Rochelle Bradley Author

Some people will breathe easier and some will go through withdraw. My after-Nano plans are simple: finish The Companion. I'm about 75%-80% done. I should be able to accomplish this in a relatively short time now that my characters are speaking to me. This story is based on a dream I had years ago. I actually wrote an outline (of the dream), character list and four chapters of the story. Even with this preparation and thinking about the dream weekly, when I sat to write I didn't feel it. I believed my characters were being stubborn. I didn't feel the chemistry between them. The switch from third to first perspective threw me, computer problems frustrated me, family and ML duties pulled my focus away. I shouldn't have blamed my characters they'd been speaking to me from the beginning. Vanessa Warsaw tells us:  I had to get away. So I left. I quit my job and ran away from my family. I loved the job but my family… This is how she started her story...

Zach says,"You should be writing!" In mid October, fellow ML Styrch and I gave a Nanoprep mini-seminar for the Antioch Writer's Workshop . The week leading up to it, I became nervous. I hadn't stood in front of a group and made a speech since speech class in college- and that was about bra types (fun class and I got an A). The night before the seminar I verbalized these concerns to my husband. "Why are you worried? This is your thing." That simple statement bolstered my confidence. He's right. NaNoWriMo is my thing. My NaNoWriMo story began in 2008 when I was first introduced to it by a friend. I love the challenge of nano. The first few years I remained isolated and didn't attend any functions. Oh, how that has changed. Now I plan the write-ins and parties. This will be my ninth year participating and my second year as a municipal liaison. I've also participated in several camps. Through NaNo, I've defined my genre. Alone, I could...