NaNoWriMo Winner!

 Yes, I've won National Novel Writing Month! 50,000 words of a novel over, in my case, 25 days.

What's my reward? Well, bragging rights. Also, I get a novel out of it, and that's no small thing. 99% of all people who attempt to write a novel agree it's horribly difficult to get it finished. The other 1% are friggin' freaks of nature.

This is the fourth time I finished a novel rough draft in thirty days or fewer, so by now I'm pretty sure I can do it. This one was different in couple of ways, though:

First, it's, it's a sequel to a novel that hasn't been published yet, Fire On Mist Creek. The original one, also a romantic comedy, remains in the hands of a very big publisher of romance novels. Unfortunately, after asking for the full manuscript, the editor has had it so long the odds of them buying it are vanishingly slim.

The other unusual thing is that this story is my first novel set during a holiday, specifically Christmas, which you probably figured from the title. Christmas novels are popular among romance readers; on the other hand, I assume their popularity is limited to a certain time of the year.

 I shot for a 60,000 word manuscript, but it looks like the story will end up at barely 55,000. That's okay for some romance publishers, but by most standards falls short for a novel. That's something I'll worry about later, when I have the whole thing finished.

So, how do I celebrate? By starting the editing process, of course. One mistake NaNoWriMo participants often make is to immediately start shipping their book around to agents and editors. Unless you're a savant, 50,000 words in 30 days leaves you with a rough draft ... very rough. Mine needs editing. I'll make four or five passes at least, before it's ready. That's the job.

I'll probably polish up the first scene and put it in the newsletter, so people will have an idea of what to expect. When will the whole thing come out? Well ... some Christmas yet to come. That, also, is the job.

 

(But don't forget our other books are available as gifts THIS Christmas!)

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

 

 

Even Losers Can Win With NaNoWriMo

You won't hear much from me in November, although my regular blogs will continue with stuff already written and saved. Why? I've decided to once again compete in National Novel Writing Month, with the intention of losing.

It's a throwback to my high school days in Physical Education class, something I excelled in losing ... in. I did become adept at finding hiding places around the gym. Under the bleachers was always popular with us nerd types.

National Novel Writing Month, shortened to NaNoWriMo to save typing fingers, has its own official website. My account is here: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/mark-r-hunter. Guess I'd better update it. The idea is to write an entire novel--or at least, 50,000 words of it--in one short month, which happens to be November. Why November?

Why not?

It's not the best month, what with American holidays and all. I would have picked January. What else is there to do in January? Go outside? Ha.

A bigger question: Why do it at all?

Some writers start that Great American Novel, but never finish. Maybe they peter out because they don't manage their time well, or get sidetracked. Maybe they're the type who edit so obsessively they never finish that first chapter, page, or, in extreme cases, sentence. They go over it again and again, and in the end ... don't end.

But the first draft is allowed to suck. Nobody else has to see it, ever. NaNoWriMo is designed to be that butt kick that forces writers to forge through and finish their first draft. They don't have time to edit: To make fifty thousand words in thirty days they have to write almost 1,700 words a day! Go to it, get that first draft done, and edit later.

My own writing habit is to sit down and go over what I wrote last time, to get me back into the groove, and I do usually edit then. Just the same, I've won NaNoWriMo three times: With Summer Jobs Are Murder (formerly Red Is For Ick, and don't I regret that), Fire On Mist Creek, and The Source Emerald. Since then all three of those novels have been edited, polished, and are trapped in submission hell.

(No, I don't think my NaNo projects are cursed.)

So, I'll stick to the habits that worked with me in the past. As a result, I'll consider myself lucky to get 40,000 words done, but I know from experience that once I get that far, I'll be able to power though and finish--maybe in January. And honestly, any writer who takes their shot, works hard, and emerges with something to show for it, wins NaNoWriMo no matter how many words they get in..

What's my new book about? It's a holiday-themed romantic comedy: Christmas on Mist Creek.

Yes, that's right: I'm writing a sequel to a book that hasn't even been published yet.



 Find our books at:

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

 

Sometimes you have to write wherever you can.

 

Remember, every time you pass on a book, a typesetter loses his case. Don’t cause all-caps.

Michigan Features: Me. Well, a Michigan Website Does

(You can read the original version of this--and see a cute picture of our dog--over at the newsletter:   https://mailchi.mp/1de8decbbe08/ive-become-an-interstate-sensation.)

 

I was featured in VoyageMichigan!

