I'm glad you're focused on writing. And don't get me started on request #3 either.

What do you think of writing challenges like the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) http://www.nanowrimo.org/?

Do you think this is good incentive for people who are really struggling with getting a novel down on paper (or on their computer screen) or is it just a set up for failure?

I'm struggling with getting 50,000 words done in 30 days and make it a good novel. And if you've answered a question like this previously, I apologize.

Have fun in California.

I prefer the tinfoil that comes wrapped around very dark chocolate, myself. I think it provides superior insulation for my serotonin-producing neurons [rg].

Have a fabulous trip and enjoy spending some time with Our People.

I think it's great that you post as often as you do! I don't know how you can write and read several books at the same time while listening to another book, and still have time to do anything else. I know of an author who only changes her web page 2 or 3 times a year!

Please don't think of only doing this 2 or 3 times a year. I need more sanity than that. Thank you for not flinging fire at the choir. Waddaya think of mixed metaphors or invented euphemisms that don't work? Wordplay, I guess. Is it pretentious, irreverent, or is it essential to the development of our language? Also - and this is personal (so I'll post it on a blog, hah)- I just returned to work from a mat leave and have found I'm now responsible to write articles for the company magazine. How do you handle criticism from an editor you barely know - or is that better than one you do know? Should I get to know her better? Have you addressed this before, and if so - please point so I can click. Keep up the good fight.

You picked a great time to come to CA; we're having lovely weather right now.

I was going to ask the NaNoWriMo question, but Jenniferanne beat me to it.

Hey Sara
We all have times like that.
Here is a question which has been on my mind for some time and which I hope is one you can answer without much effort. (Apologies if you have answered a similar question before).
What I want to know is, when you are researching and come across an amazing fact (eg, running with toes turned inward is more efficient), do you not want to grab the nearest person and say "Did you know...." or "guess what I just found out"?
Well, I would. I also confess I tried to test the toes turned inward theory. I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination so, alas, couldn't really tell if it made the task any easier but I could imagine what a difference it made to Elizabeth after her years of boot-wearing.
Enjoy your break.

I have two questions. Hope that is alright.
1) Actually this one is just a repeat of a question I had on the discussion board (getting from A to B). How do you move your action along without it reading either forced, vague, stilted or full of unnecessary detail? you have just had your characters do A and you want them to do B, but what about the in between?

2) I think you might be going to a "little" get together in California. So ... my question is, how was it? (as I'm assuming you'll read this when you get back).

Odd question maybe, but Im a new journalist and I am just discovering this anxiety myself: Do you ever - even at this stage of your success - worry about what people are going to think about the way you worded a sentance, a phrase or how you create an image? Does it ever slow you down, or are you so confident now that you dont need to have to those "aw, that was crap *delete delete delete*" moments?

My question may also have been covered somewhere else on your wonderfully insightful blog, but I can't recall seeing it anywhere (and- yes, I think I have read every page/entry/etc)

In the movie, The Last Of the Mohican's, Cora's husband is called Nathaniel and yet you've named him Dan'l in Into The Wilderness. Why?

Questions: When you set out on a new book, do you have an outline that you start with or do you just start somewhere and go in both directions or what? For a new character or for a old character that becomes more significant, do you develop something like a character profile for that person or just let him happen or what?
Observation: I stopped looking at much television years ago and discovered that I didn't need the news instantly. Reading the newspapers the next morning was current enough. If something is critically, instantly newsworthy, someone always seems to let me know. Thus, I managed to remove a great stress factor. My husband has recently started to try this and is a more settled person for it. You might give it a try.