Yes, it is that time again! I recently finished another hefty revision of my novel, a young adult paranormal mystery. It’s now in the hands of a couple of agents. The waiting has begun and so you may wonder, how do I keep from gnawing on my fingernails and obssessively checking email? Well, okay, I don’t think I can stop myself from doing the second thing, but the sure fire way of keeping my fingernails ON my fingers is go to writing cons, join secret online contests (yikes!), and to brainstorm for a new book idea!
I love it. I do. I jot down notes on a basic plot line, decide on a premise, a theme, and a setting. And where do I do all my jotting? This is the other part I enjoy. I take the time to pick out a special notebook for the project and carry it with me everywhere I go. My favorite kind is the Moleskine Cahier. It’s nice and slim and fits nicely in my bag.
One of the stages I go through when braistorming a new book is deciding what my main character’s name will be. Or rather, I should say, I wait for my character to tell me what his/her name will be. I sometimes forget this and try out random names, but they never feel quite right. Then I remember. I have to wait for the right name to come to me. When it does, it feels absolutely perfect. It’s as if something inside me opens when I hear or see my new character’s name. Sounds like mystical writer mumbo-jumbo? Maybe. There is certainly something magical about it for me. It’s this magic that makes my characters feel real, to me and on the page.
On knitting news, I’m in the middle of a baby sweater project I have to finish in order to get started on my next project, a Knit-n-Swirl sweater.
