Nanowrimo spotlight: M.L. Millard on Nano Light

Good morning everybody! I have a familiar face coming back for our first spotlight interview of the season: M.L. Millard, who was also in the spotlight back in 2014. M.L. is participating in Nano for the fifth time this year, and this time she’s a rebel… Welcome back, M.L!

What are you writing about this year?
This year I’m finishing my Littlefoot series. Well, really part three of one book. I put the first part on Kindle, but when I’m finished with this last part I’ll put them all together on CreateSpace. I loved writing part one so much, but now I feel like I’m having to force it. I hope it’s funny anyway! Littlefoot finds herself in all kinds of mixed up fairy tale situations. In part one she was a Rapunzel with normal-length hair, a Cinderella who didn’t want to go to the ball, and more. Part three involves Jack and Jill, Camelot, and a Grimm’s fairy tale that you probably haven’t heard of but would give away my ending if you looked it up. I’m a rebel this year, only aiming for about 12,000. But I really want to finish Littlefoot!

Where are your backup files, and why?
Funny you should ask. Did you have the same Windows problem I had earlier in the year? I lost everything. Luckily I had emailed myself my fiction, but I lost, among other things, my Littlefoot Part Three notes and my list of which agents and publishers I’d already sent queries to for two of my non nano books. I really need to get one of those automatic backup plans.

What advice would you give to all your fellow Wrimos?
Keep going with your writing throughout the year! No one was reading my writer blog and then bam, I wrote about a non-writing topic and it got 3,000 shares! I was glad that the people who read that entry (I’m Just a Girl Standing in Front of a Jazz Band) would see a well-established blog with links to my books. Sometime after that I sold a bunch of copies of my Bible devotional, which I hadn’t promoted at all. As for writing in general, join a critique group and read Sol Stein’s books on writing and “The Art of Fiction” by John Gardner. As for nano, don’t stop for anything. Force yourself to type, and it will happen. And don’t feel bad if you don’t “win.” I’ve never hit 50,000, but I’ve been happy with what I’ve written.

Sneaky Ninja question! What is your favorite movie – you have to pick just one!
That’s a mean question. So difficult! Recently I’ve been thinking about the numbers of women versus men in movies. I’ve learned some outrageous statistics. Then I realized that not one of my top five movies had a strong female main character. Sad. Nevertheless I’ll pick one of my top five that I don’t normally pick. Groundhog Day. I love it when Bill Murray tries to recreate the snowball fight that ended so romantically the first time.

Visit my blog, mlmillard.wordpress.com. and let’s chat about writing. Recently I decided that potentially losing readers was worth it, and I wrote about the upcoming election in the U.S. You can also find my depressing thoughts about character development and my advice on writing SEO blogs for clients. (What I didn’t mention was quitting that SEO job 4 months after finally landing it!) Best of luck to everyone in NaNoWriMo. Add me as a buddy. You can do it!

Thanks, M.L, and good luck!