The Evolution of My Writing Space

 By Maureen Bonatch 

When I decided to really focus on my writing I didn’t have a dedicated writing space. I always dabbled in some type of writing, whether it be poetry or short stories, but now I wanted to write a novel. I didn’t have an actual ‘space’ for writing—because we all envision having that cabin in the woods, or beach house to write our master pieces undisturbed—yeah, I’m still dreaming about that. 

 Instead I Got a Binder  

Sure, go ahead and laugh but I bet about 50% or more of you have your own little not-so-secret obsession with office products. One of my go-to products is always binders. Throw in some dividers, and if you have one with pockets all the better! 

 

I started off by carrying this binder around with my notes and other drafts and information when I was ready to write. 

When I say write, I mean type on my laptop. If any of you know me in real life, you know my handwriting is just…well, it’s practically illegible by now, even to me. I blame it on years of shorthand and taking too many notes in my college years.

         My  first writing assistant - Bummy - blocking my binder.

Break Out the Bulletin Boards  

Soon after I had to expand my writing supplies outside of binders to include another favorite of mine…bulletin boards. 

I’d put a timeline, pictures of my characters and notes on index cards (yes I love me some office supplies!). 

 Unfortunately, as the years went by, so did the number of stories I was working on. I’d start one, and then another, or set one aside to wait until I was ready to work on edits. (Face it. I’m never ready to work on edits. It’s just a necessary evil, and why I had to have so many darn bulletin boards so I could keep things straight!) 

By then I converted our guest room into an office (Sorry guests! I had to put all those bulletin boards somewhere, right?), but even that did not have enough walls for all the bulletin boards of notes. 

My initial thought was that if I got these thoughts onto index cards and on the board they’d be out of my mind. Because as many writers might understand, those characters just start to drive you crazy after a while if you ignore their stories. Or, worse, you forget what it was you wanted to write about. 

Scruff as a puppy trying to escape the office- most likely with a push pin that he's trying (and failing!) to sneak off with.

Back to Basics 

Once I was completely surrounded by bulletin boards (and even threw in a wipe off board and giant yearly wall calendar for planning), instead of feeling like I was organizing all my stories, I started to feel overwhelmed. As if those board were closing in on me when I entered the office to write (and they might have been, I found those push pins everywhere! It was becoming a hazard to keep adding notes). 

So I took it all down and put the information for each book…into binders. 

Once I started using easels for bulletin boards because I ran out of wall space, that's when I knew it was time for an intervention away from bulletin boards. 

Then, fast forward to me breaking down many of the binders and moving the information onto the computer into spreadsheets and organizing information in Google Docs & Scrivener. 

That has become my current process and is still a work in progress. But one thing never changed, and that was that I didn’t need an actual space to write. I still add notes onto my cell phone when I get an idea, and carry little notebooks everywhere to jot down inspiration. 

 

What should you take away from what I’ve learned in my process? 

Office products are awesome! Okay, maybe that's one thing, but not the main point.

• Don’t wait for the right time or place to write—write when inspiration strikes, on whatever works best for you. 
• And don’t be afraid to change your process. 

 Do You Have a Dedicated Space for Your Writing or other Passions? 

 Autumn has arrived! Looking to get cozy? 

A cozy mystery story, that is? Well, you’re in luck because here’s a great selection of cozy mysteries to curl up with on a cool autumn day.

Check it out right here: 

 https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozymysteriesforcoldautumnnightsku/o8t67ss1lc

It's October! Who's Ready for Treats?! 

Join the Midnight in the Garden Facebook Group (Click Right Here) today so you don't miss out on any treats!

Just a small-town girl, Maureen Bonatch leads a double life. She lives in a magical world as a novelist, and as a nurse leader in reality. Maureen’s first novella was a paranormal romance published when blogs were a new-fangled thing. She’s since changed her focus to writing paranormal cozy mysteries as M.L. Bonatch and urban fantasy as Maureen Bonatch. 

 While she’s not busy writing or doing nurse-things, she’s a mom to her twin daughters, bicycling in the beautiful woods of PA with her hubby, doing the bidding of a feisty Shih Tzu, and dancing as much as possible. She believes music can be paired with every mood, laughter is contagious, and that caffeine and wine are essential for survival. 

