NaNoWriMo Again!

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Can’t believe this is my fourth NaNoWriMo! I have the month of November to write a new novel. This one is harder – I have been doing a lot of research and I still have a lot of questions, but I need to get started writing and I’ll just have to wing it on a few things.

This novel will be historical fiction, based on the period in America right after World war II ends. It starts in a small town in Missouri, goes to Iowa for a short time, and ends up in Tennessee. Its about a young music teacher who meets a guy in the Army and falls in love. There are problems, of course. His tour of duty is ending and he is going back to Tennessee. She comes from a strict Lutheran home and his family are all Southern Baptists. She does not believe in drinking and cursing,but his family does a lot of both. She has a hard time adapting to southern ways.Can love overcome different religious beliefs?

Have you ever played the “Dirty Santa” game?

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At our company’s holiday party we had the most wonderful spread of pot luck foods and we played a game called “Dirty Santa.”

Everyone was told to buy and wrap a Christmas gift. We could spend up to $50.. We were not to buy for one particular person – every gift went under the Christmas tree in our reception area until we started the game.

Dominque passed around a hat with numbers written on little pieces of paper and to start the game the person who drew the umber 1 got to go first. That person could pick any present under the tree and then had to unwrap it in front of everyone. Then the fun begins. The person who drew number 2 could either steal the gift that someone else had unwrapped, or choose an unwrapped gift from under the tree. Once a gift was unwrapped, it was fair game for anyone with the next number to steal it if they wanted it. If your gift is stolen, then you go back to the tree and choose another wrapped gift to replace it. Then the next number gets to choose, and on and on.

Some people put a limit on how many times an unwrapped gift can be stolen, but we did not do that. The very last person to choose had their pick from all the unwrapped gifts – and there were some hard decisions to be made! Do you want to steal the desired gift from the person who is your boss and risk upsetting your boss? Do you steal the desired gift from someone you know can really use and appreciate the gift they chose? Do you want to appear greedy or selfish to your coworkers by stealing a gift from someone – or do you take your chances with an unwrapped gift? Will someone else steal the gift that you wanted?

Well, it was great fun and everyone took the stealing in good spirits. I drew number 5 and stole a gift that was unwrapped, but then the very next person stole that away from me! The bum!

My Third NaNoWriMo

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This year’s NaNoWriMo has started and this time I am a little more prepared than the first two years when I wrote “No Cry Tali” and “Shy Girl.” I did not actually start writing this year’s novel, but I have been thinking about the characters and doing some research. The research is needed because I decided to base the story someplace other than Nashville, so I’ve been looking at maps and trying to learn about daily life in another state. I also decided to make my main character part of a family that is practicing Catholics. I freely admit that I do not know a lot about the Catholic religion, but have very much enjoyed asking people and looking up things on the internet.

This year’s novel will be called “No Arizona,” inspired by a song I heard several years ago about a woman who meets a sweet talking guy. He heads to Arizona and promises to get a place and send for her, but he ends up ghosting her.

I thinks it is contemporary story about trust, faith and family. I hope I can get the whole thing written in 30 days. That’s the whole point of NaNoWriMo – I only have the month of November to write the whole thing! I can do this!

NaNoWriMo – My Second Year!

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Time for NaNoWriMo again! I have to write an entire novel in just the 30 days of November. Last year I just barely got it finished. I had to write over Thanksgiving weekend to make sure I hit the required word count of at least 50,000 words. That was hard!

This year my novel is about a teen girl and her dysfunctional family. They go on vacation to the beach and the mom disappears. Everyone thinks the stepfather killed the mom. But why?

My working title is, “Shy Girl.” I’m already into Chapter 2, so I think I can get the whole thing written in November and win this again. Wish me luck!

My First Nanowrimo

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Two of my friends have twisted my arm and made me enter this year’s Nanowrimo. We all have 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel. Thirty days!!!!

I decided to try a story about a little boy from the Philippines who comes to the U.S. with his mother to live with his grandparents, who they have never met.

I’m calling it, “No cry, Tali.”

No cry, Tali bookcover