Wednesday, September 12, 2007

New Beginnings

I've been inspired by my fellow LDS authors to start my own blog. As for what it will entail, only time will tell. At one time, during my early teenage years, I wrote faithfully in my journal. As time went on and my responsibilities increased, I found myself picking up my journal less and less. Since I've all but stopped writing in my journal, I hope this format might be used more frequently.

Recently I accepted the challenge by another author, Tristi Pinkston, to write a book in a month. We started on Monday and, if all goes well, those of us who accepted her challenge will have a finished novel by midnight on October 9th. The book I chose to start is a parallel novel to "Freefall" which will be released sometime in the spring of 2008. I already have a second novel written and almost ready to submit, but I decided to write a third in the series simply because I know most of the characters names.

Imagine a writer that has trouble naming characters and picking titles. Well, that's me. Once I figure out the basic names, I can steal a few minutes here and there at the computer and suddenly find a completed manuscript on my desk four or five weeks later. It's like I'm not sure exactly how it got there, but sometimes I think it's best not to overanalyze these things! Now I just have to hope that the same magic I've experienced in the past will fill my imagination as this challenge continues. Wish me luck -- and good luck to the rest of you out there who are participating in this challenge as well.

9 comments:

Stephanie Humphreys said...

I don't do titles and names well either. Sometimes I sit and scan through the phone book looking for interesting names. I get may husband to work on titles. He's much better than I am. Glad to see you have a blog, and good luck on the BIAM challenge.

Unknown said...

Traci,

For me the title comes first or mid way through the manuscript.

Names I pull from my genealogy. I have a database of over 32,000 ancestors, so I imagine I'll run out of books before I ever run out of names. Although, I do have one ancestor whose given name is . . . wait for it . . . Grizzly Pickle.

By the way, please drop by my blog, find the code for the LDS Blogs webring and please add your blog. I'm excited to have you joining us in blogland.

Also, I picked up your first book yesterday. I went to pick up the new one and realized I didn't have enough money for all three, so I'll be buying the other two in successive paydays.

Welcome!

Unknown said...

Oh yeah, one more thing. Would you please check out the Blogging Babes club I've formed, it's on my blog (right hand column) and I would love to have you join us.

We're meeting for lunch or dinner once a month. Anyway, vote for a date and time and make sure to drop me an email and let me know you want to be involved.

C.J. said...

Welcome to the world of blogging. It's lots of fun.

Autumn Ables said...

Welcome to the blogger world!

I look forward to reading your work Traci. :)

See ya around...

Heather Moore said...

I change character names all the time. My titles usually stay the same, but then my publisher changes them . . . oh, well.

Traci Hunter Abramson said...

Thanks for all of your comments. I think I like this blogging thing so far. If nothing else, it has been fun to hear from everyone! Now I just have to get motivated to start working on my book today!

Julie Wright said...

I get names from my job (sssshhh, don't tell) I work for ebay and see emails from people all over the world and some of them have really great names. Welcome to blog land!

Anonymous said...

morning traci:
this has been such a healthy outlet for me to blog journal. so glad i started this. i have all these words that are itching to get out of me, so this seems like a perfect match to write in this forum.

i am really very glad you started a blog for i am so enjoying reading you and sharing notes and emails with you. you keep starting off my morning with a smile. you are awesome, i hope you know that. thanks for sharing, keep em coming, kathleen :)