Are You Ready to Visit NOLA? (Or, How I’m Celebrating the Best Decisions I’ve Ever Made in My Life)
This is typically the pre-post point wherein I give you an update on NOLA. You know, something witty, adorably personal, maybe with a touch of Bohemian humor.
Well, I hate to disappoint y’all, but there will be no pre-post update.
Awww, don’t cry! It’s okay. No, really. It is.
Wanna know why?
Well, I’ll tell ya:
NOLA IS FINISHED AND WILL BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK!
How do you like them beignets?
NOLA, by Molly Jo Realy
Isn’t she pretty? I’m so in love with the cover. Like, crazyinlove with it.
Ah, but first. The celebrations.
It was exactly one year ago today I woke up, and I just knew. I knew in the way no one questions the blue sky, or green grass. I knew I had to move to South Carolina.
What started as a five-year plan so became a one-year plan. Then maybe a six-month plan. Then God smiled and said, “Fasten your seat belt, honey. You’re on a race track and there are no stop signs.” Four months later, I unlocked the door to my new home.
That’s Celebration No. 1.
Celebration No. 2, of course, is finishing NOLA.
Like, really finishing it. Not just typing “The End” and going back to fix what wasn’t broken. But hiring the book designer, stop micromanaging the character dialogue, and just letting it simmer. Let a tea kettle on the stove on a hot summer day.
Which, come to think of it, is kinda what today is.
And you know what? That tea kettle is singing for attention. Yup. That’s right. I pulled that baby right off the burner, poured it over some leaves, let it cool, and now we have a nice brewed book ready to be drunk in with all the love a sweet summer tea can offer.
NOLA will be available through Amazon starting Wednesday, June 26.
That is Celebration No. 3.
And a very significant anniversary. It was seven years ago to the date that I started NOLA. What began as an idea for the name of a free-spirited character evolved into a short story until it became apparent a novel was born.
NOLA Research
And now here we are. I’m becoming Josie. I’m living in the South. And my book is a real thing. I just don’t know what to do with all this goodness except drink it in, toss my hair back, and smile.
Yup. It’s time to party.
Oh, did I mention I’m having a Launch Party on Facebook? You can join now if you like: NOLA Facebook Live Launch Party. There will be posts, polls, and lots of fun stuff for the next few days. The Live Event will be Wednesday, June 26 at 9pm EDT. Did I also mention gifts and prizes? I didn’t? Must’ve slipped my mind …
Well, much as I’d love to stay and chat, it’s super late on Thursday night and I need to make sure this gets posted. I also have some beignets to order.
Leave a comment: What are you celebrating this summer?
With a cup full of chicory and heart full of love, Happy Writing. ~Molly Jo
Frankly, My Dear . . . Savor the Journey!
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Bohemian Hurricane
Molly Jo is better known as the Bohemian Hurricane. She is the author/curator of The Unemployment Cookbook and several eBooks available on Amazon. Her work-in-progress, NOLA, is a romantic mystery novel set in New Orleans, and the first in her City Series. [Note to Self: Time to change the bio info. #shazam!]
After a broken engagement and the death of her beloved uncle, Penny escapes her nightmares by flying into New Orleans. She finds herself struggling to embrace a new future. Does that mean letting go of her past? What about her new friends ~ the ones accused of murder? In search of something she can’t identify, she discovers things aren’t always as they seem. Somewhere between the French Quarter and the bayous, she finds the answers she’s looking for . . .
And some she’s not.
Now she must uncover the truth between the lies.
New Orleans turns 300 next year. And I may or may not be planning a trip a la book signing.
Josie’s world is almost ready for you. In a few weeks, I’ll have the first draft of NOLA sent off to alpha readers, my editors, and a potential agent or two. Talk about exciting. Of course, I don’t know that the book will be published in time for the NOLA Anniversary, but do you honestly think that will stop me from going? Please, Sugar. That’s like saying tea shouldn’t have, well, sugar.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Laissez les bon temps rouler! (Let the good times roll!)
It’s so great, y’all, that my accent is kicking in at the day job. Yup, that’s right. I was drinking sweet tea and calling them “y’all”, and ~ get this! ~ no one flinched. I mean, it’s like they heard me when I told them I was a creative.
It’s pretty fabulous.
This week I hit a milestone. I reached 79,000 words on the manuscript. Can you imagine? Seventy-nine-thousand. By the time you read this, I may even be over eighty. Them’s a whole lotta words, let me tell you. I can see the finish line. I’m dreaming up marketing. (You’ll help me spread the word, won’tcha?) And I’m feelin’ a little bittersweet. Because once NOLA is written, this relationship I’ve had with these characters for the better part of five years is going to change.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : NOLA research
So I thought I’d take today to look back and embrace the changes.
NOLA was originally going to be a short story about a young woman named Nola who had certain supernatural abilities. The more I toyed with the idea, the more I realized my subconscious had already turned the Crescent City into a character, and it couldn’t possibly be a short story. NOLA, the novel, was born.
The main character was renamed Penny Jo Embers. My original plot had her destitute and using all her savings to run away to New Orleans and buy a haunted typewriter. She was going to rent a room in an old house and tell her story. In my mind, it was a very black and white story. She also used a camera to document everything. But it soon became tedious for her to use both a typewriter and a camera. And, like I said, it was very black and white. I had the suspense, except I didn’t know what the suspense story was. So the camera, the haunting, the old house, they all went bye-bye. And Josie went through about eight dynamic changes before I found her story that stuck.
About this time, my friend Lisa told me about a woman in New Orleans who was selling cookbooks she had curated from family recipes. Since I had done the same, I reached out to this woman to see about ordering one of hers. That was the start of a very wonderful friendship with Ms. New Orleans 2014, Lindsay Reine.
