DREAMING A CHARACTER

I've been struggling with the main character for one of my works in progress, Well Wishes. I couldn't get a clear picture of her in my head, nor could I get a clear feel for her personality. All I had was a clear picture of what was causing her inner conflict.

When I awoke the other morning, I had had a dream about a friend of mine from elementary school. Usually most of the people in my dreams still look the same as when I knew them. In essence, time has stood still. In some cases, I am the age I was when I knew them too.

In this dream, the person I knew wasn't what I remembered from elementary school. She was in her 50s or a little older with children and grandchildren of her own. She still possessed the mischievous twinkle in her eye, but her blonde hair had become gray.

I couldn't figure out why I had dreamt about someone from elementary school until I was driving to what a friend of mine calls a "Job-job". It hit me - slapped me in the face.

My dream wasn't necessarily about the elementary school friend, but thinking closely about the person in the dream, I found that she was a composite of that friend and a couple of other people I have known, all rolled together as my protagonist.

The character, once named Marytza, is now Anna. "She" is happy that I have come to terms with who she really is, and now the book seems to be leaping out of my head and onto the page.

Funny how characters can find a life of their own and dig in their heals until you as an author agree with the character.

What are some of the ways that your characters reveal themselves to you?

THE DAWN OF DECEMBER

As November comes to a close in the next three days, I wonder where the past two months have gone. The days when the leaves change from greens to yellows and reds and oranges and then to browns. The days when the colorful mums decorate our lawns. The time when I enjoy the cooling crispness of the mornings.

Today as my husband left to drive a load eastward, the thermometer read 28. The rain that was falling should have been snow, but thankfully a cold drizzle persisted. As I look at the yards I pass, the lingering brown leaves that cling to the tree branches look lonely and cold as the wind tries to coax them to fall. Pumpkins left on a few porches look out of place as neighbors hang holiday lights with shivering hands.

It's hard to believe that we even looked forward to Thanksgiving except to have a few extra days off of work. Christmas and holiday decorations in many places were being set up before Halloween. Even Santa was making appearances by the middle of November. I was thankful that a few stores rebelled and waited until this weekend to display Christmas and the holidays.

My November will end with an orchestra concert. I started playing the violin in fifth grade and played through college. A couple of times between the end of college and last year, I had the opportunity to play with an orchestra. That, however, was a rare opportunity. Last fall, I decided to join a community orchestra. I have thoroughly loved the experience and the challenge. It will be a wonderful way the celebrate the end of November.

THANKFULNESS (looking back on my Thanksgiving)

When I was a kid, we gathered as an extended family for major holidays as well as once or twice a month for birthdays. My family is very musical so when the food was ready for any occasion, we stood and sang "grace," my two aunts usually leading. Not only did we sing, we usually sang in harmony.

At Thanksgiving, however, we would also go around and give something we were thankful for: family, health, friends. I don't remember anyone ever saying that they were thankful for anything materialistic.

Our extended family celebrations fell to extinction as my generation's family size grew and my mother's and grandmother's have passed away. The last few years have been a transition from old traditions to new.

With my two boys on different schedules and my husband an OTR driver, we found that a Thanksgiving breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Nine of us gathered and shared food and conversation, and we actually took family pictures by the fireplace.

So, with that in mind, what am I thankful for? Lots of things.

*a loving husband who is also my friend
*two children who have grown to love and respect each other (True, there were times I thought they would never talk to each other again.)
*a loving mother who has become my friend
*the two wonderful women who love my boys for themselves
*my oldest son's significant other's two boys
*my two step-daughters
*my oldest step-daughter's three children (Although my husband and I haven't seen them since the oldest was six months old.)
*my cousins and aunts and uncles (Although I don't see enough of them.)

Family and traditions mean a great deal to me. Other than them, I am thankful for

*a job
*a roof over my head
*food on my table

So, what are you thankful for? Rather than just counting the things you are thankful for on Thanksgiving, it's important to be grateful every day of our lives.

HERE COMES THE ... SUN?

I'm sitting here on my couch, computer on my lap, looking out at the strange phenomenon called a blue sky. Along the roof top across the street, there are dark silhouettes of birds and trees, of chimneys and antennas. I think they're called shadows, but it seems like it has been so long since I've seen the sun, I can be sure.

