Lara D. Elliott - Inspirations

This week I needed distractions from the many stresses and worries and waiting, so I made my first ever novel aesthetic! It was a lot of fun. This aesthetic is for my YA novel "Lift Me Up". It's still a work in progress, but I've been returning to it recently after a very very long time away. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and query the darn thing.

I had high hopes for this year's NaNoWriMo. That's National Novel Writing Month. Draft a novel (or at least 50,000 words of it) in the 30 days of November. But towards the end, I decided I needed to lose this year. A few years ago, I lost NaNoWriMo with a book about a crush. I didn't even get halfway through the 50k words needed to win. It took over six months to hit 50k. But the book meandered and really had no way to end properly. Over the next couple of years, I tried reworking the story with some beta reader feedback. I rewrote the beginning at least five times. But still, it wasn't coming together. This year, I decided I needed professional help and hired a writing coach (it was sort of by accident, but a happy accident). My coach helped me work on outlining a rewrite of the crush book. She helped me understand concepts like motivation and stakes and helped me define them in my outline. I wrote yet another first chapter and got her feedback and encouragement...

I'm so excited to share with you that I have a new picture book blog! The past several months, I have been focusing on my picture book writing and have learned a lot and written a lot. I even started querying! On my new blog, I hope to help writers and readers of picture books with bringing a wonderful experience to children. Check it out here:  https://larissaelliottbooks.blogspot.com After a long break from noveling, I have also returned to a big rewrite of my "Uncrushed" idea (see my WIPs page for more info). Cross your fingers that this is the version that finally sticks. I've worked really hard on the outline and I really want this story to come to life! And lastly, a mental health check in. How are you? Are you surviving? I've had many ups and downs lately. More recently because of my busy work schedule, sleepless nights with my 1 year old daughter, general stress of everything at once, and the attempt to "make it" with my picture books...

I did it! I won NaNoWriMo! Woot! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a writing challenge where you aim to write 50,000 words during the month of November. If you succeed, you ”win” and are gifted with coupon codes for wonderful writerly stuff. It’s not a competition against other writers, just a challenge for yourself. For the many people who don’t hit 50,000 words, the event is still worthwhile for the camaraderie of community, the establishment of a daily writing habit, and any bit of progress on a novel. My first Nano was three years ago. I had just started seriously writing a couple months before and had a completed novella. That Nano was a win and my first work over 50k. I had many challenges in my life at the time. You can read the story here . I shouldn’t have won, but I did. The following year, I only hit 20k. Took many months to hit 50k and the piece was a structural mess, so it’s still sitting. Last year I started a couple weeks early, but was able to reach 5...

Some of you may have read my bio post earlier this year, but here is more about me and my writing! First of all, I am a wife and mommy. At the time this post goes live, I will be in the hospital having kiddo #3. And yes, I am enough of a Harry Potter geek that, of the window given me by the doctors, I chose July 31st, Harry Potter's birthday, to have my daughter. (Honestly, it is maybe the only reason I'm okay with being basically forced into a c-section). And for those of you trying to do the math, the timing works out that I was newly pregnant for the entirety of NaNoWriMo and still managed to bang out 50,000 words (though you can read my post on how I kind of cheated here ). My day job is a high school band director. My maternity leave means that I will miss a big chunk of the marching band season, which I'm kinda sad about, though I won't miss the 50 hour work weeks during this busy time of year. I'll be enjoying the air conditioning instead, and some qu...

I entered the popular Twitter contest #pitchwars last summer on a whim at the last minute. Surprisingly, I got a full request! It didn't pan out, but it whet my appetite for more contests. I kept my eye out for other Twitter mentorship contests and continued to enter. Spoiler alert: I didn't get selected for any of them. This spring, not only did I enter contests, but I also started participating in the community surrounding the contest. I chatted with others on Twitter and swapped critiques. I joined Facebook groups with other entrants to share questions and encouragement. I researched and followed the potential mentors, gaining the bits of wisdom they would share. Prepping for entering the contests was a learning experience in itself. When a contest allows you to enter only the first five pages of your manuscript, you start really examining whether those pages do the job of selling the book. Creating a synopsis and query letter helps to identify (or show the lack of) the...

I am an “Author Mentor Match” hopeful, and this is a post all about me. For those of you who don’t know about AMM, it’s a little like pitchwars mentorship without the war. So this bio post is going to be a bit like #pimpmybio. If I seem interesting enough, feel free to post a comment and we can be internet buddies! First and foremost, I am a wife and mommy. I have been with my husband for a wonderful nineteen years. We have 2.5 beautiful children (baby girl due this July) who are my constant joy (and stress. Can’t forget about the stress). We live in a suburban/rural part of West Virginia close to DC. (And yes, the timing works out that I was newly pregnant for all of NaNoWriMo, so you can guess how hard that was.) For my day job, I’m a high school band director. I spend my summers and falls with my marching band doing the band camp thing and performing under the Friday night lights. My winters and springs are full of taking my jazz band and concert band out to festivals. ...