 Follow M.L. Bonatch all through cyberspace- she's new in town and can use some friends! 

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Secrets for Procrastinators & Pansters to Win NaNoWri

By Maureen L. Bonatch

Hey Peeps, it’s November. You know what that means. There’s one thing I’m always eager to talk about. No, not turkey day. No, not Christmas shopping (bite your tongue!) Okay, okay, I’ll tell you, it’s NaNoWri—National Novel Writing Month for those of you new to my ramblings.

I may have mentioned it before, and maybe one other time, and perhaps I couldn’t even stop myself from continuing to rant about it the month after it ended. But I have NaNoWri to thank for multiple finished draft manuscripts. Granted, before I incorporated a few of my following secrets to winning NaNoWri I had several years of failing.

Find Your Peeps

It’s easy to lie to yourself about how many words you completed that day, but not if you have someone to answer to. The year I joined up with other authors in Savvy Authors on a team was the first year I “won” NaNoWri. Since then I’m sure to join up every year. This is in addition to the NaNoWri site where you can find all kinds of writing buddies to cheer you on, but just be sure to give yourself someone to be accountable for a specific goal each day.

Be a Role Model

My girls both like to write and they’ve both participated in either NaNoWri Young Writers Program or NaNoWri for the past few years. The first year we did it together, I failed to meet my goal. That story, The Secrets We Keep, is still waiting to be finished. Every now and then one of my girls will ask me about that story and if I’ve finished it yet. Since then, I’ve put my nose to the grindstone and proudly let them share my journey to the finish line.

Toss Your Dictionary

For that month be sure to totally forget your dictionary. Just get the words on the page. Don’t worry if some sentences don’t make sense, or if you have to skip to another scene, another chapter (I write in highlighted captions such as “Add More Here” or “Move This Scene”). 

Keeping your story flowing is all that’s important. That’s why I emphasized that at the end of NaNoWri I have a completed “draft” because believe me, it needs a lot of editing. But, as I’ve heard time and time again—you can’t edit a blank page.

Time is Irrelevant

You don’t have to set aside hours to work on your story each day. If you have the time, that’s awesome, and get some extra words that day in case you have another day that the words aren’t flowing as well. Although try to fit even a few minutes of writing time in each day to keep the story alive in your mind. If you only have ten minutes to write, take them! Write on your lunch break, or get up a little earlier. Maybe you’re writing an hour a day, but you’ve broken it up into four fifteen-minute segments, and that’s fine.

One Word—Sprints

You can find times sprints at almost any time, or you can start your own, on Twitter. If you’ve teamed up with other writers it’s a perfect opportunity to suggest planned and impromptu sprints. A sprint consists of a determined time frame of when you’re going to just write. No editing, no stopping, no surfing the internet. You just let the words flow and write as much as you can as fast as you can.

Prepare Your Family

This will be my Ninth Year participating in NaNoWri, and I plan for it to be my Fifth Year Winning. There are tons of articles about preparing your family by making meals ahead of time, assigning your chores to the kids or the hubby or eliminating activities you usually do. I don’t do any of that. I should, but I don’t.

I only have one requirement from my family and that is to let me “get my words” for the day. I strive for 1,667 words per day (or more!) to make it to 50,000 by the end of the month. My constant muttering must’ve worked because the hubs is now programmed to ask no questions when I lug the laptop with me announcing I must “get my words.” Then this year, for the first year, before November even arrived hubs said, “Is that NaNo thing going to start again?”

So to all of you who might have a book (or another book) in you, here’s your time to get it out!

Grandma Must Die is one of my Previous NaNoWri Winners!

Get Your Copy Here: 

http://amzn.to/2dpGV6I

Carman has worn out more towns and last names than impractical shoes protecting the secret of her magic blood. But when a friend goes missing, and another is infected with a deadly spell, Carman must choose. Expose her magic blood by curing the spell—or stop the infection from spreading by killing the source…the grandmother.

Besides Thanksgiving, NaNoWri is my favorite thing about November. What’s your favorite thing about November?

About Maureen
Maureen writes stories in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania that boast laughter, light suspense and something magical in the hope of sharing her love of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary world. She writes Paranormal Romance and Fantasy.