Frankly, My Dear . . . Lindsay Reine’s Cookbook
In the last three years, Lindsay has become my technical advisor, and at times, spiritual. She has always been available by email, phone call, Facebook, or text to let me know if something works or doesn’t work. And in true New Orleans fashion, she’s often answered my questions before I ask them. You’ll definitely find Lindsay’s influence throughout NOLA. We’re pretty much the real-life equivalents of Josie and Toni.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Toni (#NOLA)
Y’all have seen the bits and pieces I’ve thrown out. And y’all aren’t stupid. I mean, it’s New Orleans, and I’m writing a mystery. There’s Voodoo, dysfunction, Rougarous, drinking, crime . . .
Frankly, My Dear . . . Truth is Relative (#NOLA)
But there’s also friendship and . . . Well I can’t tell you what else because I don’t want to ruin it. Just know that as far as my NOLA research goes, Lindsay has been invaluable.
Now, the characters. Whew. Where to start? Well, I wanted the story to be Josie’s, and it is. But it’s also the story of her new friends Toni, Rain, and Rain’s older brother, Lou. There’s a cousin who’s also a cop. And a few other secondary peeps in the show. And by secondary, I don’t mean less important.
If you’ve followed me on Instagram, Twitter, or joined my NOLA Swarm on Facebook, you’ve no doubt seen some of the memes I’ve created. That’s a thrill, a joy, I get when I’m able to share parts of the book with you.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : The Mississippi River calls (#NOLA)
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Momma Tristan (#NOLA)
Music is also super important. Rain plays melancholy Jazz on the piano when he’s trying to figure things out. Josie still listens to the Strumbellas and Sideshow. Of course, everyone loves Sinatra. And, since the story takes place in October, there’s the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival.
Visit New Orleans will also get a huge shout out of thanks in the acknowledgements but they deserve it here, too. From the very beginning, they have kept the conversation going with helpful links, plenty of information, and just all around support. NOLA wouldn’t be NOLA without NOLA. Bonus: they follow me on Twitter. How stupidcrazyawesomehumbling is that?!
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Visit New Orleans
Have I forgotten anything? I think so! Can we take a minute and talk about the food? Hulloh, this is New Orleans! At every corner Josie’s discovering debris and muffaletta and maque choux and chicory and coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde (no surprise there, folks!) and bananas foster and po’boys at Johnny’s and Hurricanes and so much more. [Note to self: Finish curating recipes for the NOLA Companion Cookbook.]
Frankly, My Dear . . . : No Blackened Salmon (#NOLA)
But I’m at a place now where I have to keep my mouth shut and write the ending. Which means ain’t nobody getting any new memes for a while. Well, at least not too many.
NOLA, like New Orleans, is rich with character, setting, ambiance, failures, successes, fear, love, hate, denial, acceptance, monsters. But there’s plenty of good times, too. And so much more.
Truth be told, the main character of NOLA is New Orleans itself.
#AmWriting: Using a Calendar to Storyboard Your Novel
As a discovery writer, I sometimes feel as though I’m just a passenger on this train. I’m the transcriber of events observed. Or a screenwriter giving words to the movie playing in my head. Often, my characters will rebel, refuse, and rearrange the scenes I’m trying to create.
I don’t know about your writing, but getting deeper into the story has caused some drama, and I don’t just mean on the pages. NOLA has been started, restarted, edited, revamped, revised and solidified. And through the past three years of all that activity, it was getting hard to follow.
New Orleans happenings occur every day, and Josie is experiencing as much as she can. Characters, locations, food [oh! the food!], and of course drama, drama, drama.
Keeping Track with Story Cards is helpful with details, but I need something more. Certain events are set in stone, others are more fluid. NOLA takes place during October, and Halloween is a big occasion in the Big Easy. And let’s be real: There’s no bulletin board big enough to hang on my wall to pin over a hundred index cards on to in order to view it all. [Also, have y’all tried carrying a wall-size board in your backpack? Just sayin’.]
Calendaring NOLA helps me note the big events, emotions, and experiences that propel the story forward. This is where my Happy Planner comes into play. I call it responsible scrapbooking. With the month-at-a-glance layout and plethora of stickers, I laid out the story so far. From Josie’s runaway red-eye, to the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, to Cafe du Monde, meeting new friends, reclaiming old habits, there’s a lot to remember about this journey.
NOLA is timeless. That is, events don’t happen on specific dates. So whether October 3rd is a Monday or a Thursday is insignificant. For future storyboarding, I’ll invest in blank calendaring pages. I bought my Happy Planner in November, which meant the pages for October 2016 went unused. Not anymore ~ A few dot/stickers to cover the dates, and I have a full month’s layout.
#AmWriting: Nippers, NOLA, and a Happy Planner
The side notes allow me to list characters, locations, foods (for the NOLA Companion Cookbook), and other items I need to know.
The Face stickers let me track emotions: Is a particular moment happy, sad, or exciting?
Using different colored pens highlight themes: locations, events, dramatic scenes.
What’s for dinner? Stickers indicate new eating experiences. Coffee stickers? Please. Do I really need to explain these? [whisper: Cafe du Monde.]
Calendaring keeps it real: Does my story flow, drag, or skip around? [Note to self: Using a pencil helps until you know for sure. #experienceshows.]
Storyboarding NOLA is also a great at-a-glance review that gives forward movement by quickly answering questions:
When was this character introduced?
When was the last time it rained in New Orleans?
What was the last big drama?
Are too many events happening too closely together?
Of course, any calendaring system will do, but I find the abundance of creative options offered through the Happy Planner system really works for me.
With some sweet tea and responsible scrapbooking,
~Molly Jo
Now it’s your turn: How do you keep track of your storyline?
