I've been thinking a lot about how to start connecting my generations in my second novel. It's turned out to be a more significant project than anticipated, but I often get a bit carried away. While some people deal with writer's block, I've never fully subscribed to that paradigm. It's more about finding the right key to unlock the door. A few years ago, I started using prompts, and they've really helped spark my creativity. There's this one class I love taking whenever it's available, and I just started another one where the prompts are just usually just a single word, which leads to a whole theme. Both these classes incorporate the aspect of a writing community in which you can share your work and read the creations of others, which is simply invaluable. I simply love seeing how a prompt can be interpreted differently. It's also such a great experience to have other writers comment on your work, offer suggestions on how to improve a piece, or even just be those second eyes that pick up on a typo or repetition of words.
So, after a slow Sunday of getting back into writing and trying out different styles, I'm thinking about giving NaNoWriMo another shot this year because that might be what I need to finally finish my novel. Right now, I have the bones of the story; I just need to figure out how to unite all the families. What's tricky with this second book is that it's entirely fictional. I usually write creative nonfiction. So even though we draw on our own experiences to some extent, this story is all made up and encompasses themes of the murder mystery genre. So here's looking ahead to another slow Sunday of bringing together characters and tying up loose ends. Happy Monday!
