WHAT I LEARNED FROM WRITING MY FIRST NOVEL

       Karen Walker joins me with a guest post as she stirs awareness for her upcoming novel which is now available (see details below).  As one of my earliest blogging friends, Karen has appeared on my blogs as my guest a few times.  She's back with some timely advice as we approach National Novel Writing Month in November.  And now here's Karen:

WHAT I LEARNED FROM WRITING MY FIRST NOVEL AFTER 35+ YEARS OF WRITING NONFICTION

By Karen Helene Walker

Thank you, Lee, for hosting me today.

Writing a novel is the hardest thing I’ve ever tackled. No kidding. There are so many things you have to think about. First, you have to have a story that is of interest to some segment of the population. Then you have to have a plot with twists and turns that will keep your audience turning the pages. Then you have to have characters. Interesting characters. Characters with flaws. Characters that your readers will hopefully care about. And as if that isn’t enough, you have to be able to describe settings and show, not tell, what happens to these characters. And of course, your novel must contain similes and metaphors and other literary devices that make the story richer and more readable.

Before I wrote and published my memoir in 2009, I’d written essays and articles in my career as a public relations professional in the health care industry. Those things are so much easier than a novel. You think of a topic, you research facts and figures, you find an expert you can quote, you write a good hook, put in the background info, put in a call to action, if required, and voila, you’re done. I don’t mean to imply this kind of writing doesn’t require skill. It does. It’s just simpler than writing a novel.

My novel did require some research, especially in the middle section, which takes place during the middle ages. But my novel is not historical fiction, thank goodness, so I didn’t have to be accurate with details. For example, there are wishing steps surrounding Blarney Castle in Ireland, but the wishing steps in my novel became something altogether different. Still, I needed to imagine what life might have been like for a wise woman during that era when the Inquisition was happening -- not an easy feat for someone who has difficulty visualizing what isn’t there. When we were building our house in 1998, it wasn’t until the dry wall went up that I actually knew what the house would look like. See what I mean? Novelists need a good imagination. I had to work at this. Hard.

So, what did I learn from this experience? Several things, actually. One, when I set out to do something, no matter how hard it is, I do it. And that feels wonderful. So, if you’ve always wanted to do something, go ahead and do it. You won’t be sorry. Secretly, in the depths of my soul, I’d always wanted to write a novel. Just didn’t think I could. Well, I could and I did.

Two, there is always help when you are working on something, anything, if you’re only willing and able to ask for it. I had wonderful support from my writing coach, editor, Mark David Gerson (www.markdavidgerson.com). Without him, this book wouldn’t exist.

And lastly, listening to the whispers (which was the theme of my memoir, Following the Whispers) is crucial to my well-being. Writing this book became a deeply moving and profoundly healing spiritual journey. I needed to write this book. And I am so grateful I did.

Here’s the scoop on the story:

Three Women and a Single Story That Unites Them Across the Millennia

“Totally engrossing. A must-read for today’s wise woman!”
Rev. Kathleen McKern Verigin, minister/priestess

Brighid, Ashleen and Megan: Bound through time by a curious light, a mysterious voice and a call they dare not ignore. Yet in obeying this strange force, the women must face soul-searing trials that call into question everything they know and believe — about themselves and about the world around them.

“Guaranteed to inspire you to a deeper level of spirituality and a new appreciation for Goddess.”
Rev. Clara Z. Alexander

About the Author:

Karen Helene Walker is a widely published essayist and author of the 2009 memoir, Following the Whispers. When she isn’t writing, you will often find Karen performing in nursing homes and retirement communities as part of the Sugartime or Sophisticated Ladies musical groups, traveling with her husband of 20 years, Gary, or relaxing with a good book at their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visit the author’s website at www.karenhelenewalker.com

The Wishing Steps is  available now in both print and ebook versions at: Amazon.com. You can also purchase it as an ebook on Kobo, I Tunes, and at Barnes and Noble.

Don't Forget to Vote!

        And I'm not talking about any political election.   If you haven't taken the time to visit my Battle of the Bands post I hope you will now and vote on your favorite version of my song pick for the Halloween season. 

NaNo -- Jumping Off the High Dive

             My kick off day for NaNo began, not as smoothly as I would have hoped, but it began nevertheless dragging me by my feet, bouncing my head on the ground, setting me on the high dive, and forcing me to jump off only to let me know their was no water in the pool as I was falling.  Okay, maybe not that bad, but enough snags to give me less of a word count than I had hoped for.  But I'm not upset.  I'm okay.  It's all cool.
 
            Here was my plan:  I was going to take the newspaper and find 5 interesting articles and weave them into a story.  I have frequently gotten story ideas from newspaper articles so I figured that this was a surefire plan.  What I didn't take into account, but really should have suspected, the Los Angeles Times doesn't have much interesting content anymore.  I've heard this complaint about other newspapers as well.  I recall when you could find some wonderfully bizarre stories in every edition of a newspaper.  Now in the L.A.Times you find strange tales every once in a while, but mostly they want to be really significant, but they fail miserably.
Okay I found 5 stories that were not as wonderful  as I had hoped, so I needed to come up with some supplementary back up material.

             Fortunately I had a somewhat interesting dream before I woke up on Sunday morning.  Before I even got my hands on the morning paper I already had a story brewing.  Also, before I could get to the newspaper, I went to church.  In the sermon, the pastor talked about the second chapter of Deuteronomy which was about the Israelites wandering in the desert and Hebrews 12:5-11 which talks about how God disciplines those that he loves-- 2nd story inspiration.

              After various other familial obligations I was able to get to the paper Sunday afternoon at which time I got my 5 articles to use as story tie-ins.  Then I started writing.  I was originally going to plot out a story with the articles but I decided to come back to that later and just start writing the opening of the novel with the story seeds planted from my first inspirations.  I don't have a plot yet, but I think I have a pretty strong opening.  I only made it to about 1500 words on the first day, but I think I got some real momentum going and things should pick up as the week progresses.

            Good news--- got two blog posts for the upcoming week finished yesterday.  And put some more ideas for some future posts down.   Also made several comments on other blogs and responded to some comments on my blog.  So believe me, I was staying pretty busy.

            And by the way--- here is the title of the novel into which I will be pouring myself into:

                                            A DESERT PLACE

So far the novel starts with the discovery of a dead body and a briefcase full of cash by a main character named Joe Bloom.   By next week I should have a synopsis which may appear on the NaNo site before next Monday.  First I need to work out the details about who the dead guy is and why the money is there.

Hope the rest of the NaNo'ers are having fun.