Born in NaNoWri

 By Maureen Bonatch 

 

It’s almost November so you know what that means? 

Ok, maybe you don’t if you’re thinking about turkeys, and fall turning to winter and the upcoming holiday season and not immediately thinking about NaNoWri like me! 

 November is National Novel Writing Month 

Otherwise known as NaNoWri. I might write all year, but the enthusiasm of everyone participating in NaNoWri in November gives me an extra push to get those words on the page. 

I’ve talked about NaNoWri a lot over the years—whether anyone cared to listen or not 

 You might say I'm a little obsessed with it. Here are a few of my favorite posts: 

•  Making a DIY standing treadmill desk 
•  Secrets to Winning NaNoWri 
•  For Your Loved Ones Dealing with the NaNoWri Obsessed 
•  How NaNoWri is like Being An Alien 
• The Month After NaNoWri Poem 

 There are many more, I’m sure. 

How Do I Know NaNoWri Works?

                   My daughter and I winning NaNoWri Last Year

I haven’t “won” NaNoWri every year I participated, but I enjoyed it regardless. Although I have “won” (aka: finished a 50k first draft) more years than not. 

For me, NaNoWri inspires me to get those words on the page and prioritize my writing. Many of my books were born in NaNoWri. 

A few NaNoWri book babies have been polished and published—I’ve listed those below. 

•  Hexes, Highballs & Hockey (2017) 
•  Not a Chance (2014) 
•  Grandma Must Die (2013) 

 And now… Magic, Mimosa’s & Mistletoe (2020) 

I thought I wouldn’t win NaNoWri in 2020 I was feeling kind of down with 2020 and the holidays weren’t looking the same with lockdowns and restrictions on visiting with family and friends. 

I had started one story and was struggling with it until I decided to revive my holiday spirit by writing about it.

Magic, Mimosa’s & Mistletoe flowed out of me like water and was such fun to write! I had to do ‘research’ by playing Christmas music and was ‘forced’ to watch holiday movies. It really helped bring back my holiday spirit. Since I write paranormal I made the story a fun mash up of the Halloween and Christmas holidays.

I’ll be introducing Magic, Mimosa’s & Mistletoe to the world on October 31st. 

Here’s a taste! 

 I don’t see dead people, but my dog does. 

Hi, I’m Marissa Hale. When my friend, Grace invites me to visit the Inn she inherited, I’m high-tailing it back to my home state of Pennsylvania. Like most things in life, there are strings attached to her inheritance—and these ones have twinkly lights. The Inn, and the town, are Christmas themed. No witch worth her broom would choose Christmas over Halloween, unless that witch’s bloodline is the magic mainline for keeping the yuletide spirit alive. 

Her aunt’s death was already suspicious, but then we stumble upon a dead body amongst the poinsettias that resembles one of Santa’s fabled elves. It sure seems like someone is trying to force Grace to sell Kringle Inn. I’m going to need all the help I can get to solve these crimes, and save Christmas, but when the only witnesses are a pig, and a ghost, I’m not sure that’s going to be enough… 

Get Into the Holly Jolly Spirit Early by Grabbing Your Copy Right Here

I have several more ‘winners’ from past years (2015, 2016, 2018) that will be polished and released to the world in 2022. 

 What About You? Do You NaNo?       

Maureen’s first novella was a paranormal romance published when blogs were a new-fangled thing. She’s since changed her focus to writing paranormal cozy mysteries as M.L. Bonatch and urban fantasy as Maureen Bonatch. 

While she’s not busy writing or doing nurse-things, she’s a mom to her twin daughters, bicycling in the beautiful woods of PA with her hubby, doing the bidding of a feisty Shih Tzu, and dancing as much as possible. She believes music can be paired with every mood, laughter is contagious, and that caffeine and wine are essential for survival. 

 Visit Maureen's Website Here

From the Archives: The Best Villains Ever

Veronica sez: One from the Archives today...I vote for Ming the Merciless myself:

So. Who's the best fictional villain of all time?

I know, it's impossible to answer, but it's a great conversation starter. In fact, next time you find yourself in an awkward silence with several people you have no idea what to say to, give it a shot; it's clutch. 

What I love about this subject is that it gives us a reason to scroll through our internal Rolodexes of awesome movies and epic novels, a chance to remember and relive those characters. Pennywise the clown scared the sh*t out of me. I was twenty. I never looked at drains the same again. 

But does scariness make a villain great? For some people. I put up the question to my FB crew last night in preparation for this blog and got so many novel, witty and contrasting answers that it made me think. What makes a villain great...to everybody? One of my best friends came up with a great line that I told him I was going to steal. Jesse DeStasio commented, "The real menace comes from having a part of us slightly agree with them [villain]." Isn't that true? Colonel Jessep from A Few Good Men comes to mind for me, but there are so many others.  

Maybe it's because I was such a wuss when I was growing up (everything gave me nightmares) but I liked villains that were scary but...funny. One of my all time favorites is the Kurgan from The Highlander movie. He was this huge, scary-looking, predatory immortal who could only die if his head was cut off, but he was funny in a grotesque kind of way--leering and blunt. He had personality; I can still hear his deep, gravelly voice and I saw that movie several eons ago. 

It was pointed out to me by Mr. DeStasio (he takes his movies seriously, even had a list of this very subject in his phone already to go) that the Kurgan's flaw is that we can't sympathize with him. Maybe so. But he's still one of my favorites. 

Then you got your creepers. Javiar Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men anybody? He was good. Quintessential Darth Vader? Hans Gruber in Die Hard? Lord Foul in the Unbeliever series? I could fill three pages and I bet you could too, but there's a secret ingredient that they all have, an overlapping theme that ties them together. Ready for it? *drum roll* 

They all evoke emotion. 

They make us feel. Whether it be fear, anger, outrage, horror, fascination, dread--take your pick. Without emotion, a villain is just a car without an engine. A guitar without strings. Captain Crunch without the crunchberries. And that's no good.   

Here's some of the votes I got last night:

1. Frank Booth in Blue Velvet (never seen)
2. The governor in The Walking Dead (I've only seen the first season)
3. Maleficent in Maleficent
4. Vincent in Collateral Damage (never saw)
5. Smurf Cody in Animal Kingdom (never saw)
6. Heath Ledger Joker in The Dark Knight (I saw this one!!)
7. Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs
8. Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter
9. Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest
10. Wicked Witch of the West Wizard of Oz

And of course, in keeping with the theme of Here Be Magic: Sauron

Feel free to add. :)

Afflicted with wanderlust at the age of seventeen, Steve has lived in seven states, served briefly in the U.S. Air Force as a Pararescue Trainee, and has a profound aversion to mint chocolate ice cream.

Author of the Last of the Shardyn trilogy:

Book I  Drynn, 

Book II Through the Black Veil

Book III Blood Sworn