The Third Caitlyn Jamison Mystery is Published

I've been so busy (explained in previous post) that I've neglected to share the fact that I published the third Caitlyn Jamison Mystery on October 4. I've been holding off on formally announcing the publication until I receive my shipment of books - just to make sure. I'm not especially happy that it is taking two weeks for my books to arrive. In the past, book shipments always arrived a day or two or more ahead of the stated shipping date. And, with CreateSpace, they also honored my small orders and not bundling them, which then moves the arrival date ahead by several days.

And so I wait. The time is not wasted. I'm now able to focus on setting up the timeline, plot line, and characters for the suspense story I've started. I attended a workshop at the library last Saturday where I learned about taking each major character and listing their strengths, weaknesses, misbelief, and personal goals. I started this on Sunday morning and realized how difficult that is. It is forcing me to dig deep into each character's thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that drives them, and the story will be richer because of this. I'm concentrating on finishing this part of the project, as well as finishing my draft outline so that on November 1 I can start NANOWRIMO and accomplish my personal writing goals for each week.

Speaking of NANOWRIMO, I am a National Novel Writing Month "rebel." Instead of setting myself up for certain failure by adhering to their 1,167 words a day to get 50,000 words in the month of November, I'm setting my writing goal to 430 words a day, which is more reasonable for me. Another goal is to write one new memoir piece per week. I'm setting my goals low so hopefully I will exceed them and feel success. We have to do whatever works. The important message of NANOWRIMO is to get in the habit of writing. And that I applaud.