ABC ... EASY AS ...123 ... WRITING A TO Z AS EASY AS SINGING ABC

Recognize the lyrics? A 1970 Michael Jackson hit, song title, ABC.

A few years ago I was going to find words that pertained to the journey of writing, starting with the letter A through Z. I began this project but soon abandoned it. Reason? I didn't feel knowledgeable enough or creative enough to carry it off.

That was then, this is now.

I've decided to revise this project and today I'm starting once again with the letter A. I was prompted to restart this quest when staring at the name of my blog site, Aspirations of a Novelist.

Who knows how long it will take us to get to the end. These posts won't be consecutive unless I have nothing else to say LOL. I'm very excited to share with you what I've learned along the way, and am still learning. I hope you find this project helpful, inspiring, and entertaining.

First I want to say that I don't believe there is a set way to write a novel. This will come up later with one of our alphabet words. There are certain basics we should all follow, but in the end it is up to you to find your own style, routine, and method of pulling a novel together. What I hope to offer you is an understanding of some writing terms and how my journey evolved along the way. The trick is to find yours and perhaps my journey will help you with that.

Therefore, my A to Zs of Novel Writing will not include a set method or format to writing a novel, but will outline more the tools and steps necessary to actually sit down and write a book. Let's get started.

'A' is for Action

Definition:

ACTION [ak-shun]
noun

1. the process or state of acting or of being active.
2. something done or performed; act; deed.
3. an act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by mental activity.
4. actions, habitual or usual acts; conduct.
5. energetic activity: a man of action.

WRITING A NOVEL TAKES ACTION

Thinking about it, wanting to do it, and dreaming about being a published author wont get it done. However, thinking about characters, plot, location, conflict and resolution is a definite start. Number 3 above is very important. Mental activity is just as important as the physical act of pounding your story into the computer or hand-writing the story. 

My husband has come to recognize my facial expressions when I'm sitting quiet and silent. "You're writing aren't you?" he'll ask. A lot of planning and detailing happens in my head long before I physically put it into my computer.

KINDS OF ACTION

Okay, so you're tired of working on storyline, developing protagonists and antagonists (hey, here's another 'A' word and a necessary one to the plot). You're muse has dried up and you need a break. There are lots of other things you can do which add to the process of creating a novel.

One is research. Some writer's hate this process. I love researching and embrace it enthusiastically.But for those who find research a tedious proposition, read another author's book that covers the subject. You can enjoy the read as well as cash in on their expertise. (But don't plagiarize LOL.) Interview someone who knows the subject, or works in the field you are describing. Interviews can be informative and fun, and you can make new acquaintances and acquire potential readers.

Another course of action is to read other writer's blogs, a great source of information with links to marketing and querying sites for writers. Once your book is complete, you will need to start pitching your book to agents and publishers if that's your chosen course of action. Or if you are self-publishing, that all-important task of marketing will begin. You might as well get started early. Believe me, it will make the process flow more smoothly.

That's it for 'A', see you at 'B'.

KEEP ON KEEPING ON WRITING!

VISIT ME AT MY FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE. CLICK HERE!

ONLINE WINE AND CHEESE BOOK RELEASE PARTY

Hi Everyone,

The date to remember is Friday, October 3rd, 2014, 4:00 pm PST/7:00 pm EST. Join my online Wine and Cheese Release Party Event on Facebook to celebrate my book release.

Fun, chatting, prizes, and any questions you'd like to ask me are in store for those of you who would like to join me and my friends and fellow authors. Follow the link below and be sure to click JOIN.

See you all there.

Click HERE for the link to my FB Author Page, find the post for the above event and click on the photo. 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!

January 01, 2014

One year later, another year young. 

2013 was quite a year, full of many changes and decisions.  First off, I retired August 1st and I haven't looked back. Secondly, we sold our home, but are here for the winter at least before we set out on a new adventure on Vancouver Island. 

