Eponybothers

Work on the new novel is coming along. Unfortunately(?) I've reached the point in the tale where the main characters...kinda need names.

I've often had this problem: my characters come to fruition as people before they have names. By the time I know their deepest fears and dreams, their favorite foods, what element they would represent in Avatar...other characters are still calling them 'Hey You.'

The first novel I completed followed a character named Thomas Kaiser. I chose his name after a kaiser roll sliced open my middle finger on my right hand at the bakery.

I was halfway through SIREN, with no name chosen, when an oven accident left my with a severe burn on my right pointer finger. That was when I decided the narrator of that novel would be called Cinder :)

I don't have much direction for these new character's names. I offered my thumb to the cat to chew on, but she declined to assist me with the artistic process. So I'll continue working, and be sure to report on the amusing injury that leads to the naming of the new narrators :)

Adventures Ahoy?

To help me get back into the groove of the unyielding grindstone dance, I've decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. I first participated six(?) years ago, when I decided to get serious about this 'writing' thing. I have since written two and a half novels, started two more, signed with my excellent agent, lost and regained my mojo multiple times.

In leaping back into the psychotic but tender embrace of NaNoWriMo, wherein thousands of writers attempt to write 50,000-word novels alongside thousands of their own kind, I've tapped back into the dizzy glee that is Being a Writer. And I've remembered how I excited I was, once, when I decided to attend a writer's conference.

Instead, I lucked out and fell into a creative group in Missoula, full of wonderful women who inspired me and kept me excited about work on SIREN. Then I lucked out and fell into a situation where I met my agent, Pestritto on Rye. I haven't lucked out for a while, and have struggled to make new creativity buddies. NaNo seemed the way to go, but they're a little disorganized there. If I saved up and went to a proper writer's watering hole, though...

So, I'm thinking about attending a conference, as an unpublished, agented author who just wants to make some contacts in the industry. By the time I have enough duccats saved, I could possibly have another draft of SIREN complete, as well as at least one readable draft of this new (untitled) novel set in the same world.

I see few downsides to the idea, aside from the fact that I'd have to save and then surrender considerable duccats, as mentioned. But that's sort of a part of any great adventure in the modern world, isn't it? At any rate, it would give me something to build towards, which is something I've been missing.

Anyone else got plans for the new year? Or advice for my venture?