National Novel Writing Month by Catherine Bruns

JENN McKINLAY: I was recently at Bouchercon (so fun!), hanging with the Red when a familiar face stopped by the table where we were signing. It was the fabulous Catherine Bruns. Of course, I immediately invited her to come visit us and here she is! And that, my friends, is the beauty of conferences. There's always a new friend to be made!

CATHERINE BRUNS: Thank you so much, Jenn, and to the rest of the Jungle Red Writers for having me here today! 

In the writing community, November is synonymous with National Novel Writing Month, or Nano for short. The main objective is to try and complete a novel within thirty days, or at least 50,000 words. 

Learn More: NANO

The first and only time I ever did Nano was back in 2016. I had an idea for a novel that I’d been carrying around in my head for over a year and really wanted to put down on paper. I’d just published my first two cozy mysteries in 2015 with a boutique publisher and though happy with them, I wanted more. I yearned to see my books in bookstores and on library shelves, like many writers do. It was a goal that I’d had since I was eight years old and wrote my first story, a highly plagiaristic version of Cinderella. Fortunately, Disney never sued.

Now all I had to do was write the book, find an agent, and send the manuscript off on query to publishers. Piece of cake, right?

Not exactly.

Since I had already committed to two more books and was also working full-time, it was difficult to find the hours to write the new manuscript. So, I decided to set aside the month of November to complete it. 

Cozy mysteries are very formulaic, and sometimes I tend to push the boundaries a bit, so to speak. I worried that my plot might be too dark for the genre, so I decided I’d try my hand at a suspense novel instead. The main character, Tessa, would be a talented chef and recent widow whose husband had just died in a horrific car accident. But Tessa would soon discover that it wasn’t an accident. She is determined to find the person responsible and decides her talent as a chef will lead her to the guilty party. She goes “undercover” as a cook in a dumpy pizza parlor called Slice where her husband was last seen. Tessa then learns that her husband wasn’t as well liked as she’d originally surmised—in fact, every one of the employees at Slice had a different reason for wanting him dead. When Tessa starts to uncover the secrets her husband was keeping, she winds up in some scalding hot water. 

I made my goal with Nano and finished the book. Writers can track their progress on Nano’s website, locate a writing buddy there, and receive badges. They send emails to inspire your writing and want to help you achieve your goal. This is the one time that word count matters more than the actual content. Because of this, my first draft was complete but nowhere near ready for an agent to look at. 

Available Now!

I spent the next eight months editing and polishing. I asked beta readers for honest feedback. In the fall of 2017, I started to send the manuscript out and was fortunate to find an agent who liked my voice and was willing to help me complete the additional work needed. She suggested that I query the book as a cozy, not suspense, which meant even more changes to the manuscript. We went back and forth with edits for another four months until it was finally ready to query in February 2018. Sourcebooks offered me a contract and Penne Dreadful was released in July 2019.  

Let me just say that Nano isn’t for every writer. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Back in 2016, I made it my goal to get the story down on paper first, and Nano served its purpose. Goals motivate me and help me to stay focused. I’m not the most organized person (far from it, actually) so I need this in my everyday life. 

Readers and writers, what type of goals do you set for yourself?   

USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bruns lives in Upstate New York with her very patient husband, three sons, and several spoiled pets. Catherine has a B.A. in English and is a former newspaper reporter and press release writer.  She currently writes four series: the Italian Chef, Cindy York, Cookies & Chance and Aloha Lagoon Mysteries. Her book, For Sale by Killer, won the 2019 Daphne du Maurier award for Mainstream Mystery/Suspense. Please visit her website at catherinebruns.net.

How We Write (or don't!) #amwriting @junglereds

LUCY BURDETTE: Last month I participated in a mini National November Write More exercise with several of our darling Reds and friends. The idea of Nanowrimo is to write 50,000 words over the month. 50,000! We weren't going for that, we were trying to move ahead with our projects and support each other. At the beginning, we posted our personal goals for word count for each day, working in some leeway for weekends, Thanksgiving, trips, laziness, writer’s block…. (Except sharing goals was supposed to defeat writers block.) 

