The Librarian Writer

My absolute favorite character building exercise was creating a playlist for my main character. It's good way to get into her head and differentiate her voice from my voice (which can sneak in more than I like to admit). I have to remember that my MC is a contemporary 17 year old, which means she was born in 1993. Smells Like Teen Spirit is an oldie to her. So I've had to push myself and discover what kind of music she'd listen to. Here's some background about Keely (my MC): she considers herself to be emo-lite she lives in a small town in Arizona with her mom and grandmother she's a senior in high school and thinks a lot about the future Based on that, I decided on these perimeters of her musical taste: her favorite band is Green Day she likes Johnny Cash because her grandmother does she listens to a few '80s band because her mom listens to them (Police, Violet Femmes, The Cure, etc.) she likes songs that are a little rebellious but not too dar...

NaNoWriMo Lesson 1: Deadlines are good I've always found it easier to write when I have a hard and fast deadline looming over me. I'm not saying that I write any better, but I'm much less likely to procrastinate by playing Bejeweled or watching Amazing Wedding Cakes if I know I have to get pages done. NaNoWriMo has been an excellent kick in the pants for me. Although I'm about 10,000 words behind the pace, I've got about 135 really crappy pages so far. That's about 120 pages more than I had at the beginning of November. Will I make the magic 50,000 words by the end of November? Doesn't matter. I'm on a trajectory right now that will have me completing my first draft sooner rather than later. NaNoWriMo Lesson 2: Encouragement is better I've been posting my word count as my Facebook status each day. The encouragement from friends on good days and bad days (and there have a few zero word count days) has really kept me motivated. Having your own cheerin...