Sure, I'm exaggerating, but the dark clouds and dreary drizzle of the past couple of days had really had me dragging.

The cat, seeing the sun, has been calling out and insisting that I open the window. His his mind sun equals warm and warm equals open window to sit in. Logical? Not to me, but I opened the window anyway.

Autumn is working its way to winter. The tree outside my window has nary a left left on it. The bright yellows, oranges, and reds that fell from my maple trees have now turned to crunchy brown curls. This morning a heavy frost decorated each leaf and blade of grass and crunched as I crossed the yard to get the dog's attention. His curious nose has given him selective hearing loss again.

NaNo! NaNo!

Ok. Yes, it is the month of NaNoWriMo. Those of you who have tried it know how obsessed you can get with penning 50,000 words in 30 day or how burned out you can get in 30 days.

This year my story kept trying to leap onto the pages, and I had to rein it in because my ethics wouldn't allow me to start early. That wouldn't be fair.

So, how far am I? 13,315 words - just 36,685 words short of that 50,000 goal, but I am shooting to make the number of words by November 30.

My story came from a prompt I gave to my high school creative writing students. I find my prompts on line and in books; although, sometimes they are off the top of my head. This prompt was a story concept: A wishing well appears in a town in the middle of the night. My high school English classes were reading "The Monkey's Paw" at the time, and the two ideas swirled in my brain. What if the wishes came true, but there were consequences unique to the wisher and what if one of the main characters couldn't find something to wish for because she thought she had everything. And then, she sneaks a wish and .....?

I'm working on the worst first rough draft; letting my internal editor hide away behind a closed door in my brain. I locked her in there. I also find she has a name and that she must be married to my seventh grade English teacher (He was a grammar Nazi.) and at the same time married to one of my high school theater directors (His favorite phrase was "Do it again!").

So at this time I bid you adieu to go back and work on my NaNo novel.

LADIES WHO CRITIQUE

Ok, female authors. You know who you are. The ones who write late into the wee hours of the night penning your first or fifth novel. The ones who would like someone to read and give them an honest critique of their manuscript.

It's time to check out the writing group "Ladies Who Critique" to find a partner to critique, to join and read forums that share ideas and up to date information about writing, or to just find other female friends who write.


Check out this free writer's critique sight.

http://www.ladieswhocritique.com

Look for me, friend me, or maybe you just might be my critique partner.

TODAY? TODAY!

Today, I made the leaves dance. Well, the leaf blower we bought yesterday made the leaves dance. And then? And then I used the vacuum and mulched them all up. I learned something, though. One must remember to re-zip the bag to the mulcher before vacuuming the leaves again. I was caught up in the swirl of mulched leaves before I realized that the vacuum tube was pulling whole leaves up and chopping them up and putting them back on the ground.

Today, I used the over ripe bananas to make banana muffins. Comfort food that made my house smell divine.

Today, I spent time writing on my newest novel. I got wrapped up in listening to the two ladies in my head have a conversation over coffee and muffins.

Today? Today? Today, as the saying goes, is always the first day of the rest of my life.

IT'S HERE! NOW TO GET WRITING

At 12:01 AM this morning, it arrived. What? What arrived? OK, maybe I'm a bit crazy, but I have taken the challenge, once again, to complete a first draft of a 50,000 word or better novel in the thirty days it takes for November to turn to December. Or, I can look at it this way. I have thirty days, while waiting for December to arrive, to complete a novel.

This is the fourth time I have participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

The first attempt (I still have all my notes.) I came to a screeching halt because I realized that I didn't have enough historic knowledge to complete the story I created. Attemt ONE still on hold.

Although I finished my second attempt, I never found the time to finish the revisions and editing. It still sits on my shelf on an editorial hiatus.

Last year I attempted once again to participate and create a new story. Overloaded by life's expectations, I needed 36 hour days to learn to juggle my job - job (No, I'm not stuttering. My job - job is the one that pays the bills while I am honing my writing skills.), playing in an orchestra, keeping house and home in order, and writing. I began, and hit a brick wall.

This year I have revised my goals. Rather than just completing my novel, my goal is to get it revised and edited as a manuscript to have in my hand when I attend writer's conferences and workshops.

So, in the future, I'm hoping to generate interest in my writing.