And we posted results most days in a Facebook group, the idea being that being held accountable would keep us writing, and that the group would provide cheerleading. I shot for 1000 words a day, most days. The first day I eked out only 200, and I really wrestled about whether to lie. Honestly, I was very close to fibbing to my dear friends. But I was also interested to be reminded about the quirks of my own writing process. Here's an example: I am much faster and more productive when I’m writing scenes at the end of a book. Put me in the middle, and I am a disaster! Everything sounds boring. And if it's boring to me, I know it will be boring to you. Maybe I have to learn to write endings only...

Reds, tell us about a quirk of your writing and how you get past the problem, if you know how it happens. 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Working working working working..I missed my 32,000 words (cumulative total for last week) goal yesterday by 50 words. Dumb, but at that point I couldn't even think of 50 bad words, let alone good ones. 

The 1000 words a day goal is really successful--because it's a doable thing. BUT. I'm still telling myself I only have to do 540 words a day, and when I reach that, I push myself to 1000. It's seems to work for me to have a two-tiered goal. So the first one is definitely doable. And I feel so virtuous. Then I press on if I can. If I fail to get 1000, I haven't failed--because I made the first goal!  So ridiculous how I have to trick myself. EVERY day.

And it really helps to look at the manuscript every day. Even on a day when for some reason I can't write, I still--as I explain to Jonathan--have to say goodnight to the book.  Wallace Stegner has a great quote: "You have to at least give the muse a CHANCE to visit."  I think of that all the time.

INGRID THOFT: Hank, I love the idea of setting two goals for
yourself.  I can be rigid about word count, and then find myself frustrated even if I did make some progress.  Your two-tiered goal sounds like a great way to make progress and feel good about that progress, even if you don't hit the ideal every day.  Like Hallie, I have some of my best ideas in the murky space between being asleep and being awake.  I always have pen and paper by the bed to catch those ideas, which hopefully, make some sense when I’m fully conscious!  And NaNoWriMo?  Nope.  Never.  That sort of deadline adds unnecessary stress to the process, but my hats off to anyone who participates!

HANK: Yeah, Ingrid. Might as well succeed! 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Excellent advice, Hank. I was supposed to be doing the NaNoWriMo and got about three days in when I realized I wasn't ready to pick my ms up where I left off. I've been rereading and editing what I have to get back into the story. When I caught myself thinking it would be easier to simply start a whole new book, I realized I needed to do something different. So I'm trying a writing hack from the fabulous Jennifer Crusie: I'm going to start writing scenes I already have in mind from later in the story and worry about stitching them together later. 

My usual writing quirks? I always drink hot tea while writing. It gives me something to do with my hands when I'm thinking. Also, I find having a dog in his bed next to me is a very nice way to work (and makes me get up and go outside occasionally!)

HALLIE EPHRON: I was supposed to be doing NaNoWriMo, too, and got about one day in and realized I just can't write fast. Nope. Uh uh. No can do. I *need* to second-guess myself and go back and change, because my first impulse is rarely my best. And often my best impulse then requires that I go back and insert (or delete) to establish the foundation for whatever I wrote. I call it "iterative" but it could also be called chaotic.

I get my best ideas falling asleep and waking up in the morning. And if I have an idea, it'll fuel me through the next day. So I keep a piece of paper and pencil by the bed and try to write legibly. 

HANK: Oh, I change everything dozens and dozens and dozens of times. Just because you type it doesn't mean you have to keep it. But I find that just writing something is better than writing nothing. Then I'll think--what if it were this way? What if it were that way? Do I have enough setting here? What's the reason for this?  And often just having my brain feeling like it's editing rather than writing gives me ideas. 
But I think the point of NaNoWriMo is  NOT speed. Not speed at all.  It's forward motion.  