We love the ranchlands and the spirited people of the Cariboo and it will be hard to leave. However, we will have lots of great memories to take with us and facebook to keep us in touch. I'm looking forward to breaking new ground, making new friends and finding new fuel for future books.

My retirement gave me time to finish my sequel, Chasing Georgia. Yes...I said finish. I'm in the editing and rewrite stage and will be finished this month. I will keep you updated on the publishing date.

As for family, my dear mother at 91 years of age is still going strong. Although her Alzheimers is becoming more apparent, she still knows us all which is a blessing. One of my sisters had a major health crisis this year but is recovering and growing stronger each day. Two of my grandchildren are out of school, a fact I find so hard to believe.

Life is good and I try to live a day at a time, cherishing the fact that I am so lucky to live in a free society, in a country free from war, in a province full of natural beauty, in a home I can call my own with all the comforts and necessities I need.

My resolutions for 2014 include living a healthy lifestyle foremost, publishing my sequel, and writing book number three. 

My wish for everyone out there is for health, laughter, and love.

My challenge to all my writer friends, today is day one of a 365 page book. One page a day is all you need to write to complete that novel this year. 

Keep on keeping on writing!

Visit me HERE on facebook and "like" me!

"WINTER'S CAPTIVE" SEQUEL

Writing is such an elusive activity that is so tied to your emotions. One can feel empty and a failure or fulfilled and ecstatic at the accomplishment. Last month my creative pool was dried up, tapped out, painfully non-existant. This month the muse found me again. Well...I'M BACK!


Reading the above paragraph sounds like a description for manic depression or bipolarism, which I don't suffer from to my knowledge. But writing can feel like that at times. And I certainly hope I don't sound like I'm demeaning those who suffer with the any of these conditions. I can walk away and forget my writing for a while and gain a new perspective, whereas diagnosed sufferers have to deal with their symptoms on a day to day basis. They have my utmost empathy and respect.


My sequel to Winter's Captive, tentatively called Finding Georgia is coming to fruition. The story is in two parts. One more chapter and part one is complete. Two more chapters in part two with a little flushing out, and the book is complete. At least this book only took a little over a year and half to write, as opposed to the first one that took me nine years LOL.


I do believe the sequel will be the end of Georgia's journey. As much as I love Georgia Charles, who is my alter-ego and I hope the alter-ego of many women out there,  I'm ready to move on to a completely new heroine, a new story with new twists and empowerment of a different kind.


Just for those who are in the nieghbourhood, I have a signing at Cole's Bookstore in Vernon, BC on Saturday, Augst 11th, Noon-3:00 p.m.  Love to see you there.


Have a great week and those who write, keep on keeping on writing.


http://www.junebourgoauthor.com/

POST CANADA DAY

Today, I've been reflecting on Canada Day and what that means. I'm lucky enough to live in a great country that allows me to be free. Freedom is multi-faceted and encompasses so much like freedom of speech, freedom to travel, freedom to vote (not only democratically, but as a woman), freedom to become whatever I choose to be, freedom to live where I want to live, freedom to follow my own belief system...it's endless.


Estentially what that means to me is freedom is to not have to do what I don't want to do, 'cause the only thing I have to do is die. Until then, everything else is optional.


I love my country, I love living in a beautiful province surrounded by raw nature...unpredictable, challenging...yes, but Mother Nature is constant and she's free.


On checking my visitor stats on my blog I have had visits from all over the world. I don't know who you are but I know what country you're from.  This morning saw a huge jump in my blog visits. A big portion of those have come from a little country in Europe called Latvia.  A nice surprise. Latvia is a small country on the Baltic Sea and borders Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, and Eastonia to the north. Probably about the size of Vancouver Island. They are an independent, democratic country of about two million people whose land mass is hugely raw, natural forests, undeveloped beaches, protected wildlife. I'm sure these people are fiercely proud of their country and heritage as I am of mine.


