Welcome, Miriam Drori!

From Miriam’s #WIP…

When Asaf texted, Nathalie was ready for the working day to end. They met outside the building and continued to the bus stop. Traffic was heavy and the bus crawled along with occasional spurts. At first, they both stood. When a seat became available, Asaf signed to Nathalie to sit, which she did.

“You don’t have to be chivalrous every time,” said Nathalie, gazing up at her man.

“It’s all right,” said Asaf. “I’ll let you know when I’m feeling tired.”

Nathalie hoped he would. During the past few months, he’d opened up a lot, in a process she might have helped to start. Asaf’s development had been given a huge spurt when he was accused, wrongly of course, of committing a murder, and Nathalie was proud of the way he’d come on since that unfortunate incident. But he still had a way to go, and taking a seat instead of her in the bus might not yet be part of his repertoire. When the passenger on the inside stood up and Nathalie also stood up to let him out, she signed to Asaf to go in first, just in case he felt obliged to give his seat up to someone else. Naturally, if someone looked as if they really needed the seat, they would both willingly vacate theirs.

Comfortably joining hands in the air-conditioned bus, Nathalie asked, “How was your day?”

She meant more than a passing time question and Asaf knew that.

“It’s tiring, this constant play-acting. Part of me wants to give up and hide behind my computer screen. But I know I mustn’t do that or I’ll slip back into my old ways.”

Nathalie squeezed Asaf’s hand. Yes, she was proud of him, but sorry this struggle was necessary. She wished she had a magic wand to turn Asaf into the person they both wanted him to be. But all she had was herself. She could whisper words of support and show him how much confidence she had in his ability to succeed, but the process was bound to be long and arduous, an uphill climb, hopefully levelling on the way to the summit.

Off the bus, the couple continued to hold hands as they retraced their steps of the morning at a much slower pace. Turning the corner to their block, they stopped in shock. Outside the block, their lights flashing, stood two police cars and an ambulance. Someone was setting up a camera on a tripod and pointing it to their building. What on earth was going on?

Writer’s WIP Questionnaire – 2

In the past two weeks, I have felt mostly happy about the progress of my WIP.

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Comment: Since 1st November, I’ve been writing my next murder mystery. I used to call this writing of the first draft in November NaNoWriMo, but I recently left that organisation, so instead I’m calling it MiNoWriMo (Miriam’s Novel Writing Month) or MyNoWriMo or something similar.

Inspiration has come from the local NaNoWriMo group, and I’m sure that will continue during the rest of the month.

In the past two weeks, I have mostly managed to balance my writing life with the rest of my life.

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Comment: During November, I cut down on other activities to leave time for writing. This includes getting my son to prepare food and even decreasing the number of times per week that I do folk dancing, from three to two – shocking, I know!

In the past two weeks, I have made drastic changes to my WIP.

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Comment: No, I did a lot of advance planning and I’ve been steadily expanding on the plan in my writing. What usually happens, though, is that I reach the end of the story before I’ve written a full-length novel. I know I can pad it out more and make it more interesting in the process, but I might need to add to the plot, too.

In the past two weeks, I have mostly suffered from ‘writer’s block’.

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Comment: It’s hard to think of ideas, sometimes. But I’ve been helped by pertinent questions and prompts from that local group, as well as journeys around the city and on the Internet. I don’t have time for writer’s block if I’m going to reach the 50,000-word target.

In the past two weeks, I have focussed on one project.

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Comment: As far as creative writing goes, yes. But I have also been editing a novel by another writer, working on edits for a short story of mine, and I’ve given yet another writer advice about her book blurb. I’m also trying to get through the novel I’m reading. It’s a good book, but there are so many other things to do.

Thanks for stopping by, Miriam! I’m looking forward to finding out more about Asaf and Nathalie! I’m also thinking of adopting your November plan – what a great idea!

When Miriam Drori says she loves to perform, people don’t believe her. When she says she’s not shy, they think she’s delusional. The fact is, things ain’t what they seem. A witch called social anxiety took away her ability to be spontaneous, but it didn’t change her exhibitionist nature. You need to watch her dancing or speaking before an audience to understand that.

Fortunately, she has found an outlet for her thoughts in writing, a solitary activity with multiple recipients. She never doubted her ability to write, but only in recent years has she managed to gather her views and observations together into papier-mâché balls worth throwing far and wide.

If you ignore the witch, life has been good to Miriam, especially since she made the decision to move from the UK to Israel. She has a wonderful husband, three lovely children and a delightful house. She loves to read, travel, hike and dance. She has worked in computer programming and technical writing, and now enjoys the freedom and versatility of creative writing. And she believes passionately in raising awareness of social anxiety.

Find out more about Miriam here…

Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Instagram, Wattpad and on her website/blog.

Amazon page: Author.to/MiriamDroriAtAmazon.