JENN McKINLAY: Lucy, the middle is the worst. It's where I stumble on every single book. I have no idea why but the relief when I realize I have pulled out of the middle and am cruising toward the end is like an endorphin rush for me. I don't really have any quirks, at least I don't think so. I'm just a plow horse, happy to be in the field, watching the butterflies while I put my shoulder into it and haul the rig. Sometimes the the writing is effortless and other times it's a strain, but I know if I just keep putting one word after another, the story will come.

RHYS BOWEN: Hank, my mantra is always NOTHING IS WRITTEN IN STONE. I try to be objective enough to let go of a scene that I love because it slows the action or simply doesn't move the story in the direction I want it. For me the first fifty pages are always agony. I start a new book knowing nothing, or almost nothing. I begin with, "Wouldn't it be fun if Georgie has to gate crash an important conference in Italy with Nazis?" and then I send her there and hope that good things will happen. So the first chapters are like always fraught with angst. What if this story doesn't work? What if it's not as good as the other books? Then I see a glimmer of light and by page 100 I know where I am going and then it gallops along to the end. I aim for 1500 words a day. That way I know I can finish a first draft within three months. But I make myself write those 1500 words even if I feel totally dry and I think they are the worst 1500 words ever written. Usually when I examine them the next day they are not as bad as I thought and I can polish them and forge ahead.

LUCY: Oh I am right there Rhys, in the "what if this isn't as good as the others?" stage. It IS agony!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, Rhys and Lucy, me, too!!! What if this book was a terrible idea? What if no one will like it? What if it's not anywhere near as good as the previous books???? Ack. It's amazing we ever get through that. The only way we do is to struggle on to the point where the story takes over, and you stop worrying about what other people will think...

I was an absolute failure at our Mini Nano, and it was my idea! I got off to a decent start, but then I got the flu, and then it was Thanksgiving, etc., etc., etc. But the biggest problem (other than my lack of discipline) is that I just don't write fast in the first half of a book. The closer I get to the end, the more words in a day. But I'll be back at Mini Nano word goals the 1st of January!!!!

I usually drink tea while I write, like Julia. But, Julia, how on earth do you write in bed without your back killing you? I must have my Aeron chair!

HANK: But it's math, you know? Addition addition addition.  If you just keep doing it, it will get done. And then you can fix it. 

HALLIE: Aeron chair? Going to look it up right now. If you rub it does the magic writing genie appear? 

RED READERS: Writing tips or quirks or questions?

Time Management for Writers

JENN McKINLAY: Last week, one of our readers (I’m looking at you, Lisa Alber ) asked that I talk about time management for writers. I did some thinking on it, trying to figure out if I have any tips and tricks worth sharing and I’m not sure that I do, but I’m happy to break down what works for me in the hopes that it might work for someone else as well.

The Stats: I write four to six books per year in two different genres with varying page counts. Combined it adds up to approximately 2,000 pages or 487,000 words annually. I write three hundred and sixty-five days per year -- even weekends and holidays. Yes, I’m a badass or crazy or a crazy badass. LOL! So, who wants to go for beers with me? I’m just kidding, I don’t have time. Again, I’m kidding! It’s all smoke and mirrors, because when you do the math out a little further, I only have to write five pages per day to reach my goal. Easy peasy!

Now the full disclosure: I don’t actually write five pages a day. I write ten pages most days, as in Monday through Friday, and then I revise and edit on the weekend. If I don’t write every day, I start to go a little sideways. It’s sort of like brushing my teeth – I’m a compulsive brusher to combat all of the sugar I eat – I feel weird, out of sorts, off-kilter and otherwise all around wrong if I don’t brush my teeth every morning and night. Writing is the same way for me. I have all the same off balance feelings if I don’t write every day. Truly, it’s a compulsion but I didn’t start here from the get go. My style of working is years in the making. So, where did I begin?

I started writing with a specific goal in mind -- finish the book -- in 1995. I sold my first book in 2001. I was on deadline for four years, writing romantic comedies for Harlequin, until the market dried up with my last book coming out in 2005. I didn’t sell again, mysteries this time, until 2008. Afraid the market would vanish again (it has – but that’s another post), I decided writing five series at a time was a great idea. It was. I hit the New York Times, I made a nice living and was able to leave my part-time job behind to be a full-time writer. Yay...and ugh!

