Tuesday's Tips for NanoWriMo

 Okay, you've just shot out of the starting gate like a racehorse, pounding those keys, high with excitement and full of energy.  Maybe you've got your planning board in front of you or a ton of post-it notes stacked by your computer.  You even have a vision of hitting that magic 50,000 word count.  Great! 

Have you planned on how to sustain your stamina and pace?

No?  Well then, let's talk about that because you're going to slack off at some point, whether because you're tired, feeling stuck in the great swampy middle of your novel (Jim Butcher, 2006), suffering from lack of sleep due to the time change next weekend or grappling with interruptions due to the holidays later this month - yes, Thanksgiving does fall at that critical point, only six days from deadline.

Are you planning on writing 500 words a day?  1,000 a day?  More?  After all, NanoWriMo is a marathon, a physical challenge as well as a mental challenge.  Similar to marathon runners, your initial burst of speed is great, but a runner knows that their pace needs to adjust after the first few miles.  They adjust their pace to something steadier in order to conserve energy for that final thrust of speed they'll need in those last grueling miles to the finish line.

You may be a writer but you need to think like an athlete.

Yes, as writers we do sit and write for hours, working our poor muse to death.  Then we drop like flies, complaining of headaches, eye strain and the inability to turn our brains off.  Hello, sound familiar?  Mind / body connection?  

STAMINA -- How to get it and keep it . . .

Hydration.  We all know we need to hydrate throughout the day but often we don't.  Tom Brady, formerly quarterback for the New England Patriots and now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and author of The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance (2017), claims you need to drink half your body weight in ounces (p.40).  Phew, that's a lot of water!  No, I'm not suggesting you drink that much but, while you're tapping away on your laptop, keep a water bottle by your side.  Finished it?  Refill it.  And repeat.  Hydration will keep you alert and help you maintain your stamina and pace over the next 29 days.

Snack healthy as if you're in training -- stock up on protein bars, granola, fresh fruit, veggies and nuts.  Step away from that bowl of leftover Halloween candy!  A sugar high may give you a temporary spurt but will leave you jittery and unable to concentrate.  No concentration?  No novel.  And snacking healthy does not mean binge snacking -- one or two protein bars is good.  Five?  Not so much . . .

If you feel better, you'll write better; you'll write longer.  

 

See you next Tuesday, November 9

(older Nano tips will be compiled on the NanoWriMo page of this blog)

Happy Writing!  Claire H.

 

 

Countdown to NanoWriMo 2021 begins!

Yes, it's that time again - National Novel Writing Month - and it's an exciting time for writers of all levels of experience.  So my congratulations to all who are participating this year!  However, this can be a somewhat grueling time as well.  To write 50,000 words within 30 days is no easy feat.  There'll be pitfalls and backtracking, the gnashing of teeth and the aching cramps in fingers and back, the eyes that feel like they're on fire.

So join me for weekly survival tips which I'll be posting on Tuesdays here on the main page of the blog; older posts will be compiled on my NanoWriMo page (see tab above).

Good Luck & Happy Writing!

Claire H.

Nate's "Slutty Brownie"

 In Hold You in My Heart, Nate Russell starts his quiet campaign to entice Amanda Gallagher during a scene where his daughter, Maddie, is present.  So his tactic needs to be subtle -- and there's something about this woman that just seems to bring out the beast in him.  Something that hasn't happened in years.  

And luck is with him because the local ice cream shop owner is a bit, shall we say "off the radar" and periodically hosts "adult only" evenings at his shop, giving special names to his concoctions.  Need I say more?  

Slutty Brownie or Slutty Sundae came up several times when I was trying to get a handle on this scene and did my search via Google.  Here are some examples I came across -- but beware!  If you're hungry or have a real sweet tooth, this could be dangerous!

This is an example of a Slutty Brownie taken from KevenandAmanda.com -- looks soooo good, doesn't it? Can you just picture Nate tempting Amanda with this? As they refer to it on their site, it's "an indulgent, outrageous, illegal in 48 states, ridiculously decadent brownie", which is how it got it's name. Now a Slutty Sundae is a bit different and, as Rosie from www.Londoner.me refers to it, it's "pure unadulterated filth!" Yes, but it's delicious filth, right?

So there you have it -- slutty ice cream. Makes you wonder why no one has come up with these concoctions and titles before, right? And my last comment: Did Nate's erotic act of eating and talking about slutty desserts win Amanda over? Well, you're just going to have to read the book! 

 HAPPY READING (AND EATING)! 

Claire H.

