just didn't take it in.

National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known as NaNoWriMo, has been my life, my lover and my all-consuming passion for the past 19 days now.  Somehow, this summer it all just...clicked.  I wanted to write a new novel -- really badly.  BUUUT...I was still revising one that took me 5 years to write (68K+ words).  I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.  Who needed a new novel when I could slave over my old one.  That was August.  Fast-forward to mid-October and I start getting the emails from NaNoWriMo.  It's gearing up!  I don't really look into it because I lost my username and password!  Too lazy to get it out I didn't bother.  A storm was coming and the news kept telling those on the East Coast to prepare.  (Yeah, yeah.  It'll be a big blow over.  Just watch. -- infamous last words...)

SuperStorm Sandy hit on Monday, October 29th.  The City of New York turned off the MTA so there was no way to feasibly get to work.  New York shut down the schools.  There was no feasible childcare options when everyone was home.  So, after baking, cooking, playing Monopoly and hoarding food -- not necessarily in that order -- I decided to hunt and find my keys to the Golden Ticket of the NaNo experience.

On the 31st of October, I finally was forced (maybe shoved is a better word) to write an outline for the novel that had been brewing in my head since the summer.  It took me about 2 hours but I got it down.  I felt ready to start.  Oh, I managed to find my password and username.  Then, the race began at midnight Thursday, November 1st, 2012.  I had 30 days to write 50,000 words.  That's 1,667 words average per day.  Nuts!

Week 1 was wonderful, exhilarating.

Week 2 was okay, not so exciting because I realized I was EXHAUSTED.  Writing that many words felt like pouring out my brain matter onto the keys and having to do it every DAY felt like sheer lunacy.

By the end of Week 2 I had a breakdown of sorts.  I felt all kinds of crazy, stupid and incompetent.  I thought my life was done.  My job was done.  I was just a hopeless mess and that I had no right to lead/help anybody or anything because I was such a failure.  Yeah, pretty extreme.

At first, I thought I was just having a really bad day but then as it got time to go home I didn't leave work.  I stayed really late.  I then didn't go home.  I wandered around the City.  It finally dawned on me I was avoiding writing.  See, by doing this little itty bitty challenge of writing consistently every day and meeting a goal, I was challenging every demon that every lived inside the four walls in my mind.  Those demons were going apeshit...and I was letting them win.

A very good friend of mine talked me down and helped me to see the garbage and the demons for what they were.  So, while I only got down about 495 words that night I WON.

This past weekend I did a 4-hour writing stint and got back on track because, of course, I had fallen behind steadily all through last week.

Week 3 -- Dunno.  Just embarked upon it.  It feels good.  It feels like a car that has broken into the last lap and has been around the track a few times and it knows what to expect.  Just look to your right and you'll see my current word count.  I'm on track! :-)

I've never written a novel under these conditions.  This is only the second novel that I WILL have completed.  So, the feel of the story, the rightness of the story are still new things to me.  I'm getting on my novelist sea-legs.  Right now, I still have to take 'Dramamine' to get through the ride (read COFFEE lots of it) but hopefully soon, I won't need the stimulus of coffee to keep words flowing onto the screen.

Kudos to the Office of Letters and Light, the nonprofit behind the NaNoWriMo experience.  I want to thank them for making this possible for 299,999 other writers like me to experience a rekindling of their craft.  They even have a challenge for Young Writers!  They are truly awesome.

So, if you've stuck with me this far please take a moment to donate even $1 to the Office of Letters and Light to help keep them going so they can help keep writers all over the world going.

Ta-ta for now,
Notebook Blogairy

Rise Above Mortal Distractions...

Creating another world, possibly in another place or time period, is daunting work.  Yet, over 300,000 writers have embarked on this adventure of writing a novel.  You may say, That's awesome.  But here's the caveat; these adventures must be written in 30 days.

National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known as NaNoWriMo to its adherents, started in 1999.  People write about it, curse it, love it, don't know about it.  Whichever category you fall under if you're an aspiring writer, NaNoWriMo is a site you should visit.  Here's some good advice from writer Carolyn Kellogg -- Get off the Internet.  The other great (no-brainer) idea is to shut off your smartphones, click off the boob tube, and box up any gaming systems you have lying around.