When the Hooligans were little, I got up two hours earlier than they did and wrote before I was in full on Mom mode. I also wrote when they napped, and if I could manage it, I wrote after they went to bed. Things I didn’t do were watch television, surf the Internet, or read (gasp!). I know. It is shocking but when you have finite time to achieve your goals, adjustments (hard ones) must be made. I have zero recall on what shows, movies, and books were popular during the aughts. Seriously, if Sesame Street didn’t cover it, I was lost.

Now even with the hooligans older and in school, the time management is still a challenge but that’s because multiple deadlines breathe fire like a many headed dragon and you can’t mess around while slaying them or they will eat you alive, so I still don’t watch regular television or aimlessly surf the Internet, but I do have time to read again, and I read everything, for which I am so grateful. In fact, that is my reward when the work is done for the day. I get to read. Big happy sigh here.

So, that is the journey that carved out the following time management rules by which I live. I hope they help.

      1. Writing time is sacred. There are no errands or appointments to    be made during writing time. None.

      2. Figure out your most creatively productive time of day (mine is late morning through early afternoon and again in the evening) and make that your sacred time and guard it fiercely with a sword at the ready if need be.

      3. If you can’t work during your best time, make another time your sacred time. Seriously, I hated getting up at 5 AM to write but it was the only time I had. If being a writer is truly important to you, you will make the time.

      4. Set a realistic page count to hit each day. Do not call it a day until the page count is done. I have fallen asleep and drooled all over my keyboard, trying to get to my page count. Seems daunting? Think of it this way, a 75,000 wd book can be accomplished in less than a year (approx. 325 days) by writing one page per day. ONE PAGE! Come on, you got this!

      5. Stop watching TV. Stop cleaning stuff that doesn’t need it (I used to clean my oven – a lot). Stop looking at other people’s phony lives on Fakebook. You’re a novelist! In a year, they’ll be looking at your book – and it will be real! If you can’t control your Internet surf time, install a Waste No Time app on your computer. Mine kicks me out of all social media after 30 minutes. Here’s a link to help you out: http://www.businessinsider.com/13-best-apps-to-stop-wasting-time-2015-10

      6. Find a buddy to encourage you along your way. There’s nothing like accountability to others to motivate. Try to find a pal that is firm but gentle or a mean one, if you really need it. You can also go full tilt and try to write your novel in one month by joining NaNoWriMo: http://nanowrimo.org 

    Those people make me look like a slacker!

      7. And this one isn’t time management so much as writing advice but it factors into time management, so here it is – lose yourself in your story. If your characters are scared, you should be twitching with nerves. If they are sad, you had better be crying. The opposite is true, too. If you find your characters are boring or the scene you are trying to write is boring – guess what? It’s boring. Flip it on its head until it’s interesting to you and it will be interesting to your readers, too. For me, after so many years, writing is like falling down a rabbit hole. I have worked through dinners, school pickups, and doctors’ appointments because I got swept up in the story and forgot where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. Oops!

Pro tip: Forgiveness can usually be had for a signed book or a chocolate milkshake.

So, how about you, Reds? What’s your best time management advice?

NaNoWriMo to the Rescue? #amwriting @LucyBurdette

“Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as bad as you think it is. Just keep going, and tell yourself that you will fix it later.”  Jane Smiley

“Hold your nose and write.” Hallie Ephron

LUCY BURDETTE: NO, we are not talking about the election today. I'm sure we've all voted, haven't we? If not, take a minute now to run down to the polls--we'll wait here! 

Now, it's on to writing. Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo? 

Photo by Lainey's Repertoire

I have never participated in this as a. it seemed impossible to believe a person could write a decent book in a month and b. I didn’t think I needed this kind of structure. (Can you hear the writing gods rubbing their hands with glee?) And I should also say I’ve heard lots of stories from aspiring writers describing how they dumped 50,000 words on pages and then found the lump of exposition impossible to shape.

