Doorway Monday: NaNoWriMo and Milestones to report!

 It is November 2015, and I have an announcement to make—I’ve got MORE MILESTONES to report.

A Doorway Back to Forever: Believe (book one in the series) has just passed through its final edit! This was a project that began as an idea nine years ago. It lay dormant for five years while I tended to family matters, and in 2012 I picked it up again for real. Now, after four years, I can confidently say I am ready for publication!

A Doorway Back to Forever: Trust (book two in the series) is in its third re-write. This is huge for me. I completed the first draft around August and have gone back through it in the re-write process. I’ve found it’s easier for me to 1.) Get the main points of the plot down first. 2.) Go back and check for general flow problems. 3.) Add depth to the characters, storyline, scenes, etc. 4.) Repeat step three as often as it takes.

I had learned this from some of my aviation artist friends in how they work a painting. Layering for me is the perfect imagery for creating art, and I’ve relied on it heavily in my work. It applies in the individual books as well as the larger arch of the series. So far, it’s working well enough to get me to my next milestone …

A Doorway Back to Forever: Defend (book three in the series) is my NaNoWriMo challenge! (National Novel Writing Month) I’ve wanted to do NaNo correctly for two years now, but I was never at a point in my writing career to start a new novel during the month of November. I’m so happy to say that this year, I am ready! I wrote out the beats last week, and I’m really pleased with the way the story is going. My biggest fear was that it would be a repeat of the previous books, but happily, I have a distinct idea for each book in the series so far. Defend was causing me a bit of grief up until a month ago. I worked out some plot ideas with a good friend and I’m excited to report, Defend will stand on its own!

Nanette O’Neal’s Doorway—I’m finally confident enough as a writer to be a regular contributor to my own blog. Frankly, I never felt comfortable sending out blog posts about my novel until now. The change—I got some uplifting comments from my editor about Believe that have given me the confidence to call myself a writer. With that, I will be blogging weekly on this page. Each week will have a different focus:

Week one: Doorway Monday—updates on the progress of my book series, with either news about the development of the idea, symbolism in the fantasy world, or general updates on publication.

Also week one: IWSG entry—this is the post where we, who are members of the insecure Writer’s Support Group, post every Wednesday to help support each other when we feel distressed over the writing process. Usually, I find my IWSG entries to be more positive because by the time I sit to write them, I’m determined not to be negative! It helps to have that push, even if I’m the one doing the pushing.

Week two: LDS Blog update—I write a weekly column for LDS Blogs each week. It is very uplifting to me to be able to do this. I know I’ve felt the spirit of the Lord bless me for my contribution. It’s like giving service to people in need, only this is through the internet and it involves inspirational articles. So, during week two in my blog I will link to a past LDS Blog article and write a little about why I decided to focus on this topic.

Week three: Doorway Monday—more updates. If I have nothing new to say, I may skip this week. But hopefully, I will have some publishing news to tell you about … soon!

Week four: fun stuff—those who know me, know I’m a huge fan of Star Trek, Star Trek Continues, band, karate, hiking, working out, crafts, and I’m a huge fan of my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). I’ll reserve the fourth week for miscellaneous articles for the fun of it.

So, that’s it, folks! I hope you’re as excited as I am about these milestones, and the places they will take me! I hope many of you will come along for the ride—the Doorway is always open!