Here in New York, there's a huge built-in distraction that's a hair problematic to ignore...Hurricane Sandy not so affectionately nicknamed FrankenStorm. 

I'm in Brooklyn and we're a lovely little island on the same piece of land as Long Island and Queens.  As you well know, Manhattan is an island as well.  Given that New York has not seen such a bad storm in 108 years, most of our infrastructure is below-ground.  Guess what the waters that overflowed their banks did?  Bingo!  Flood our our infrastructure including our venerated subway system.

I write all of this to let you know that even though my normally 40 to 45-minute commute was an hour and 45 minutes in length on Thursday and a little over two hours this evening.  Yesterday, a companion and I walked from E. 24th Street to Delancey Street before we caught a bus over the bridge (oh yeah, no trains are going over the three bridges connecting Manhattan to the outer boroughs).  Even with all of these distractions, I still have written 4,549 words and it's still technically Day 2.

Writing this post is part of me working on my second wind to see I can get in a few hundred more words in tonight.  The goal is 1,667 words a day in order to keep on pace to finish 50K by November 30th.  I'm figuring that with Thanksgiving late in the month the last few days are not going to be very productive so I should push for the higher word count in early in the month.  Gotta have a strategy right? :-)

So, if you're still here and reading this, and need to read some Sandy stories click here.  Then right after this, click off the Internet and get to writing.  We have only one life.  Let's do what we say we want to do and stop the games.

One last thing, you can't even say you're going to watch the NYC Marathon on Sunday to support the athletes.  It's been cancelled.

The Plot Monster...

Preparing for National Novel Writing Month is much more intense than I believed.  I thought you could have a fully fleshed out synopsis (idea) and then run with it.  Today, I was fortunate enough to have a NaNoWriMo mentor decide to work with me this November.

The first thing she did was sent me a pre-Nano checklist.  Guess what was on it?  My favorite nemesis -- plotting!  She suggests doing a basic outline and characterization for my main characters (at least)!

Okay, okay.  So she's right -- but ouch!  All that has to be done in the next 23 hours or so!  NaNo starts on 11/1 at midnight.  Arrgh!

So, I'll stop complaining and start plotting...my story that is. :-)

Ta-ta for now!

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo!

So, for my entire writing life I haven't bothered with NaNoWriMo.  I've peshawed the entire angst of trying to write a 50,000 word novel in a measly 30 days.  Why?  Because I'm above reproach?  Because I do not deign to mingle with the rabid competitive writers that hold up their yearly wins and bash any with their prizes and status for not participating?  No!

I just never bothered because I thought I was too busy with life's other responsibilities.  In looking at it this year, the kids are older and I'm more sane (or, so I'd like to think!).  National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) now looks appealing, challenging and the great take-away?  Anything you do consistently for 21 (or 28 depending upon which system you follow...) becomes a habit.  So, writing about 1700 words a day becoming a habit does not sound like a bad idea to me! :-)

It's not too late to join, either.  There are 3 days left in which to come up with an idea and an outline for your novel.  Yeah -- you can do that!  But, no writing of the novel!  That's cheating.  Because think about it, if you wait until 11/1 to create the novel idea and figure out the plot structure and characterization, you'll have used up practically all of the 30 days.  This way, you hit the ground running and just have to flesh out your skeleton story.

Get more deets here.  Registration is fun and easy.  Join the group closest to your region for cheerleader emails and information.  If you're in the NYC area, there's going to be a kick-off party on Friday, November 2nd at 6pm in Lower Manhattan where you will meet with other wordies and wordsmiths who can become your NaNoWriMo writing buddies.

Get off your duffus, dust off your keyboard and start plotting your new novel today!

Ta-ta for now,
NoteBook Blogairy

Book Thoughts: Secrets by Liz Schulte

Initially, the switching first person point of view in each chapter threw me.  Viewing the same event from two different perspectives was -- jarring.  Yet, by chapter five, I had totally bought into Ms. Schulte's manner of storytelling.  For this story to be told correctly, it is clear that differing point of view are necessary.