Lucy's going crazy while her sibs look on!

But on the other hand, I was stuck and sluggish. Yes, there were good solid life reasons I wasn’t writing—the annual trek down the east coast to Key West with two elderly animals takes a lot of planning and perseverance. And reading and worrying about the election could suck the life out of any creativity, right? Especially these last ugly weeks, no matter what side you were on.

But there were real writing issues too: What I’m working on is very different from what I’ve done before. Dark, for example, like the darkest pages of my Rebecca Butterman trilogy. Not cozy or quirky at all. And the food? Well no one’s eating anything in this book, except for nibbling at some ruined wedding food and a dish of macaroni and cheese that’s pretty much spoiled by the tension around the table. I’m working with almost all new characters too, with none of the warm familiarity of my Key West gang. And some of them are teenagers, so I have to really think about how they’d react and what they’d say. (It’s been a while since I’ve been in that age range.)

Photo by Paul L

And speaking of characters, I’m juggling multiple points of view, not utilizing the first person POV I’ve grown so comfortable writing. How many people do I need to tell the story? And how will I entice the reader to connect with each of them? It’s a challenge, I’ll tell you. I thought you might be interested in a tiny snippet where the two major protagonists meet…and no, it’s not located in my Key West paradise,  but rather the bowels of the New York City subway:

A train whooshed by, then another screeched to a halt. The doors of the subway car remained closed. One woman waited to disembark, tapping a leather-gloved hand on the window. Through the glass, Addy’s gaze locked onto the woman’s face. She had enormous blue eyes and blond curls and diamond earrings, like a princess. And she wore an expensive-looking gray coat—cashmere maybe—and a gray beret, shot through with silver threads. Though she seemed sad, she didn’t avert her eyes as most people did when they saw a homeless girl. Back when she’d first come to the city, after a few weeks on the street, Addy began to understand how they thought: She’s a druggie, a prostitute, a thief—she deserves what she gets.

And she knew she looked awful tonight—worse even than usual—frightened and pale and way too thin except for the bump in her middle where the baby had been, with streaks of blood on the coat and her sweatshirt. She looked at the helpless lump in her arms, then back at the woman on the train. She sent every ounce of sorrow and panic she was feeling through her gaze, then ducked away into the crowd.

So that’s my story for now! And I’m using the excuse of NaNoWriMo to force myself back into writing 1000 words a day. So far so good, I’ll keep you posted.

And by the way, if you’re interested in piling onto the November writing binge, beware of falling into the trap of googling writing tips and sites for NaNoWriMo (there are many!) I’ll share this one called the NaNoWriMo triage center, which includes lots of help for the many different ways a writer might get stuck. None of this is big news, but isn’t it funny how something you already know perfectly well can feel like a bolt of lightening when you see it at another time?

What tips do you use if you get stuck in a project?

The Minotaur and Me; a guest blog by Susan Cox

JULIA: Along with being the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, this time of year marks another important milestone for thousands of writers: the last days of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.  So let's say you're finishing your manuscript this coming Monday. What then? Don't panic - it's not hopeless. Here's Susan Cox to tell us about how she got a contract for THE MAN ON THE WASHING MACHINE.

We all stand at the entrance to a labyrinth trying to get published. Writing may be difficult (okay, it is difficult), but it pales when compared to the dead ends, the wrong turns, the retracing of steps taken earlier, the lost sense of direction and general feelings of discouragement that follow.

But there are occasional shortcuts for a very lucky few. Probably the best for those of us in the mystery field is the annual First Crime Novel contest co-sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America and Minotaur Books, the mystery imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

Hundreds of unpublished crime novel manuscripts of every mystery sub-genre are submitted in December. MWA judges read, evaluate and choose the finalists, which are sent on to the editorial staff at Minotaur Books for the final decision, which is announced in March. The winner is presented with the Holy Grail (a publishing contract) and a nice advance.

And yes, I won it last year. (Yay me!)

