So, nanowrimo

by Kristen James

Nanowrimo what? National Novel Writing Month, aka the frenzie in November every year in the writing world. Did you join in? I’ve never participated in Nanowrimo because the timing has never worked out. I haven’t been at the starting point for a novel before November, and I have a pretty set schedule (or rather habit) of writing a novel in three months. I tend to write three novels a year plus a novella or other project, and this year I added in translations. I’m working with translators, but I need to answer questions quite often. So I’ve never felt compelled to time a project with nanowrimo, but sometimes I’ve wished I could.

However, it hit me just the other day that I started and finished a novella this month, and was able to send it to three beta readers within the 30 day period. I have a completed and polished novella, blurb, cover and even the series planned out.

I’ve read a few articles about nanowrimo rebels that make up their own guidelines, so I guess I can say I’ve done that now! My project isn’t a 50,000 word rough draft, but I think I’m happier with having something competed and ready to upload to Kindle. I already published three full length novels, and I had a blast working with this shorter format. I’m picturing my new series much like a television show with episodes: each novella has its own story questions, conflict and arc, and there’s a bigger story at play as well.

Writing a novel is a long journey. Writing a novella is like a fun adventure, with quicker pay offs, but a challenge of telling a full story in one third of the length. I was able to send it out for feedback and get comments within a few days. It showed me the weak points. I revised, added content, and then went through the entire novella several times to work on different aspects. I can perfect every scene and each element of storytelling, all within a month’s time. I hope to publish a new novella about once a month, and I plan share more about this adventure along the way.

Congrats to all the Nanowrimo participants! Even if you didn’t end up with 50k words, it’s quite an undertaking, and you still have a great chunk of material to work with. (And I think that’s the point.) Hope it was fun as well. 🙂

All in my Head – A story behind the story

by Kristen James

Do you like behind-the-scenes stories that show you how a movie or book came about? I love learning what inspired a great story. The other day I was skimming through my journal and noticed something new about how I got the idea for It’s All In My Head. On February 6th, my husband and I planned to drive to Eugene to watch Jerry Seinfeld. We were super excited, to put it mildly. Then… a giant snowstorm hit and buried Eugene in snow and ice. It was fifty degrees here, an hour and a half south of Eugene, so it was extra frustrating. The show wasn’t cancelled, either, so we emailed our tickets to someone who could use them. That night, we watched the start of the winter Olympics instead. I got hooked on watching the snowboarders and their tricks in the halfpipe, flying twenty feet up into the air to flip upside down. It’s amazing what they can do. The following Monday, I was driving on our country highway and looking the pretty green hills here when a book idea hit me. I wrote 10,000 words in a week.

So if I got to see Jerry Seinfeld, I might not have watched the Olympics and gotten that idea. Funny, huh?

The book flowed at an amazing rate–the idea took over my life the way Marcus took over Avery’s!

By the way, here’s the inspiration for Marcus, a real snowboarder who competed in the Olympics, Sage Kotsenbrug. He thought he was after a gold medal… and didn’t realize he was inspiring a book! If you’re not familiar with him,  Wikipedia says, “He won the first ever Olympic gold medal in men’s snowboard slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russa, and became the first gold medalist at these Olympics.”

Marcus - Sage Kotsenburg

This is a photo I snagged from his FB to help me write my novel.

The character of Marcus is fictional, of course, with his own quirks and beliefs. I was mostly inspired by Sage Kotsenburg’s attitude, and then his determination. I was surprised when I listened to all of the snowboarders talk–they were competing in a highly competitive, international stage, but many were funny, supporting each other, and enjoying themselves. Like, really enjoying themselves and the love of what they could do on their board. That’s what I wanted to capture in my character, Marcus.

I’m not sure where the story idea really came from–it just hit me, what if some normal girl had the voice of one of those guy’s in her head all of a sudden?

If you’re wondering about Avery, I had a picture of her in my mind and happened to come across a picture in Glamour magazine that matched what I envisioned. So I clipped this and kept it in my inspiration folder.

M AveryI was after an off-beat, unique beauty. People are beautiful in their own way, and there’s so many different faces and traits.

