For Writers: Club 100

I first heard about Club 100 through Beth Pattillo's website; Pattillo runs a Yahoo Group to encourage writers who decide to take the Club 100 challenge. Created by Avis Hester, Club 100 has writers commit to writing a minimum of 100 words for 100 days. For writers with challenging schedules, and for those who just can't commit to an enormous challenge such as NaNoWriMo, Club 100 provides a low-pressure way to immerse oneself in writing.

Douglas Cootey has issued a 100 Words a Day Challenge, and you can find badges like the one below at his website. Like Cootey, I find the whole NaNoWriMo overwhelming; as an educator, I dislike that it falls during the busiest part of the semester, when I'm usually buried under piles of student essays. Selfishly, I often wish they would move the entire challenge to the summertime, when I have a break from grading demands. For now, I'm happy that writers such as Pattillo, Cootey, and Debbie Ohi (see my post on her word count challenge below) provide alternatives for writers.

Cinematic Inspiration: The Phantom of the Opera

The music, the costumes, the tortured Phantom, the love triangle- what's not to love about this lavish romantic production? All serve as a rich source of inspiration for the romance writer.

So, who would you choose: The dashing and heroic Raoul or the magnetic and compelling Phantom?

Inspiration

You never know when inspiration will strike. I was hard at work researching various locales of England for my novel when I came across an interesting article by Beatrice Sant called "Wandering Down the Wye" (Realm Magazine, October 2006). Within the article, she briefly mentioned that Hay-on-Wye's castle was turned into a bookshop. Being an unrepentant bibliophile, I found that fact fascinating and instantly went into further research mode. Apparently, the entire town is devoted to books, literally millions of them, and has over 40 bookstores. My imagination went into overdrive, and I thought how I would love to work in a castle-bookshop. Hence, "The Earl's Enchantment" was born.

To the left, you can see a photo of the exterior of the castle, which Richard Booth revitalized when he purchased it. I think creating an original and vivid setting is essential, and with inspiration like Hay Castle, it makes my job as a writer that much easier.