The year before I’d had a moment of “If not now, when?” And after some careful budgeting and even more careful finger crossing, I gave up my career to write full time. I’d tried to do both over the years and couldn’t make it work (kudos and respect to the many who can), so I spent the next year worrying just a little that I couldn’t make this work either.

I wrote three books that year. I also took another look at one of my earlier novels—a San Francisco murder mystery I felt had real potential—tore it apart and re-wrote it. I’d lived in San Francisco for more than twenty years by then and I enjoyed writing about the coffee shops and small specialty shops I knew, and creating an imaginary neighborhood for my characters to inhabit.

When I’d polished it to gleaming, I sent it off to the MWA contest and crossed my fingers. One of the difficulties about writing novels is that it takes a long time to write 80,000 good words. Mostly you’re on your own, providing your own motivation to keep going, and you’ve no idea if what you’ve written is marketable or even any good. While you may have a novel at the end of several months’ work, you suspect your writing group partners may be bored with it, no agent has decided to represent it (I had a couple turn me down), which means that no publisher has seen it, which means that the novel may be the greatest book ever written or it could be complete dreck.

And then came that phone call.

Afterwards, agents returned my calls and I chose one to help guide my future career.

Next came edits and polishing and all the things that go into getting a book ready for traditional publication, and I’ll be holding it in my hand on December 15th.

So it all worked out in a big way, but the important take-away here is that I had no expectation of winning. None. I entered as a way of keeping my spirits up on the fairly lonely (and slightly nerve-wracking) journey I was taking. The time between submitting it in December and hearing the result in March was the literary equivalent of Schrodinger’s Cat; I hadn’t won the contest, but I hadn’t lost it, either, which was encouragement enough for me to keep writing.

Sometimes it feels as if everything and everyone is conspiring to keep you from getting published. There are too many writers in the world and too much competition; there are only so many writing courses and seminars you can take before your brain explodes; agents don’t respond; publishers are only in it for the money and your work isn’t commercial; no one understands how hard it is.

But other writers have been there, too, and they do understand.

A contest like this requires untold hundreds of volunteer hours from other writers who have nothing to gain from the experience. I’ve never felt more grateful or supported. 

 

So tell me—What do you do to hold onto your writing mojo and keep your motivation shiny and bright?

Former party girl and society photographer Theophania Bogart flees from London to San Francisco to escape a high-profile family tragedy. But sudden death shines a light on her hiding place and she learns she’s been providing cover for a sophisticated smuggling operation. Her apartment is burgled, she starts to fall for an untrustworthy stranger, and she’s knocked out, tied up and imprisoned. The police are sure she’s lying. The smugglers are sure she knows too much. Her friends? They aren’t sure what to believe.

Theo needs to find a killer before her new life is exposed as an elaborate fraud. But the more deeply entangled she becomes, the more her investigation is complicated by her best friend, who is one of her prime suspects; her young protégé, who may or may not have a juvie record; her stern and unyielding grandfather, who exposes an unexpected soft center; and THE MAN ON THE WASHING MACHINE, who isn’t quite what he appears, either.

 
You can find out more about THE MAN ON THE WASHING MACHINE at Susan's website. You can friend Susan on Facebook, talk books with her on Goodreads, and follow her on Twitter as @cox_suecox.

C. L. Pauwels on revving up to write Forty & Out

HALLIE EPHRON: Yes, you all know her! C.L. (Cyndi) Pauwels has been a frequent contributor to comments on Jungle Red. And now her first mystery novel FORTY & OUT has just been published and we are so happy to have her here on the front page taking a bow!
Like so many of us, Cyndi got serious about writing after working and raising her kids, but all along, she was revving up to write. I'll let her tell it.

CYNDI PAUWELS: Thanks so much for inviting me, Hallie! I’m all aflutter being in the company of the Reds. You gals rock!

I don’t remember when I first tried writing a story, but I wrote a play in the third grade that was performed on stage in the auditorium for the whole school – and parents! Something about astronauts teaching Martians to speak English (due to JFK and the moon landing program – you do the math), and we had a song about vowels. Even then I was writing intrigue because I remember something about sabotage.