Yes, I'm a Canadian and proud to be one of its citizens. But living in my cyberspace world, I'm linked to people from all over the world just as proud of their citizenship. This has me reflecting if perhaps our fierce pride in our own little spot of the world can create an isolation. Cyperspace confirms we are all citizens of a global village. And if we believe we aren't alone on our little ball in the universe, then we are all citizens of the universe.


Yesterday, I wished my fellow Canadians a happy Canada Day. Today I wish my fellow citizens of the universe a happy Monday. Just sayin'.


And to all my cyberspace visitors, thank you for visiting me and next time leave a comment, so I know who you are.


All you writer's out there: Keep on keeping on writing!


http://www.junebourgoauthor.com/


          

THE BOXER HOBO AND JUNE BOURGO??

Today, I want to talk about a book that moved me so much. After I finished reading it, it haunted me for days before I felt able to write a review. This tale is a true story written as creative non-fiction. Because it reads like a novel in the first person, I had to keep reminding myself that this is someone's real life testimony, one full of courage, grit, and vulnerability. The author has a unique writing style all his own. I warn you the language may offend some. However, they are just words, descriptive words that are unique to this man's true life account.

Our lives in comparison couldn't be further apart, thus the title above. In fact, some people in my circle would call him a homeless, alcoholic. Well, that is exactly what he calls himself. But the author of Boxer Hobo, Johnny T. Noctor, tells a riveting tale that not only chronicles his life as a boxer, exposing his demons and vulnerabilities, it also exposes the underworld element of the boxing world in Australia. A courageous expose by a man not afraid to talk about how that world affected his life professionally and personally.


What moved me was his battle to sobriety. I found it amazing that after falling into the depths of alcoholism on numerous occasions over the years, his mental focus was so intense that he was able to overcome the physical affects and throw himself into the extreme physical training required of a boxer and find his way back to sobriety and another fight. And it wasn't just his journey that fascinated me. This man wormed his way into my mind and into my heart because he is a writer. A VERY TALENTED WRITER, in my opinion. I love his writing style.


Here is a description of his book from Amazon:


When a homeless alcoholic boxer wakes up in a Tasmanian Neuro-Trauma ward with a fractured skull, doctors inform him he won't be able to box or drink alcohol ever again. Though he's now having seizures and in excruciating pain, that's not an option for this thirsty pugilist. While in hospital, he has no visitors or phone calls because nobody it seems has contacted his family. No one is willing to help him find out who attacked him on the dark streets of Hobart, they say he probably fell over drunk, but this old tramp knows different and is determined to find out who the perpetrator was. The Hobo refuses to give in to the prejudice of society's laws and is determined to get well and fight again. After all, he took up boxing to keep off the grog.


This is the review I gave him:


I don't even know where to begin about how this story affected me. I have never been a boxing fan, or understood the need for men to bash each other's brains out, but this story is spellbinding. Johnny Noctor gets under your skin, into your head and has you feeling his pain, sharing his dreams, and rooting for the underdog. Entering a world filled with criminal intent came as no surprise but reinforced that the boxing world is a corrupt one that feeds on human prey.

Our worlds couldn't be further apart, but the author writes with such an intensity and passion that I not only lived every step of the way with him, but understood his frustrations, his demons, and his hobo existence. On one hand, I'm angry at him and want to shake him and tell him he is a highly intelligent man who has many talents, writing and boxing just two of them. So why does a self-proclaimed alcoholic healing from brain damage, whose behavior is up one day and down the next, let his low self-esteem drag him under and allow himself to be used as a human punching bag?


On the other hand I admire his courage, his tenacity, and his ability to keep dragging himself out of the lows and put himself back on his feet. I admire him for not giving up on his dreams. I respect his intelligence and his obvious writing ability and unique style.


This is a story of a man who isn't afraid to expose his frailties and the corruption and injustice of others. A must read for anyone who has the guts to enter the world of boxer hobo.


Keep writing Johnny, I want to read more.