The story developed into all kinds of layers. Avery had a crush who was starting to take notice. She also had some pain in her past, ambition and plans, and a weird situation with her friends: her bestie is with her ex, and they all hang out together.

I took the manuscript through a week-long workshop and found even more emotional depth and complications, so by the end of the writing process, I had my longest and most complicated book. It’s about two opposite people thrown together who learn to see the beauty in each other, all while Marcus is a voice. I called it an inside-out love story, because yes, it’s very romantic and (I hope) surprising.

Here’s the blurb for the story that resulted in all of this:

He’s taking over her life, but is he even real?

Avery Waldorf wakes up from a concussion to find a voice inside her head—an adventurous male voice belonging to Marcus, who doesn’t know where he came from, but has an opinion on everything about her life. She just wants to work on her screenplay, go to her writing classes and flirt with the guy of her dreams, Nash, who is finally noticing her.

Marcus wants to get up at dawn, run, snowboard, and basically take over her life, and even her body at times. He thinks she’s freaking hot and does not like Nash touching her. Marcus may be smart, talented at snowboarding, drawing and playing the guitar, but he’s not real! When she needs help, she has to call Nash.

She can’t tell anyone about Marcus without sounding like she’s crazy. Meanwhile Marcus doesn’t know where he’ll go if he leaves her mind. Maybe she is losing it…

* * *

It’s All In My Head is on special for 99 cents this month in Kindle, or you can get a gifted copy by signing up for my newsletter.

Why am I running a special and giving away copies? Because November is my birthday month 🙂 and I want to share this awesome story with you.

Waterfalls in the rain, and mushrooms too

by Kristen James

This time of year it gets rainy and night falls at five o’clock. By most accounts, it’s time to read by the fire with a cup of hot coffee. I do enjoy reading and writing during the long winter evenings, but I also love getting out into the mountains to enjoy the cool air, misty mornings, autumn colors and mushrooms. I live about forty minutes from the base of the mountain range so I often go up into the Rogue Umpqua Divide to explore, hike, mountain bike, and pick berries. There’s dozens and dozens of different mushrooms in the woods too this time of year, pushing up through the moist moss, growing out of logs or hiding under ferns. Most are fun to look at but not fun to eat, except chanterelles. You can find them in the stores in Oregon right now, or pick up to a gallon without a permit. There are other edible mushrooms too, but chanterelles are by far the easiest to identify and best tasting. Just do some research on identifying them and on scaly chanterelles, which can give some stomach upset.

I usually pick a bag to make mushroom soup, egg and mushroom scramble, or other dishes. The other night I stuffed breaded wild turkey breast with a chanterelle/bacon/scallop stuffing, and then made chanterelle gravy to go over. It was easily the best meal I’ve eaten in several years!

I’ll share a few shots below of some whacky looking, unidentified mushrooms. I took a picture and left them alone for others to enjoy.

I’ve seen a lot of bear sign on my last few hikes. In one spot, I hiked up a ridge and found a group of about a dozen large tree trunks that were scratched clear into the wood, and some still had bear hair caught in the bark.

In another spot, I hiked way up a hillside into the old growth timber and followed a stream up the mountain to some meadows. On the way down, there was bear sign that hadn’t been there before–a big icky pile of it. Right next to that, the bear had torn apart a five foot sapling, tearing the top half of the tree off and then chewing off branches. I’m guessing it might have smelled my trail and marked its territory! I love finding little mysteries in the woods and imaging what could have happened. It’s all a guess, but still fun. I haven’t encountered a bear in the woods while on foot. They’re very secretive and like to hide from people. But I’ve spotted a few while driving on a country road. The most recent one, this year, was a small black bear, probably a baby from this year. I caught sight of its back and watched it take off into the trees as we drove around a corner.

Man, I wish I had taken my camera on those hikes so I could share pictures!

Here’s some from other hikes. This is Grotto Falls, out in the mountains east of Glide, Oregon.

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These falls are beautiful, especially in the fall time, and fun because you can walk behind them into a large cave.