Other than a juvenile fascination with Nellie Bly, I couldn’t imagine anyone actually making a living as a writer, but writing has been a huge part of nearly every job I’ve held – except for that unfortunate stint as a waitress in college. I’ve written classified ads and employee manuals, designed in-house newsletters, and yes, eventually did some newspaper reporting.

It wasn’t until much later that I ventured into fiction. My first published short story was in 1989, in the NATSO Truckers News Mark Twain Essay Contest – I won the $250 third prize. The story was loosely based on my mother, who at age 40 put herself through truck driving school and hit the road to support her kids.

HALLIE: Ooooh I'd LOVE to read that story!

CYNDI: Finally in 2004, after both kids were both off to college, I was able to take my writing seriously. I started freelancing, wrote as a stringer for Cox Ohio - Dayton Daily News and The Western Star. I wrote fiction on the side.

HALLIE: Were there experiences or colleagues you had during your years a dispatcher that found their way into your writing?

CYNDI: Working as a police and fire dispatcher, and then as a federal court deputy clerk for a combined fifteen-plus years gave me such a unique insight into the criminal justice world. My time on the job brings an authenticity to my stories, and as for colleagues, well, let’s just say the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

HALLIE: You can do something I can't imagine doing: Write fast. Can you tell us about your experience with NaNoWriMo? Was it the magic bullet?

CYNDI: In 2005, I discovered National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and what at the time seemed like an impossible masochistic event (writing 50,000 words in 30 days) showed me I was capable of producing a novel-length manuscript.

That first NaNo effort – with much revision – became my creative writing master’s thesis in 2010. My second NaNo effort became my debut novel, FORTY & OUT.

It started out as a short story, “Happy Birthday to You” (so creative!), in 1990, in Toledo’s now-defunct Ohio-Michigan Line magazine. After 39 rejections from agents and publishers in the past four years (yes, I keep count!), Deadly Writes Publishing released FORTY & OUT in August 2014.

When I told the story about the rejections to some friends over dinner just before the book was released, someone noted, “Thirty-nine? If you’d have called the book Twenty & Out it could have been published two years ago!”  *Sigh*.

HALLIE: Love your book title, but I've got to ask: Forty what and out??

CYNDI: Forty years old and pfft! A serial killer is targeting single women in Toledo, Ohio, as they reach that milestone, turning birthday greetings into obituaries. Renegade Detective Veronica Jadzinski (Jadz) has to figure out where the killer finds his victims and how all the deaths are staged as suicides – and why – before her drama queen sister is the next unfortunate celebrant. Toss in a by-the-book new partner, a lieutenant who thinks Jadz is out of her league, a needy widowed mother, and an almost-ex-husband who doesn’t want to let go…Jadz’s first official case in Homicide isn’t the only thing that keeps her up at night.

HALLIE: Love it! Will we see more of Jadz?

CYNDI: Absolutely! Her next case is underway with more murder (of course!), high-tech thievery, and a few more family squabbles along the way.

HALLIE: And the perennial writer’s question: plotter or pantser?

CYNDI: Pantser, all the way! I have just enough OCD in me that if I try to work off an outline, I don’t dare deviate from I, II, III. And I’ve learned my characters have a much better idea of how the story should unfold than anything I could ever come up with. 

HALLIE: Cyndi is giving away a signed copy of FORTY & OUT for a randomly-selected commenter, so let us know... 

This is making me remember MY first writing success, third grade, a poem that was published in our local paper. Eight lines of doggerel about my sister flying back to college with her cat. My sister didn't ahve a cat. Already I was writing fiction.   

First writing efforts anyone?

FORTY & OUT is available from Deadly Writes Publishing, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and  bookstores. Find C. L. Pauwels the web at http://clpauwels.com, Twitter (@clpauwels), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/clpauwels), Google+ (https://plus.google.com/+Clpauwels/posts), and Goodreads.