Johnny Noctor self-published his book through Amazon. He has received 5-star reviews. He remained sober during the editing and publishing process,  and has been travelling through Tasmania and Australia promoting his book. He is writing a sequel book as you read this. His book is available on Amazon. See the link below and a link to his blog site.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Boxer-Hobo-The-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0078NXI0G
 
http://boxerhobo.blogspot.ca/2012/02/boxer-hobo-by-johnny-t-noctor.html
 
        To all the writer's out there, keep on keeping on writing!
                     http://www.junebourgoauthor.com/

WHY DO I WRITE?

I came across this blog recently and I just love this lady's honesty and gutsy posts. Her latest post WHY DO I WRITE?  got me to thinking about that myself. Her link is at the bottom of this post so you can read it for yourself.

In the past when asked this question I have always answered that I feel compelled to write. It has a life of its own. And while this may be true of most of us writers, I've come to believe this is a pat answer that sounds a bit pretentious. So let's give this a little depth.

On the creative side, I've always loved to write, even back in elementary school writing story assignments. Living other people's lives, creating the outcome of their situations, to making them bad or good. This is the fun side of writing. The research into topics I know nothing about to add to the story line...this is fun for me.

Then there is the emotional side. This is a little more complex. For me, my writing has become a healer. The characters I write about contain a part of me and working their problems out in ink helps heal my own.

My writing also gives me a voice through my characters. I've grown from a very shy child and young adult to a person who can walk up to strangers and introduce myself and carry on a conversation. I can stand up and sing, give a reading from my book and talk about myself and my writing-all in front of an audience.

But ask me to sit in a group discussion and have a voice that is heard, stand up in a debate and take control? Cannot do. Writing is where I find my voice, where I'm most comfortable, and where  I'm most likely to influence anyone.

That brings me to another reason why I write. Do I want to influence people?  I do want to share my experiences in my life with other women and hope that through my character's experiences they can relate to their plight and learn something about themselves. This is why I wrote Winter's Captive, to express what I learned about myself and share the lessons learned through my main character, Georgia Charles. The story is fictitious, but her pain, angst, and lessons learned are all mine. But I also want to entertain. Was I successful?

So far, the feedback received about the book has been very positive but an interesting thing has happened. I thought I was writing a book about women, for women and paying forward through my own experiences. However, my book is being labelled as an adventure, a suspenseful thriller, you won't want to put down.

Huh?  Surprise! Somewhere along the way, the story has taken on a life of its own and men are reading the book and enjoying it. Am I pleased? You bet. A 93-year-old Australian lady has read the book three times and totally relates to the main characters plight and yet, men are reading it and being entertained.

Writing also has another side to it. It can be painful. When you don't have the muse, are having trouble developing a character's voice, or can't seem to pull it all together, frustration can creep in. I like to think that that is positive stress. It forces the writer to try harder and write stronger.

Here is the link to: Are we there yet? the site that inspired me to write this post. If you are a writer, what makes you write?

Just a little housekeeping here,  I previously wrote a post about doing the A to Z's of writing a novel. I have rethought this because in doing my research on it, I ran into trouble finding definitions for all the alphabet characters pertaining to writing. Instead I will add posts on the elements of writing a novel without any cutsie alphabet order.

Meanwhile, keep on keeping on writing.


                         www.junebourgoauthor.com

A to Z's OF NOVEL WRITING By June Bourgo, "A" is for Action

I decided that it was time I stopped talking about me and my journey to being a novelist and perhaps give you some tips to help carry you through your journey. So much is out there on other writer blogs to help you, so I thought I would make mine a little different and entertaining. I am going to give you the A to Z's of novel writing by June Bourgo, Author.

Who knows how long it will take us to get to  "Z" as these posts won't be consecutive. I will slip one inbetween other posts or a few may be consecutive if I have nothing else to say. I'm very excited at sharing with you all what I have learned along the way and I hope you will find them helpful, inspiring, and entertaining.

