FINDING MY VOICE: Jenn J McLeod

Finding My Voice
Jenn J McLeod

How I ‘found’ my writing voice is a great topic, J’aimee, the answer involving a large light bulb, something called NanoWriMo, and author/friend Lisa Heidke. Coincidently (or not) my latest release, Simmering Season, has allowed me to sneak in a little tribute to Lisa. (I did a similar sneaky tribute in House for all Seasons for another favourite author – Helene Young.)

This is not the first time I’ve blogged about how Lisa helped me find my voice. Here is my 2010 “So that’s what a fresh voice means” blog postwritten well before I was published and featuring the Lisa Heidke novel responsible for that large light bulb moment.

Then there’s NanoWriMo. For those unfamiliar with the National Novel Writing Month concept, it’s an online challenge that encourages writers around the world to write 50,000 words in the same 30 days. But you don’t need to wait until November each year! The idea behind the concept is about forcing authors to focus on story telling by ignoring word selection, grammar, punctuation, etc. (Basically, all those things that can interfere with the flow of words.)

My first two books, contracted by Simon & Schuster, came from just such online writing challenges. I wrote the first draft of House for all Seasonsduring NanoWriMo 2009. As it turned out, that first 50,000 words became the skeleton of the story. Another 50,000 words later (adding character depth, dialogue tags, and all those other essential bits and pieces) the finished manuscript was finally in the hands of Curtis Brown Lit Agency. To take my mind off what was happening with that submission, I joined up for another 50k in 30 days program in June and wrote Simmering Season, which is out now!

A perfectionist at heart, constantly bogging myself down to make every word, every paragraph, every page perfect at the end of every writing session, I found these writing challenges gave me permission to ignore the craft, the rules and the self-doubt that took me away from telling the story. The self-imposed word count target also made me stop trying so hard. I stopped trying to be a great writer (comparing myself to some revered author that I had not hope of emulating) and concentrated on telling my story my way – kind of like sitting on the side of the bed and making up stories with all the sound effects and crazy hand movements. Get THAT on paper and you will find your voice.

Want more on my NanoWriMo experience? My 2010 blog post is here.

In the meantime …

ABOUT MY SEASONS COLLECTION NOVELS:

House for all Seasons
Jenn J McLeod

Four women.
Four lives unravelled.
The truth will bind them forever.

Bequeathed a century-old house, four estranged friends return to their hometown, Calingarry Crossing, where each must stay for a season at the Dandelion House to fulfil the wishes of their benefactor, Gypsy. But coming home to the country stirs shameful memories of the past, including the tragic end-of-school muck up day accident twenty years earlier.

Sara, a breast cancer survivor afraid to fall in love; Poppy, a tough, ambitions journo still craving her father’s approval; Amber, a spoilt socialite addicted to painkillers and cosmetic procedures; Caitlin, a doctor frustrated by a controlling family and her flat-lining life.

At the Dandelion House, the women will discover something about themselves and a secret that ties all four to each other and to the house – forever.

 

Simmering Season
Jenn J McLeod

It’s summer storm season and Calingarry Crossing is sweltering.

Devoted mother, sole breadwinner, and now local publican, Maggie Lindeman is back in Calingarry Crossing with her teenage son to sell the family pub, hoping to turn their lives and finances around. The trouble is, the girl people once called Magpie is so busy protecting everyone else she has no idea the perfect storm is heading her way, until her past and present converge with the unexpected to blow the lid off a lifetime of secrets.

Book information and BUY links are on my website or head to Simon & Schuster Australia.

 

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