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All I want for Christmas is my Destiny Calling

by Maureen L. Bonatch

Christmas is coming a little early for me this year with the release of my novel, Destiny Calling, on December 22, 2014! 

Many writers compare the process of writing, editing and publishing a story to that of having a baby. While it's true that the love a writer feels for thier book is often equivalent to that of a child, my 'pregnancy' for Destiny Calling was much longer. I'd compare it more like that of an elephant and after all the editing and rewriting the amount of paper I went through may have weighed as much.

But we all do the little extra things to make sure our 'baby' is perfect. Although instead of giving up caffeine as I did with my human children, I loaded up on caffeine to give birth to my paperback one. 

So look...here's Destiny Calling's 'baby picture' and 'birth announcement'. I may have a mother's bias, but I think she's beautiful. 

 

Hope doesn't know if the man she can touch is a dream come true, or a nightmare just beginning.

Hope only wants to find out if her ability to infuse euphoria or despair with her touch makes her the devil's spawn, or his exterminator. But when the woman who raised her is murdered by something not human, she loses the only family she knew and discovers one she might wish she hadn’t.

Drawn to the city she vowed never to return, her ability is seen as an asset to everyone but Hope, and she doesn’t know who to trust. Her family wants her to help them overcome an enemy oppressing the human population, while the man of her dreams is courting her for the Underworld. Time is running out, and Hope’s choice may be made for her, as she discovers she’s a pawn in a bigger game played by a merciless ruler who doesn’t lose.

Excerpt: 

I strained to release my arm from Griffith’s vise-like grip while scanning the surrounding trees, trying to determine which was less of a threat, the beast of a man holding me or those who might be waiting for me in the woods.

“You will come inside, now.” Griffith spoke slowly and deliberately as if I were a small child.

I batted at the hand Griffith placed on my head. “I’m not a puppy, quit petting me.”

“I will protect you.” Griffith’s warm breath caressed my ear. “If for no other reason, to find out what I’m giving up and why she wants you so badly.”

I inhaled his masculine scent, like musky earth. It washed over my face, and the tension in my jaw released. I stopped struggling. “Are you the devil?” My tongue was thick and heavy so the words came out slurred.

“Not even close.” His words soothed and comforted, like having a weighted blanket cocoon me. Each movement was an effort. It wasn’t the same as the thing in the woods. This was more like the feeling after a long massage or bubble bath.

“It’s not safe.” Griffith wrapped his arms around me, and I rested against his broad chest.

“It’s not safe.” I nodded. My muscles relaxed and my eyelids grew heavy.

“It’s cold. We’re going inside.” Griffith kept his arm supporting me as he steered me toward the house.

“We’re going inside.” I parroted and walked up the steps, leaning heavily on him.

Out of the corner of my eye, something was cautiously moving at the edge of the woods. Branches snapped as whatever was observing us crept closer.

Buy the Paperback now at Amazon

Preorder the ebook on Amazon

Buy at The Wild Rose Press

So tell me...what is Santa bringing you for Christmas this year? 

Please help me spread the word on release day with a 'social media flashmob': Click to Thunderclap it! 
(You know how moms love to brag about their kids--you don't even want to see all the things I've been yapping about it and all the pics I've already put up on my Facebook page..or maybe you do...)

Growing up with four siblings had Maureen familiar with escaping into a good book, or the recesses of her mind. She realized later in life everyone didn’t have characters telling stories in their heads, or weren’t envisioning magic and mayhem within the everyday. This, and long walks in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania spawned a love of writing.

Since her desire to become a Solid Gold Dancer was thwarted when the show was discontinued, Maureen opted to pursue other paths. Attempting to conquer new endeavors proved fruitful with her first novella, while other attempts, such as challenging a fear of heights with parasailing, were unsuccessful. Therefore she’s chased other interests, though none-the-less-daring, but closer to the ground, such as belly-dancing, becoming a self-proclaimed tequila connoisseur, fulfilling her role as biker babe to her alpha hubby and surviving motherhood to twins (so far).

Penning stories boasting laughter, light suspense and something magical in the hope of sharing her love of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary world.

Visit me: www.maureenbonatch.com