The winner of Shadowlight and Dreamveil is: SPOT! Please drop me an e-mail at joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com with your snail mail address. Thank you to everyone who entered!
MayNoWriMo Finale
I hope you’ve enjoyed the MayNoWriMo guest posts and the interesting panels at Coyote Con (the transcripts will remain up all year). I met so many new people this month, and it was incredible to watch them reach their goals or learn something new about themselves and their writing process. I’m working with Deena to possibly set up some new group functionality that will allow all the Coyote Con people to remain connected until next May. (Once we finalize a few details, I’ll post the writing group link here so you can join if you’re interested.)
As for me: I didn’t finish my synopsis.
However.
I expanded characterization for Quinn and Tara, wrote up backstory for them, and sent both through the Emotional Toolbox. I have my major turning points outlined with supporting notecards. Plus, I do have 1754 words toward the synopsis — it’s just not *finished*.
All in all, I’m pleased with the story and the plotting effort so far and I shouldn’t have any problem wrapping things up and getting it to Alissa in June. Also in June, I’m going to try and write 30K holiday novella. *dies*
No rest for the weary!
Lynn Viehl Kyndred Giveaway
I loved Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn series and so I wasn’t surprised at all that I enjoyed Shadowlight too, the spinoff “Kyndred” series. I absolutely loved Rowan’s sharp wit in Shadowlight, so I can’t wait to see how her story unfolds in Dreamveil (I keep typing Dreamviehl ha ha). Plus, what a gorgeous cover!
So to celebrate Memorial Day weekend, I’m giving away a copy of both Shadowlight and Dreamveil. This contest is open to anyone on the planet, whether you’ve won anything from me before. I do not retain your name or information after the contest is over.
To enter, comment on this post and tell me your favorite Lynn Viehl book, or drop me an e-mail at joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com to throw your name in the hat. The contest will close on Monday, May 31st at midnight CST, and the winner will be announced on Tuesday.
MayNoWriMo Guest Jane Toombs
Jane Toombs writes an article entitled The Disease of Writing.
Conn Writes a Poem
Never seen anywhere else, an exclusive poem written by the sexiest English professor alive, Dr. Connagher himself! Check out his response to “Lecture vs. Teach” over on Susi’s blog and wish her a happy blogoversary while you’re at it, for a chance to win a free e-copy of Dear Sir, I’m Yours or an advance e-ARC of The Bloodgate Guardian, releasing June 14 from Carina Press.
Plotting with Notecards
My only MayNoWriMo goal this year was to get a synopsis written for Maya #2. The only catch: I haven’t written the book yet.
While I haven’t had as much time to work on detailed plotting as I hoped, I have made some interesting discoveries. The main color scheme for this book has been purple and blue (every book has a color scheme–The Bloodgate Guardian was orange and green). No theme song yet.
I spent a lot of time developing Quinn and Tara. I researched more about Ix Chel and Yum Cimil. I had several scenes from an earlier draft of BGG, but I wasn’t sure if I could still use them.
The more cards I wrote up for the beginning sections, the more confused I got. I couldn’t figure out how the new stuff I’d developed still fit with the old things I really wanted to keep. I was getting bogged down in details, little scenes at the beginning that hid the main path.
The trick (this time) was concentrating only on the hero’s journey. I wrote up the main event cards for each character without worrying about the other’s hero journey — and then I was finally able to figure out how they fit together. I made cards for the key turning points/journey events in their own color — and then filled the character-specific stuff around them. MUCH EASIER!
Tonight, I sat down with hot pink notecards and did the same general thing for the romance journey. Instead of inciting incident — I have first meet. I still need to work on these cards a bit more, but it’s really helping me figure out the arcs.
When I’m all finished, I’ll take a few pictures.
MayNoWriMo Guest Elisa Diehl
Elisa explores ways to find motivation while editing in her MayNoWriMo post On Editing.
MayNoWriMo Guest Isabelle Santiago
If you’re going through a tough spell with your writing, you’ll want to check out Isabelle’s article Drawing Images from Music where she shows how music has helped her get over the hump.
Maya Free Read
As I researched the Maya and developed the mythology and premise for the Bloodgates, I wrote a short story, Well of Sky. It’s an oldie but a goodie, and some of you may not have seen it yet.
Only Lady Jade Mirror can save the Itza people…but who will save her? Download Well of Sky (pdf).
MayNoWriMo Guest Bloggers
My apologies for being so late in getting these links up. The birthday celebrations have been intense this weekend!
My beloved sister writes about Stephen King and the Renaissance Writer and Kal Cobalt has written an article Anger as Fuel. I hope you check them out!
If you missed our transformative sex panel at Coyote Con, the transcript is available.