Last November, I wrote a Southern YA mystery of humor and haints. I didn’t exactly start out to write a Southern YA mystery of humor and haints. But that whole National Novel Writing Month thing took hold of me and wham! By the end of November, I sorta had a novel.

I say sorta, because I’ve been rewriting and editing since January. And I’m almost (if by almost we can mean 5 or 6 chapters from the new and improved ending) done. So, now I need to write the sequel. And instead of jumping in this year, flying by the seat of my pants, I actually have characters and names and places and all that fine stuff one needs when writing a novel.

All I need is a plot, a story line, a real humdinger of a starting sentence. I think if I could get that sentence, I’d be off. Which brings me to this free web application I found that you might want to keep if you’re also writing a novel this November. It’s called bubbl.us and it’s all about brainstorming. Which is sorta exactly what I need about now.

Of course, you can use bubbl.us anytime. But with National Novel Writing Month just a few weeks away, I think I’ll check it out before November 1st.