 

Update on My New Romance Series

An indie author wears so many hats -- writer, marketing and publicity guru (hopefully!), sometimes her own graphic designer, webmaster and more. And naturally, things fall through the cracks just as in other parts of our lives. So now that summer is little more than a memory and here in New England, we're hitting the height of 'leaf peeping season' and Halloween is only ten days away, I thought I'd mention that "Hold You in My Heart" offers a lovely summer setting with steady doses of funny, steamy scenes!

So here's Nate Russell -- 6'4" of lean muscle, turquoise blue eyes and dark, wavy hair that's a bit too long. He builds racing craft, is a single dad and has a ten-year-old daughter who he loves dearly. His only real hang-up is that he doesn't trust women, especially beautiful women as his wife up and ran off nine years ago. Trust issues, for real. But along comes Amanda Gallagher and he feels the ground under his feet slipping and sliding, not to mention she makes his motor race like a NASCAR contender!

Amanda is from the NYC area -- smart, feisty and sexy. She's also confused, frustrated and attracted to that grumpy, quiet Nate Russell whose sending all her lady parts into a tap dance! And how the heck does he make eating ice cream an erotic act? Join the fun as Amanda and her BFFs tangle with the hunky Maine men in this new series!  And book #2,"Straight from the Heart" will release later next spring!

Happy Reading and, as always, an honest online review

is most welcome!  Thanks for stopping by and don't 

forget to sign up for my newsletter!

Time to get cozy!

 

Okay . . . summer's almost just a memory at this point, while autumn in New England is underway -- chilly mornings, early sunsets.  Time to break out the logs and start those fires going.  And favorite fall recipes are being pulled out of the bookcase or recipe boxes -- does anyone keep a recipe box anymore, I wonder?  I tend to dog-ear my cookbooks or shove a post-it note on favorite pages.  

Anyway, as I write this, I've got a butternut squash soup going in the crock pot and hope to get several lunches for work and when home and working on my next novel.

What's the next one?  "Romancing a Rogue", which will be the #3 Regency romance in my "School for Sophistication" series, featuring Marcus Burton, a reformed rogue who's just returned to England after a 2-year exile in India for his disruptive rogue-ish ways that offended family and friends.  But he finds himself attracted to his business partner's younger sister, Lady Catherine Wesley.  However, since he values his head to stay attached to his body, he refuses to succumb to his attraction, knowing that Lord Wesley (aka the brother) would not like to see his sister de-flowered.  

But Catherine has other ideas . . . and has no intentions of staying the sweet spinster forever.  Naturally, she turns to Lady Caro and the dowager Lady Rutherford for lessons in seduction -- and so, the fun begins!

If you haven't already read book #1, The Viscount and the Virgin, or #2, Wicked Wagers, please take a moment and click on these links.  After all, the novels are only 99 cents!   If you have time, please leave a review -- good, bad or indifferent -- as indie authors rely heavily on reader reviews, especially on sites such as Amazon.  But, hey -- no pressure . . . !

Stay tuned as I start posting excerpts on my giveaway page on my website OR you could sign up for my newsletter here and get timely updates, notices of freebie sales and more.  I post about once every two or three weeks, so I won't be inundating your mailbox, I promise.  I'm also active on Instagram and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

 Until my next post, stay safe and happy reading!   Claire H.

 

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

Rumi

 

Happy Book Birthday!

 

 

A new series begins way up on the coast of Maine as the sassy, sexy women of New York invade the quiet coastal village of Crescent Bay.

Runaway bride?  Check.

Tall, dark and handsome guy in work boots and tool belt?  Check.

Lots of fun characters to keep you laughing?  But of course!   

Available at most ebook retailers for only $1.99!

 Happy Hot Summer Reading!

New Romance Series in the Works

 It's been quite a few months since my last post -- my apologies!  Do you find the pandemic wreaking havoc with your sense of time?  Sometimes I have to stop and look at the calendar in my writing cave, and I've started wearing a wrist watch again!  And now that spring has finally sprung here in New England, I'm finding my attention levels drifting away from the writing, wanting to dig in the dirt and plant things.  

So I'm trying to stay on track by building some boards on Pinterest for "Hold You in My Heart", the first romance in my Crescent Bay, Maine series.  For starters, here are a few pics of how I envision Nate Russell, the hero.  He's a master carpenter and excels in creating custom millwork for boats, as well as racing sculls for crew teams throughout the country.  

What does Nate Russell look like?  Tall, muscular, tan with thick dark hair and eyes the color of the ocean; tends to wear his hair longer than most . . . 

This handsome guy is the Italian actor, Giulio Berruti.  Very popular on Pinterest, so you can check out my board on Nate Russell to find other pics!  

 Next up:  my heroine, Amanda Gallagher.  In the meantime, why not sign up for my newsletter and find out about release dates, sneak previews of covers and sales?  Also, here's a link to the first "romance snippet" for "Hold You in My Heart". 

Happy Reading and Enjoy!