Writing craft | Cathy C. Hall Writes

I’m already smiling, just writing the title of this post!

I had such a lovely time when I visited a group of home-schooled students who meet regularly to share their writing. One of the coordinators, Debra Mayhew, is a fellow writer friend of mine, and asked if I’d come and share my puppet play with the kids. And I said, “Wheeee!” (That’s Yes! in Cathy C. Hall language.)

Deb made wonderful puppets for the play, and I had help from several students who did a wonderful job playing their parts in “Oh, Dear! Oh, Deer!” Since the play is all about homonyms, we chatted a bit about words that sound alike but are spelled differently (and I told my all-time favorite knock-knock joke. Always a plus when I can find a way to fit that in!). And they shared their pictures of homonyms (there may be a few budding artists in the bunch, too).

I rambled a bit about my road to publication and brought some of the books where my writing shows up (but honestly, they just wanted to read Uncle John’s Facts to Annoy Your Teachers Bathroom Reader. I don’t blame ’em. That book rocks!), and then students shared their writing. It was such a pleasure to spend time with these kids. Because here’s the thing. Here was a group of kids who were eager to share their words and ideas! They clearly enjoy writing and write all the time.

And all I can say about that is Wheeeee! Wheeeee! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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.