Writing A Novel: Excerpt From My Latest Manuscript

The holiday season is always busy for me, and this year was a little crazier than usual since we threw a Chanukah party. Still, I've managed to get a lot of writing done and am now well into my latest novel. November, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) went well for me and I plan for December to be equally as successful. I'd like to have my novel completed by April, though I also want it to be great. I'm not going to rush my work just to have it out by a certain time.

I'm feeling pretty confident about it, though it's my first draft. I have the characters and ideas down and just need to put everything on the page. Once I have my story's "skeleton," I'll edit through my work and add in the fine details that will help flesh out my characters and round out my book.

As an early holiday gift to you, I present a couple of excerpts from my latest work! Yes, it does have a title, but I'd rather not share it yet. I'd also prefer not to give away too many details. But for now, I will share that a) it's YA/New Adult and takes place during the narrator's freshman year at college b) It follows the story of a friendship between a straight girl, Sadie, and gay guy, Griffin c) The male lead is a track star and super-hot d) The girl plans to be a journalist and writes for her college's paper. e) The two leads attended high school together (Sequoia High, actually -- just like the gang in BAND GEEK!), but didn't hang with the same circles. And with that, here is the scene where she meets her soon-to-be-friend for the first time. Copyright Naomi Rabinowitz 2012:

It was no secret that Griffin was handsome -- he'd been voted "Best Looking" in Sequoia High's yearbook -- but I hadn't realized just how hot the guy was. He wore blue runner's shorts which fit perfectly across his tight butt and sculpted thighs. His wavy brown hair was slightly mussed from running, but fell in an adorable wind-blown swoop across his forehead. His dark eyes and chisled featured tensed with concentration as he stared out across the campus. And oh, yeah, he was shirtless. I guess he'd just finished a run because his well-muscled 6-foot-tall body shined with a coat of sweat. As he tilted his head back and took a sip from his water bottle, his bicep curled -- and my knees went weak. With the sun setting behind him, he looked like a statue that had been lit by God himself.

I continued to stare for a few more minutes, taken in by Griffin's beauty, when he finally turned and looked at me. I cleared my throat and straightened up, trying to pretend as if I hadn't been gaping at him like a lovesick groupie.

And here is the scene where Sadie describes her uh, eccentric artist roommate. Copyright Naomi Rabinowitz 2012

The evening that I had dinner with Griffin, I returned to our room to find her sitting cross-legged on her red-quilted bed, carefully working on one of her projects. Her purple hair was pulled back in a black headband and she wore nothing but a skimpy blue Sex Pistols T-shirt. Her forehead was creased in concentration as she moved something across a large piece of black cardboard. As I got closer, I saw that she had a cup full of toothbrushes next to her canvas. Nailed to the cardboard were dozens of them, lined up according to size and color. I recognized the pink brush on which I'd labeled my initials, "S.A."

"Um, hey, Veronica," I said, leaning over her bed. She looked up at me, her eyes blazing. "Uh, that pink toothbrush... it's mine, you know."

Her mouth opened then shut in protest. "Hruh!" she replied.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I'd like it back?"

"Nyuh!" (Translation: "No.")

I watched Veronica work for a moment, wondering how I could possibly reason with her; if she didn't want to talk, we could maybe play a game of Charades? But before I got a chance to suggest this, she reached into her dresser and pulled out a couple of tacks. She then pricked two of her fingers and sprinkled the blood over the toothbrushes. I blinked a few times, wondering if I was really seeing my roommate make a bloody Jackson Pollock.

"Hmmph!" she announced. She grinned at me and licked the blood from her fingers.

I grabbed my bag and headed for the door, leaving her alone with her "artwork." "It's okay," I said as I bolted from our room. "You can keep my toothbrush!"

Enjoy! Meantime, please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing The NEXT Novel

Now that BAND GEEK has found its home on Amazon, I'm thinking about my next book. It's been difficult to get into that frame of mind, because I've been so caught up in BAND GEEK's release and promotion. But the best way to succeed as a writer is to keep on writing. I have many more ideas for stories and am excited about actually putting them into print.

Right now, I'm still in the outline stage of Book No. 2. I can't say too much about it at this point except that it's going to focus on the friendship between a straight girl and a gay guy -- kind of like a younger Will & Grace. Josh and Melinda have a traditional romantic love story in BAND GEEK, but this is going to be a different sort of love story -- a platonic one.

I have my main characters' names and basic personalities down and I have some ideas for a working title and plot. The trick is now putting it all together ... and then editing, editing, editing. I woke up a couple of nights ago all excited because I finally came up with a solid ending to my story. Still, nothing will be definite untill I actually see my tale and characters come alive on the page.

I shared some of my ideas with a good friend and he was very excited and enthusiastic. This is a good start and means that my story is at least potentially interesting. Tying it all together is the real challenge, though!

My plan is as follows: after I return from California, I have two weeks of my book tour for BAND GEEK. I'm going to concentrate on that and then get down to business on my second book. I'd love to have four or five chapters wrapped up by the end of the year, and then have the story ready to go sometime in 2013. Given how long it took me to get BAND GEEK out there, this is a tall order, but I have confidence that I can do it. So stay tuned for more news about my next novel!

Please read and review my first novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents on Kindle!