No, seriously. I can prove it:

https://voyagemichigan.com/interview/life-work-with-mark-hunter-of-just-south-of-the-michigan-state-line-in-indiana/

I know what you're thinking: "But Mark, aren't you a Hoosier boy?" Well, yeah, but I can start driving right now and be in Michigan in half an hour, assuming the highway is open in Rome City. As I explain in the article, Michigan has been very good to me, and I've been to several of its most famous places: Hell; Albion; Detroit; and this place:

This is Lake Bellaire, where my ex-father-in-law owns a cottage that, thank goodness, we still get to visit now and then. It's also the setting for my novel Radio Red, which was researched, outlined, and partially written up there. The book is what got the attention of the VoyageMichigan crew, who were kind enough to do the aforementioned profile. So yes, Michigan is my second favorite state, although I must admit in all fairness that I've never been to Rhode Island.

Check out the article and the rest of the website! Then check out the book, which you can find on our website, or here:

https://www.amazon.com/Radio-Red-Mark-R-Hunter-ebook/dp/B01MRZ52DM

Check it out: I guarantee you won't be disappointed.*

*Guarantees do not constitute a guarantee except within 500 feet of the Devil's Soup Bowl or in Hell (when frozen over).

 

Find all our books here:

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

Beta Readers Needed

This is something I should have done, and planned to do, years ago. Because if you're going to procrastinate, procrastinate like a boss! Eventually.

I'm looking for beta readers for my unpublished novels. Now, many of your know what this means, but since I've never been completely clear on it myself, here's my definition:

An alpha reader is that first person (or people) who go over an author's work. For me that's my wife, who's a talented editor and also doesn't put up with my crap. A beta reader is reading not as an editor, but as a reader--for fun, which is good, because they don't get paid. (Neither does my alpha reader, although I do bribe her from time to time.)

The beta reader is just looking at the big picture: What works for them, what doesn't, what's confusing, why a cat is mentioned in chapter one but never appears again. That last one actually happened to me. Their reward is getting to read a new book before almost anyone else does, without paying for it. Or possibly, depending on how much the author has his crap together, it's their punishment.

 

Believe it or not, in addition to my eleven published works I have four "finished" manuscripts being shipped around to editors or agents, two more in the final stages, and another that's going to be finished up this fall (I hope). It's the four done ones that I'd like to get fresh eyes on, so if anyone would like to volunteer to read one, I'd be extremely grateful. They include:

Summer Jobs Are Murder, a young adult mystery:

Cassidy Quinn’s summer vacation wasn’t supposed to include witnessing a murder—or being the main suspect. Now she and her oddball family have to find out where her best friend has disappeared to, why the dead man looks just like her friend’s father, and how she can afford to buy a car on minimum page. Oh, and who’s stalking her. 

 

Beowulf: In Harm's Way, a science fiction space opera:

Paul Gage and Sachiko Endo almost single-handedly won the first battle of an interstellar conflict--but no one seems to know how they did it. To protect their war heroes, the Space Fleet sends them far from action, with a tiny, untested patrol ship and a green crew. As long as they can keep the engines running everything should be fine, but Gage is convinced the Beowulf is headed for trouble. By the time they finish dealing with an invisible spy vessel, an invading ship full of children, and a psychiatrist with her own agenda, the crew starts to believe him … and that’s before an enemy fleet shows up where it can’t be.

  

We Love Trouble, a humorous mystery with supernatural elements:

Wulfgar the dog sees ghosts—but never the ones he wants to see, like murder victims who could identify their killers. That's a problem when his humans find a dead man and an injured teen in an Indiana State Park. Nothing is ever an accident for Travis and Victoria Noble, who are so often suspects themselves they have bond money on speed dial--soon they're surrounded by bodies, suspects, horses, and the odd conspiracy or two. It's all Wulfgar can do to keep his adventure-loving humans out of jail themselves … or worse, he could soon be seeing their ghosts, too.

The Source Emerald, a modern fantasy (apparently this kind are described as "low fantasy"):

Rookie FBI Agent Lilly McCray’s first assignment is easy: Follow up on the sudden appearance of valuable emeralds across the country. The odd part is that the gems keep popping up in locations related to L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.

Lilly doesn’t give that coincidence much thought, until she confronts a little blonde girl who might be a smuggling ringleader—but who claims to be Dorothy Gale, Princess of Oz. Before Lilly knows it inanimate objects talk, people disappear into thin air, and she and Dorothy must go on the run from evil magics that threaten to tear two worlds apart … and it’s not a dream.

 

So, if anyone's interested in reviewing a new novel, let me know, and I'll e-mail the manuscript to you. All I ask for is an honest opinion, no line editing necessary, although I certainly appreciate being told when I mispell mispell.

 

Have a read and a drink.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"