All posts by NewEngland_Muse

I'm a traditionally and self published author. I write in the genre of children and YA at the moment but working my way up to adults. I'm a sports loving, photo taking gal who loves to sing/dance to my own enjoyment. I love to laugh even at myself. I am also owned by 8 birds and 2 hamsters, and yes they know it. :)
Guest Post, Mystery, Suspense

Guest Post: Lynn Thompson

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Excerpt Sterling-A Montana Dayton Novel #suspense #magic

Prologue


In the deep waters off the Florida Gulf Coast the sands shifted with the winds and tides of time, scattering all that has floated down to rest on the bottom of the ocean. Once will be again the waters sighed.

When Montana wakes up every morning wearing gorgeous jewels, and surrounded by priceless gems she doesn’t know where to turn. She doesn’t remember where, or who she’s getting the glittery baubles from. To make matters worse, Max has found her and insists they continue their relationship where they left off. Montana has bigger concerns than dating Max, besides she’s not sure whether or not she can trust him. Where are the jewels coming from? And who is this guy threatening her family?


Excerpt

“You know I saw her.” Sam said cramming her mouth full of cookies.

“Saw who? And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

She guzzled her coke until her mouth was empty then cleared her throat.

“Some red head, looked like a ghost.” She shook her head and laughed. “You’re probably going to kick me out of your house after I tell you this, but I think it’s important.”

Jamie waited patiently while she organized her thoughts.

“I was hiding behind the bushes beside your house. Like I said before, I was drawn to this place.” She cleared her throat again.

“Anyway there I was trying to figure out how to get your attention, and where I could clean up before I did, when this red headed girl started walking towards the wall.” She stopped and pointed to where the hidden room was.

“She was white as a sheet. My first thought was wow there are ghosts here. I almost laughed out loud giving myself away. I thought no she’s probably sick, or a druggy, or something, and then just like that she walked through the wall. I was in shock, but wanted to see if she would come back out, so I waited. A couple of minutes later she was back out of the wall with a huge necklace in her hand. I didn’t get a good look at the necklace. Anyway I thought you should know.”

Jamie sat in silence, looking a little pale herself, staring at Sam.

“Okay, I probably shouldn’t have told you.” She sighed. “But could you at least send me to an insane asylum where I have a roof over my head and three meals?”

Blog http://lynnthompsonbooks.blogspot.com
Amazon http://amzn.to/yFRFgr

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BlakeAMontanaDaytonNovel

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/lynnthompsonbooks

Lynn Thompson

NaNoWriMo 2012, November, Winner, Writing

NaNoWriMo 2012: Unofficial Winner

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Yes you read correctly. Yesterday morning which marked the end of the second week of NaNo 2012 I crossed over the 50k word count needed to win this writing frenzy. When it happened I just sat back and went wow ever so softly.

To get this completed in November it is suggested you write 1667 words daily. I decided to do a bit more to give me time to rest or when life got in my way. You know how that is. Planning made a huge difference as I decided I was not going to review any books on my other site that is strictly for that. I was not going to blog but instead asked for people to guest post here. Thankfully a nice circle of people raised their hands. While I finished early the guest posting will still continue for this month. They took the time to come up with something for me and I want to showcase the authors who came through while I was participating in NaNo 2012

I wrote that I am an unofficial winner since I can not put in my word count in the website’s app to confirm this and hence get that pretty little logo saying I have completed it. But rest assured it has happened.  Someone asked me would I keep writing on it for the duration of the month. I told her yes I would keep on adding to the book, absolutely. Would I keep at this pace, hell no.

When I first hit 42K words on Monday I sat back and thought what a crock of crap I have written. That is how I felt and made me wonder had I wasted my time and left hand to doing this. I plunge ahead for I had come too close to stop. I could always save it for later and see if I could salvage it. But taking a double look that is when I realized the main parts of the book had not even been written yet.  The kidnapping, murder and the mob has not even entered the scene. Then I realized the beauty of this book is I feel it is only a third done.

My goal was rather selfish to complete this. Like I blogged about prior to November I was gunning for back to back wins. I know a really crazy reason to do this. Next year will be even worse for I know the motivation will be to get the triple crown. Hey whatever gets you to write?  But I am done as far as the word count is concerned. I can take my time now and let life back in. It had been knocking on my door and it will soon make its appearance.

