For Hannah K, the Blurb.

The Blurb is the stuff you see on the back cover when you pick up the book in the shop and wonder what it's all about.

Anybody want to buy this one?

AIDS has decimated the population of Earth. Fighting extinction, a new world order is in place, segregating the HIV positives from the negatives, and allowing only the negatives to breed.
Greer Powers has reached marriageable age. She is HIV negative, probably resistant, but the last thing she wants is babies. She wants a career in science, little knowing it is the modern day version of magic. And magic shadows her present, in the form of a curse dating right back to 9th Century Ireland when magic was strong and powerful.
Her mother has matched her with Marq Fort. But he has been bound to another soul that is not Greer. Her first meeting with him triggers her long-forgotten memories of a past life filled with evil. She is drawn to find his soul mate and fulfil her role in the curse. The ancient patterns begin repeating themselves. Can she make the right decisions this time around? And can she redeem herself in the process?
Redemption is a story of magic and medicine, of reincarnation and religion, of the constant struggle of good versus evil. And of Greer Powers, the witch who once walked hand in hand with Satan.

And yes, my wallpaper is my new "book in print" screenshot.

Breakthrough!

It was a 4 am flash.

Every time I get to the Marq and Tanis backstories, I get a hiccup. I know who they are. I mostly know their motivations and what their karmic lessons are. But when I have to write, nothing works.

The problem is I don't have enough backstory! Everybody is wandering around a bit aimlessly. Greer and Arina are getting their flashbacks and that is mostly going smoothly, but Marq and Tanis only get one.

So, enter the cycle of life. I had to delve in the archives of the novel group to find the original anthology timeline. Crystal's original curse we all know about, and that is the only flashback we have. Marq and Tanis *need* flashbacks of other lives together, to make sense of the soul mate thing.

So what do I have to work with?

Crystal: Druid - 8th/9th Century
Kathie: Medieval - 1066-1067
Laurie: 3rd Crusade in Holy Land - 1190-1192 A.D.
Janine: 1300-1400
Christina: Paris, St. Bart's Massacre - 1572
Gina C: American Colonial - 1650
Gina B: Colonial Australia- 1790-1800
Jill: 1865
Elinor: Nazi Germany/USA 1930-1940
Sue: Contemporary - 2001
Janet: Science Fiction - 2150

Many of these people are no longer in the novel group, so I have no idea what sort of gruesome lives they dreamed up for their Romeo and Juliet couple. I found drafts and basic plot outlines for Kathie and Laurie, who meets who and how they die. Yuck. The first three stories the couple all die. I'm sure Elinor likes happy endings and her couple would have escaped Nazi Germany and built a new life in the USA. 1790 is very early for Colonial Australia, so I'm guessing an escaped convict and an aboriginal girl. Convict of course unfairly there, not the criminal type at all.

The other major insight was the reason for the original arranged marriage. There is no reason for arranged marriages in 9th Century Ireland, but it's crucial to the plot. But the penny dropped!

Mama arranged the marriages to ensure the growing magicality of the line. She matched up the daughters to husbands who would strengthen the powers inherent in the line. She knew all about this stuff long before Mendel did.

So that's easy then. Let me go finish the story.

At least I look famous!

The new sneak preview author profiles are really cute!

It makes me feel like a real author. So much so, that I went off and researched a publisher, wrote a cover letter and even a blurb.

I think I will upload the blurb as the excerpt.

Of course, to get to the published stage requires some nanotime. So I have begunorganising chapters and have done editing on the first three sections. This is a bit slow. I need to do around three sections a day to meet the nano deadline, and there are some sections that have to be written entirely. Mostly at the end.

They should make nano a pretty tight finish!

NaNo? NoNo.

Finishing Redemption just didn't happen.

So what happens now?

Well, I was just going to give up on NaNoWriMo and go it alone. That's what I told Terrifried.
But she said:

"Sounds like we're in the same boat, Janet! But in my case I have FOUR unfinished masterpieces (*not*) so it seems really daft to add yet another rush job to the pile.

I think you and I should change the NaNoWriMo rules slightly (I figure that after 3 straight years of keeping to the rules and winning, I'm entitled!). Shall we both aim to have one finished, ready-to-publish MS by November's end?"

Yeah, I'm up to that challenge.

Not entirely sure about ready-to-publish, but I'll certainly go for end of first edit. At least then I will have something looking like a book!

Then I trawled the forums looking for like minded souls. In the Rules and Regulations part, I found this question:

"My plan for this year was to continue the "novel" I started in 2003's NaNoWriMo. At 50,000 words, I had just gotten the two main characters in the story to meet.

My plans were just to pick up where I stopped - of course, starting my word count at zero, and just skimming through my notes of what I've already written. I created this whole outline of what I wanted to happen to these people, and I really didn't get there last time - I spent the time setting up the world, I guess."

So I am not alone. A NaNo moderator answered the post saying

"Everyone is welcome at NaNoWriMo. There are a lot of folks who write alongside of the 30 day novelists (I think we just call them participants). .. I think we all have lots of encouragement to give each other, whether the task is exactly the same, the goal is identical ... write like a fiend!"

Write. I mean, right. That settles it.

I've started a thread in the alumni lounge for like-minded souls. It's here.