Secrets is a story that asks the question, Can evil change its nature and become good?  In truth, the Guardian series (currently three books strong) ultimately will answer that question but Book 1 (Secrets) lays the groundwork for a fascinating read.

The main character, Olivia, and her best friend, Juliet, have known each other since Junior High School.  They're now in their late 20's and neither have married but they are both having trouble in the dating arena.  Both having recently come out of relationships, they are equally frustrated and feeling lonely for male companionship.  Juliet a bit more than Olivia.  However, Olivia is the one that seems to have attracted quite a male following in only a couple of weeks.  Two men whom she met quite accidentally have peaked her interest -- Holden and Quintus.

Olivia keeps the bulk of what's happening with her from Juliet because Olivia cannot fathom how quickly and how deeply she's fallen for Holden.  It had only be a handful of days yet he was an enigma to Olivia -- a dangerous one at that and Olivia's conflicted about seeing him.

Shortly after Olivia's love life picked up, Juliet met a man also who was totally different from the kind of guys she was used to dating.  However, Olivia and Juliet agreed that a change of pace would be a good thing.  On the heels of their good dating fortune, Olivia's ex-boyfriend dies suddenly throwing them both in a tailspin of emotions that led to them not communicating or sharing as they had in the past.

The unusual non-communication between these two women opens the door to chaos.  In quick succession, a number of disturbing events occur changing the women's lives forever.  These changes also allow the forces of good and evil free reign in the women's lives most times the evil outweighing the good!

Escalating passions, cryptic handsome men and skeptical intuitions are all major players in this paranormal thriller that will leave you breathless and sleepless as you race through to the end.

Secrets by Liz Schulte is a must-read!

Roaming Around in a Quiet Head

Hi Folks!

It's been a while since I've posted and I've been aware of it.  I cannot put blame on my wrist -- it's healed.  (Still in physical therapy with it though!)  So why haven't I been posting?  Did I stop reading?  No.  I've read several books since I've last posted.  However, I wanted a timeout so I could more fully understand what I was 'thinking' about.  Sounds odd, huh?

If you think about it, if you are constantly moving, doing the things that we do in this thing called "LIFE", we get busy.  We then stop thinking and just do.  I've been doing for several months yet very little real writing is getting done.  I am so busy posting, researching, reading and writing reviews, caring for my family and doing 'fun' summer stuff.

It struck me when I had a few days away from my family that I needed quiet time.  In our fast paced society, what is that, right?  It just so happened that Deepak Chopra had a 21-day meditation challenge around the time I began feeling close to burnout.  It started mid July and went until the beginning of August.  The meditations were led for the first few and last few days by Deepak and the other days were led by other meditation practitioners with the Chopra Center.

At first the 15-minute, or less, meditations bugged me.  In my 'spiritual' past, I used to do marathon meditations that lasted over an hour in many instances.  So, the brevity of the meditations irked me.  However, by the 6th and 7th days, the depth of the meditation made me wish the meditation was shorter!  The theme was Free to Love and there were so many aspects of this theme that were challenging for me but I stuck it out and did not give in to the temptation to stop.



At the end of the 21 days, I learned some things about myself that were a tad frightening.  So what to do about it?  More meditations, of course.  In my travels, I found a wonderful CD, Tibetan Incantations: The Meditative Sound of Buddhist Chants.  Playing it now, in fact.  The 3 tracks on this soothe me in a way that's indescribable.  I tracked down and tried over a dozen different meditations I found on YouTube.  I began going back to some of my previous marathon meditation sessions -- all very time-consuming but well worth the effort.

What have I discovered?  I need quiet time.  I need the ability to roam around in my own head and peek in corners that are filled with spiderwebs and clear them out.  I also found out that following your own gut instincts is a wise thing.  So, while I may not publish as regularly as I used to when I do post, I will bring something of real interest to the table.  Posting just to post is not what I want to do as a writer, or as a person.

The next thing I will be posting is a book review of a Native American novel called Restoring Hope.  I am thoroughly enjoying this story.  Even those someone close to me poo-poohed the book and said it would be a sterotypical Pocahontas story.  In some ways, it is.  However, in other ways it's not.  I look forward to sharing with you.