On this wonderful Wednesday, I wonder about many things. Most of them are research questions related to the NaNoWriMo novel I began yesterday. In three hours, I wrote 3,193 words. That couldn’t be considered a terrific sprint, but it was a very satisfying beginning that put me 693 words above yesterday’s scheduled goal.

This is what I discovered: the protagonist is named Emily (sorry, Susan, it just happens to be the same first name as the protagonist in your last year’s NaNoWriMo novel). Her mother died three years ago from cancer and she’s an only child who lives alone with her father. The first chapter is about “The Worst Birthday Gift Ever,” but you’ll have to read the book to find out exactly what it is. Having just turned 12, Emily gets frustrated with her father’s apparent lack of understanding for girls her age. 

Emily’s a modern girl with a cell phone, who uses it to send a lot of text messages to a lot of friends. In the first three chapters, I found out she has five friends with differing personalities and family situations. None of the girls like one particular boy at school. Wouldn’t you know it? That’s the very guy Emily runs into on her way out of math class, which makes her fall and lose the detention slip she received for being late (again). In the same class period, she received a low (very low) grade on her assignment. Emily apparently is not very good at math.

That’s what I learned yesterday and it makes me wonder about these things:

1. What would a girl of today consider a really great gift for her 12th birthday?

2. What kinds of things do junior high girls text each other about (pretty sure boys would be high on the list)?

3. What are the abbreviations that they would use (I know a few like B, 4, R, U, but I need to know more)?

Here’s your opportunity to participate in this highly sophisticated method of reader research. Please feel free to leave comments that will help me make my NaNoWriMo novel come alive with realistic details.

Who knows? Extremely helpful suggestions may even receive recognition should the novel be published one day…I mean, when the novel is published.

Thanks for reading!