So to every one out there who is doing NaNo 2012 I wish you good luck and cheer. You can do it. Even if your goal is different then mind the key is to write and to keep writing until you type the end.

                                                                                              


Dedication, Guest Blog, Writer, Writing

Guest Post:Michael D Fowler

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Learning to Write: 10 Things I Now Know

This year is my first attempt at NaNoWriMo and while I have written many things before I have found that even in these early stages I have learnt a lot about myself and writing. Today I am going to share these with you as well as my first thoughts about NaNo.

  1. Writing is hard work. This one I knew already. I have written things before, albeit not on this scale and not in such a small time scale but every time it was work. That’s not to say I have not been enjoying it. I love writing but sometimes the mental, effort used to put something onto paper (or screen) is intense. NaNo has reinforced this.
  2. A deadline only increases the work. This one may only apply to me because I was born with an incredible and limitless ability to be lazy, even with things that I really want to do. Adding a deadline to something on some level makes me want to put off doing it. It moves from being a hobby to work, and that is something I always want to avoid.
  3. Planning is invaluable. I planned my novel thoroughly before November. In real life I like to know exactly where I need to be and exactly when I need to be there. This has spilled over to NaNo. The idea of not knowing beforehand irked me, so for thirty days before the start I planned everything thoroughly. I actually did this in no time at all and went on to plan another project as well. I know some people say this kills the creative juices but for me it is essential to have peace of mind.
  4. It is impossible to stick to plan, no matter how much you want to. The basic outline of my structure remains mostly intact, but when you are writing new ideas fly at you in their dozens. The story changes and evolves and eventually a character you designed is unrecognisable anymore. Only a handful of days in and my story, while mostly the same, has also changed considerably.
  5. I have the discipline. I have already mentioned that I am chronically lazy. It is nice to have learnt that when I really apply myself to something I can do it. Hopefully I can use this in other areas of my life too.
  6. It is very difficult to turn my inner editor off. For smaller projects this is not so much of a problem but when attempting something larger like NaNo my inner editor is pulling it’s hair out at the idea of leaving a sentence imperfect
  7. Write for yourself and nobody else. Sometimes I look at my work and I think, will anyone other than me enjoy this story? And then I think who cares as long as I enjoy it? I know for many people the ultimate goal is to become published but the moment when you start writing for an agent or editor you are well into the realms of seeing it as a job rather than something you want to do. Chances are you’ll find that other people will enjoy it, and that if it is written well you will be able to create an audience, so in the mean time don’t worry about it. An editor will tell you if he thinks any major changes are required.
  8. This links back to the previous point. Don’t worry about not reaching your goal. Nobody is going to reprimand you if you don’t reach it and I certainly won’t think any less about you. It’s important that you enjoy what you do, even if it means going at your own pace. Whether it takes you a month, two or more it’s your project and while NaNo is great for motivation don’t let it become an obsession. Writing is incredibly addicting, and like and addiction it can be detrimental.
  9. Putting your life on hold is not a good idea. Sometimes the desire to reach the set word count leaves me thinking I need to ditch my friends, leave homework unfinished (I attend an adult language school every day) and basically kill my social life. Don’t there is no point and it is not healthy. You will find you have plenty of time so reward yourself for your effort ever while and then.
  10. Nothing written is written badly. Ok not exactly true your first draft is going to be awful but it’s not bad in the sense that it will ultimately improve your skill. Everything you write is practice and like all forms of art it needs to be practiced for you to improve.

Overall my current experience with NaNo is a positive one. I have learnt that I am capable of doing this and I have a new found respect for Authors that publish books on a regular basis. I’ve learnt a bit about what it takes and about myself and I can only learn more.

This guest post was written by Michael D Fowler. Michael Fowler is a university graduate from Cornwall in England who is now living in Berlin. Having finished his degree he experience a sudden panic and for the time being at least, has walked away form his degree in Biomedical Science and opted for a life as an Au Pair in Berlin. You can learn more about his life as an Au Pair and a bit about his attempt at becoming a better writer at themikebehere.wordpress.com.