First, I don't believe there is a set way to write a novel. Every writer has their own style, their own routine, and their own method of pulling a novel together. The trick is to find yours. I can tell you that I have no rhyme or reason to how I write. I don't have a detailed outline and I can't start at Chapter 1 and write in sequence to the end of the last chapter. That doesn't work for me. I have an idea for the book, and know more or less how it should start, progress, and end. That's it. My writing begins where the muse takes me. If I have a great concept I think should be included in the book, I write it out with an idea where in the book it should be placed. I make up a chapter number for it and there it sits. I have no idea how many chapters there will be, because I believe the book is finished when I decide there is nothing more to add to the story. And, until I reach that point, I have no idea how many chapters there will be.

In my debut novel, I had 27 chapters. Once I finished my edits, which included dumping the first three chapters and a couple of others within the book, replacing them with just one chapter, I had 21 chapters. Realizing some of my chapters were too long, I split them up and rewrote the endings, leaving the final copy with 25 chapters in total. As new chapters were placed in the book, some of the existing chapter numbers changed or their placement changed.

That's my process, but not necessarily yours. So my A to Z's of Novel Writing will not include a set method or format to writing a novel,  but will outline more the tools and steps necessary to actually sit down and write a book. Let's get started.
"A" is for Action


Definition:  




ACTION[ak-shuhn]  
noun


1. the process or state of acting or of being active.
2. something done or performed; act; deed.
3. an act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by physical or mental activity.
4. actions, habitual or usual acts; conduct.
5. energetic activity: a man of action.

WRITING A NOVEL TAKES ACTION.

Thinking about it, wanting to do it, and dreaming about being a published author wont get it done. However, thinking about characters, plot, location, conflict and resolution is a definite start. Number 3 above is very important. Mental activity is just as important as the physical act of pounding on the keyboard or hand writing your story.

When sitting quiet and silent, my husband has come to recognize my facial expressions. He will say: "You're writing, aren't you?" And he's right. A lot of planning and detailing happens in my head long before I physically put it into my computer.

KINDS OF ACTION

Okay, so you're tired of working on storylines, developing protagonists and antagonists (hey, here's another "A" word and a necessary one to the plot). You're muse has dried up and you need a break. There are lots of other things you can do which all add to the process of creating a novel.

One is research. Some writer's hate this process. I happen to love it. Still, if you need to learn more about a particular subject that comes into your story, and research is a tedious proposition for you, then read another fiction story that covers that area of expertise. I am assuming here that most writer's love to read and be entertained. Here is an opportunity to enjoy a good fiction book and become knowledgeable as well to help with your storyline. (Just don't plagerize, haha.) And there are lots of non-fiction books available. In my book, I needed to research survival in the wilderness. There were lots of self-help books on that subject.

Another course of action is to read other writer's blogs, a great wealth of information with links to marketing and querying sites for writers. Because, of course, once your novel is completed, you will begin the process of pitching your book to publishers and agents, or if self-publishing, the marketing process starts. You might as well start educating yourself on this aspect early. Believe me, it will make the process smoother.

Design your business cards, book cover (if self-publishing), and book markers.

Social media is a very important aspect to marketing online. Set-up a blog and a website. Join twitter, facebook, and writing sights such as Goodreads. Join a writer's group in your hometown or an online site. Start talking about your book.

These are some action items. You can probably come up with more. The idea is to start an action, any action, that will begin the process. You will find that it will become addictive and you will be well into the process before you know it.

That's it for the "A", see you at "B".
KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Keep on keeping on writing!

www.junebourgoauthor.com

First Newspaper Interview for "Winter's Captive"

First I have to thank the 750 people who entered to win one of the five copies my publisher was giving away free on Goodreads. The number of people who responded was well beyond my expectations. I appreciate your support. Congratulations to the winners.

Below is a copy of my first newspaper interview. So stoked. It is my second interview next to my first social media interview given by Patricia Puddle, childrens book author in Australia. I'm posting this because I want all you aspiring writer's to realize if I can do it at 63, so can you. Embrace it and keep on keeping on writing.

www.junebourgoauthor.com