Nanowrimo Spotlight: By J.E. Hunter

Good morning, and welcome to another Nanowrimo spotlight interview. Today, I’d like to introduce you to Eve, who can be found online at By J.E. Hunter.

How much history do you have with Nanowrimo?
I began NaNoWriMo in 2006, once I got a job that had a bit of work-life balance and allowed me to go back to writing – something I hadn’t spent time doing since high school, which at that point had been about six years. For some reason, I often find myself traveling in November. I think it’s just a great time of year to see other parts of the world. So I’ve done NaNo in Peru, New Zealand, Greece, and England, along with many times at home in Canada. One of my favourite NaNo memories is from New Zealand. I spent a lot of time there trekking, and after one particularly long day, I remember getting to the cabin (in the middle of nowhere), setting up my bunk for the night, and just curling up with my notebook to get my word count in the for the day. It was pouring rain and muscles were cramping up from hiking over twenty kilometres that day, but I was determined to write those words.

What are you writing about this year?
This year I’m writing and adventure novel. Inspired by my travels, particularly to Peru. I’m trying to make it scary/mysterious, and hoping it doesn’t come out too hokey-pokey.

What is your favorite book – you have to pick just one!
My favourite book at the moment is the Historian. Probably because at this moment I’m trying to emulate the same atmosphere in the story I’m writing.

What advice would you give to all your fellow Wrimos?
Just open up your word processor or notebook everyday. Even if you intend to do absolutely no writing. I find that just seeing the document, the work in progress, is enough to get my fingers moving again, even when I’m utterly exhausted.

Sneaky Ninja question! What is your favorite genre to write in?
My favourite genre to write in is Science Fiction, which is funny, since I haven’t written a lot of it. But every time I do, I find myself laughing and just having a really good time.

This year, I self-published my 2009 NaNo novel, Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch. I did this to clear closet space for new novels. Looking back, I’ve done NaNo 8 times. Not surprisingly, seven of those novels are forgotten relics. With Tales, I took the time to do some extensive rewriting and worked with some published authors and an agent to get the book into better shape. I was informed by one Editor that “Sea-faring fiction doesn’t sell well”, and that was a big push for me to self-publish. I love writing, I do it for my sanity. Of course I dream of making enough money to turn it into my full time job, which is why I thought I’d try the self-publishing thing. Now I’m learning a lot about self-publishing.

I’m proud that I took the time to get that one novel to a completed state. I would love to find the time to get the other seven (soon to be eight!) NaNo novels of mine into the realm of being finished. But I’d have to say that the ‘creation’ part of NaNoWriMo is what I live for. I’m working on loving rewriting too.