Writing Wednesday - Preptober or 'Over-Prepping-tober'?

October has become the unofficial start of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and has been dubbed, 'Preptober'. It's the month those of us who are participating in November's NaNoWriMo event start not only deciding what we are going to write, but to start gearing up for it.

I am excited about my project I want to work on - 7 Deadly Murders - 'The seven deadly sins turn into 7 murders or can four friends stop the killer?'

This is also my first foray into actually writing a mystery. I'm lending toward the cozy mystery genre as I have no desire to get into all the blood and guts. And while I read a lot of mystery and thriller books, I've never tried my hand at fashioning this type of writing. 

So...

To gear myself up I am using, not one, but TWO Preptober workbooks created by a couple of published authors I follow on YouTube - Sarra Cannon and Natalia Leigh. (Note: I am not printing out either one of the workbooks, but rather using them digitally.)

Photo courtesy of Natalia Leigh

Photo courtesy of Sarra Cannon

Both workbooks not only set me in the right direction, thinking about what I am going to write, but will be a way to track my writing and my ideas I have in mind during Preptober and NaNoWriMo in November. 

I am also consulting a couple of writing books for some guidance on writing a mystery - 

Both books I have featured on my website in the past. 

I am excited about this year's NaNoWriMo and hope it turns out well for me. I like the story I have in my head and working on more of the details of it every day. My plan is to have an outline fleshed out in a couple of weeks. 

Right now, my push is to name my characters. I suck at names. So between Foxy (formally known as Texter) and a name generator app, I'll have suitable names shortly. I need to make a chart of the names and characteristics to put up on the wall by my desk.

I'll also be setting up a folder in Google Docs which will contain all my notes, writing, names, etc. I may share a few teasers as the next couple of months go along. I haven't decided yet how I want to proceed with that aspect of my writing.

But for now, there is a lot of PREP work to be done in October and I am looking forward to it.