Kristin Wolden Nitz

Author: Kristin Wolden Nitz

  • 34343 Words

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    While I’m not participating in the NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, I am tapping into some of its energy.  Instead of polishing words and phrases, I’m only taking them to a certain level before moving on.  I have dreams of wrapping up a draft for my high school and college-age beta testers by Christmas.  It’s…

  • Just Kill Him

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Sometimes writers stop in the middle of conversations once they realize what they must sound like to the outside world.  Often this happens when discussing the motivations of various winged or furry creatures.  Yesterday, the woman behind the counter of the coffee shop must have wondered for a second or two whether the Missouri Mob was…

  • Escape from Venice!

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I am pleased and proud to announce that my main character managed to escape from Venice! My character and I spent a lot of time there–far more time that I’d planned–due to my midcourse correction in plotting. Now I have to say that I really enjoyed researching and writing about Venice. I planned the first…

  • 23,333 Words

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Lots of writers work faster than I do.  Plenty of my Facebook friends will regularly post one or two thousand words a day, and they’ll do this day after day.  In fact, Stephen King thinks people are serious slackers if they don’t get three to five thousand words down. I’m just excited that I’ve finally…

  • 22,222 Words

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    In the middle of May, I was about 28,000 words into the Italian Chase Novel and wondering about whether or not I needed to Cut to the Chase.  Were things moving too slowly? Was I adding in too much description? Two weeks later, my agent gave me an answer after she looked at an excerpt and a…

  • Why Characters Can’t Rely on Authority Figures

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I often tell my writing students that editors are looking for stories where the main character struggles to overcome an obstacle, solve a problem or obtain wisdom.  Certainly the main character can have help from the supporting cast, but there has to be that moment where the main character stands up to the forces of…

  • USA Vs. Japan for Gold in Women’s Soccer

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    The gold medal women’s soccer game will be played on Thursday at 12:30 Eastern Time on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Network.  I’m expecting another dynamic game!  The Canadians and Americans hustled and scrapped their way through the game. Both sides committed fouls, both accidental and tactical, but none of the them were malicious.  And there…

  • Out on Submission

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I”m happy to report that Calyn’s story is now out on submission!  It’s been a long journey with any number of interruptions, but I wouldn’t trade any of them away because I really like where the book wound up.  June was a busy month with visits from my daughter and my sister.  It ended with…

  • Flying the Dragon

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I suspect that one of the reasons that I’ve written two cross-cultural books is that I like reading them.  That’s why I’m excited about the launch of Natalie Dias Lorenzi’s Flying the Dragon.  For a behind the scenes look at how this book came to be, you can visit Emu’s Debuts for the first installment.  …

  • Revisiting the Top 100 Chapter Books

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Betsy Bird decided to revisit her Top 100 Children’s books poll on her Fuse#8 blog.  She made a few rule changes to tweak the results.  If I remember correctly, she wound up putting together a separate poll for kids.  She also asked that people vote for the first book in a series as the representative…