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This mushrooms was a over a foot wide. The little one next to it was a normal sized mushroom a few inches tall.

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Not sure what this is, but doesn’t it looks like coral from the ocean?

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This one caught my fancy because it’s growing out of an old log, sticking up six inches.

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This is Youtlkut Pillars, which you can climb, if you can find them. There’s one sign that I know about, 1/4 mile from them, marking the road. Maybe you can climb them for me if you’re so inclined, because I’m not going up that!

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Happy November! New Translations and a Christmas Collection

by Kristen James

November is my birthday month! And it’s such a beautiful time of year. I love watching the leaves turn orange and red, and we’re having some breathtaking sunsets now that the rainy season is back. It’s also writing season when I have long evenings of darkness outside. I’ve been busy with other projects but I’m hoping to start another novel soon. Just a few quick updates for now:

My first Italian translation is out, for The Cowboy Kiss.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-cowboy-couple-lean-back-kiss-taking-his-women-getting-ready-to-her-image44406184

Il bacio del Cowboy

It’s live on a few sites, so I’ll add links to my translation page when it’s everywhere. I have translations in progress for several books in different languages.

 

It might be a little early to think about Christmas, unless you’re planning a book project. So I’ve been proofreading stories for this collection, and had to grab a tissue. Christmastime: Stories of the Season is full of emotional, family themed stories, with two guest stories from other authors. This will go live in about a week.

Christmastime Stories

 

You can get an ebook copy by signing up for my newsletter!

 

Best Wishes,

Kristen

My first German translation is out! Mehr als nur Erinnerungen

by Kristen James

Here’s the German translation of More Than Memories!

Hier ist die deutshe ĂśbersetzungMehr als nur Erinnerungen.

 

Mehr als nur ErinnerungenMehr als nur Erinnerungen …(Amazon.de)

Amazon.com

Kann Molly Trent lieben, ohne sich an ihn zu erinnern?

Molly Anderson kehrt in ihre Heimatstadt Ridge City zurück, die sie nach einem Unfall nicht mehr wiedererkennt. Sie hat die Hoffnung, dass sie damit ihrem Gedächtnis wieder auf die Sprünge helfen kann. Dort läuft sie Trent Williams über den Weg, einem Polizisten, und zwischen ihnen springt der Funke über.

Er versucht herauszufinden, warum sie mit ihren Eltern aus Ridge City verschwunden ist, ohne irgendjemandem auch nur ein Sterbenswörtchen zu sagen. Molly erinnert sich aber nicht mehr an ihr früheres Leben. Das Einzige, was sie ihm sagen kann, ist, dass sie ihre Eltern nur kurze Zeit kannte, bevor diese bei einem Unfall ums Leben kamen … wenn es denn ein Unfall war. Sie hofft, mit den zurückkehrenden Erinnerungen auch auf diese Frage eine Antwort finden zu können.

Auch Trent hat seine Geheimnisse, doch jetzt müssen sie erst einmal gemeinsam das Rätsel um Mollys Verschwinden lösen. Während ihrer gemeinsamen Suche trifft Molly alte Freunde wieder und erkennt, dass ihre Beziehung zu Trent weit tiefer gewesen sein musste, als sie vermutete. Sie muss auch die Möglichkeit in Betracht ziehen, dass sie selbst etwas Fürchterliches begangen hat und sie sich deshalb davor sträubt, sich an ihr altes Leben zu erinnern.

 

Ăśber den Autor

Kristen James schreibt vor allem Liebesromane, romantische Krimis und Frauenbücher, die oft in Oregon in der wilden Schönheit der Berge, Flüsse und der Küste spielen und deren Helden Sie zum Träumen bringen werden.

Sie ist ein Naturmensch, der sich am liebsten in ihrem Garten und unten an ihrem Haus beim Fluss aufhält. Neben dem Lesen und Schreiben hat sie vielzählige Hobbys, wie Reisen, Fahrradfahren, Wandern, Beerenpflücken, Kanufahren, Angeln und Campen – am liebsten zusammen mit ihrer Familie. Das Leben sollte ihrer Meinung nach ein Abenteuer sein.