I've been struggling for a while with my position in the writing world. When I first started writing novels, I found a contest run by a Christian writers organization. The fee to enter was cheaper for members, and it seemed like there were other benefits of membership, so I joined. I didn't place in the competition, but I learned a lot. I wrote my second novel for NaNoWriMo and then found critique groups in the Christian writers organization. The feedback on my work was both positive and constructive. I enjoyed swapping and giving my feedback to others on their work. Not only did I get to read other stories, but I practiced looking critically at what I was reading and saw ways to improve my own writing. But then we get to chapter eight. Spoiler alert: the main character has sex. Actually, that happened in chapter seven. I put a note in the email where I submitted the chapter for critique, warning potential readers that there was slightly sensitive material. Now, it didn...

NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. Write a 50,000 word novel in the thirty days of November. And I won. Sorta. Last year's Nano project was started early too, but I only wrote a few thousand words in November. And then I kept writing for months. Over a year later, I finally had 50,000 words, but I was stumped on how to end it. After a couple critique partners read some chapters, I realized I had spent a year writing 50,000 words worth of crap. There were some good scenes in there. There was some good writing. But the plot lacked cohesion. Lacked motivation. I finally decided to give it up. Work on something else for a while. One project I started working on had actually started as a couple of scenes I jotted down many years ago. Even before I really became a serious "writer." I had an epiphany what direction I could take the story and I started outlining. It felt good to have some structure thought out. Then one day in October, I had a really crushing mom...

I'm still relatively young in my writing life. Just under two years now of serious writing. I've written several novel drafts, but nothing is quite right yet. There is an online contest where mentor writers accept submissions and choose one they would like to work with before submitting to agents. So many of the mentors mentioned a strong voice as a necessary element. I didn't really understand what they meant. I did some searching about voice. The Seekerville blog has a good list of posts addressing voice ( http://seekerville.blogspot.com/search/label/Voice ). Several of the posts related writing voice to singing voice. Voice is personal. Billie Holliday sounds different than Etta James. Writers write with different vocabulary and rhythm. Their style is personal. So what does this mean for me? Looking at my writing, it was too generic, too robotic. No life. No personality. I had a brainstorm. I needed to write like I was writing in my diary. Unfiltered and honest. B...

Okay, I needed something upbeat in my feed, so I thought I should share the rough cover I came up with this week for my "Uncrushed" novel-in-progress. The novel is mostly written, but I got stuck around the end and I just wanted another set of eyes to give me some feedback. So, I created an ebook for my beta reader. However, I like having something other than the generic placeholder cover that the program provides. Thus, the "Uncrushed" cover was born, and here it is. Please note that this is just a cover concept for a rough draft ebook. In no way do I intend on making this the cover for when it's published for real. It's just something fun to do. I have sketched out some covers before ( see here for the covers of "Eyes on Natalie" and "Eyes for Benny") but this one uses a stock photo that I edited. I love the Pixabay and Pexels websites for free stock photos. Those sites are where I get almost all of my blog photos. Thank you to...

It's so exciting coming up with ideas for a new book, sitting down in front of that blank page with a world of opportunities before you. I've been studying plot structure and was having a hard time sorting out my Aria novel. So...I thought I'd try outlining the sequel to Aria. Okay, I know Aria #1 isn't finished yet, but I've been stalled and frustrated with it, so I figure a little break is fine. I don't want to spoil it. After all, you haven't even read Aria #1 yet.  But I will say we get to expand on Zed and Maddie in the next one. And Aria, of course. Much of the story will be set in the summer, rather than during the school year in the dead of winter like #1. I'm still debating how long to let the story go. Band camp? Homecoming? It's been a while since I had a blank page in front of me. Feels good.

Naming characters in a story can be daunting. There are so many names to choose from! There are plenty of blog posts out there about naming fictional characters. Many people use baby naming sites where you can search by nationality or name meaning. Below are a few of the more unique ways that I have named characters. Translate - I've taken the role a person plays in the story and translated the word into another language. For instance, "villain" in Czech is "darebak" which became the last name of an evil character in my latest novel. JK Rowling famously used Latin roots for many of the names and spells in Harry Potter. There's also Darth Vader. Spoiler alert! Vader=Father. Real Life - Okay, so this one isn't so unique, but I've named characters after real people. It's a great way to honor someone. One character in my novel-in-progress is named after a student who was one of the first to be supportive of my writing. She was a big reason I...

I'll let you in on a little secret. Several of my novels are set in or near the little town of Mecklenburg. While this town exists, it has a different name: Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Mecklenburg was actually the name of the town way back when. The Mecklenburg Inn still stands on German Street. The Christmas parade scene in my novel-in-progress was inspired by the many parades I have marched with my students in this very town.

I had to cut it--the prologue to my novel-in-progress. It was a great scene, but didn't start the story in the right place. I still love it, so here it is for you. “He posted it!” Maddie shoved her phone back in her pocket and grabbed her bag. “What? The list is up? Already?” My heart thumped up in my throat.   Maddie shot off down the hall. “Come on, Aria!”  I slammed my locker shut and threw my book bag over my shoulder, nearly toppling with the heavy load.  “Slow down!” I chased after her. Our pace slowed to a race-walk as we passed the office, but then we sprinted down the last hallway. I started wishing that my locker hadn’t been on the opposite side of the building.  I rounded the corner to the band room just after Maddie and spied a crowd of people huddled around the bulletin board. As I approached, my steps slowed and my ears were muffled with the blood pumping through my body. My nerves took hold and the scene in front of me became a blur...