Well, tomorrow is RELEASE DAY for Go Teen Writers: Write Your Novel! So far I’ve found the book on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. Hopefully it’ll show up on the other platforms very soon!

Remember, if you have bought the book (or if you do so before 2021) we want to personalize and sign a bookplate for you, and send you a bookmark. You can fill out the form here.

You will also be entered to win 1 of 10 spots in a “Ask Me Anything” live virtual event that will take place in 2021. You can find more details here: https://goteenwriters.com/writeyournovel/

When I’m not working on releasing Go Teen Writers: Write Your Novel into the world, I’ve been editing a contemporary YA novel that’s mostly set in Sonoma, California. I’ve visited Sonoma and the surrounding area a couple times, but it’s been a few years, and I don’t have a good mental map of it. Because of that, I’ve turned to a favorite writing tool, Google Maps.

Did you know that you can create your own waypoints and save them to a specific list on Google Maps? You’ll need a Google account, which is free, but that’s it.

The first thing you’ll do after you go to maps.google.com is search for the location you want to save. Once you have the address in there, Google pulls up an image of the location (which isn’t always 100% right, but it’s very close). Then you’ll see a place where you can click save. I’ve circled it below in orange.

Clicking “Save” will bring up some options. Since I was just starting my map, I chose “New list.”

Now, you get to name your list. I’m a fan of using the book title.

Let’s say you’re in street view exploring, and you’ve found a place you want to add. Then you’re going to click the icon that I’ve circled in the top left:

When you click that icon and you choose which list the waypoint belongs to, you’ll notice you have an option to “Add note.”

This is especially helpful if you’re dealing with a lot of residential addresses rather than businesses. This way I can remember that 652 Curtis Lane is Lillian’s childhood home, rather than her aunt and uncle’s house or where she currently lives.

Next to “Add note” is the option to “View list.” Here’s what the list view looks like:

You’ll notice that you can also add notes that way. Another feature in list view is seeing where your waypoints are. I’ve circled them below for you:

While I was creating that graphic and circling my waypoints, I realized that Sonoma Valley Regional Library is actually a different address than what I’d put in, so my map was off. Whoops! When I hovered my mouse over the real library location, that red waypoint symbol popped up. (See below.) If you click on that, then it’s super easy to get it saved to your list:

Okay, let’s say you created your map a few days ago and now you’re back on Google Maps trying to figure out how to access it. In the top left, you’ll see one of those three bar icons for the menu. Click that, and these options will pull down. You’ll notice “Your places” with the blue waypoint symbol beside it. Click that.

Once you’ve clicked “Your places” this menu will pop up:

One of the options you’ll have if you click those three dots is to “Edit list.” If you have a location on there that you don’t need, you just click the “X” beside it (circled below) and that will delete it from your list.

That’s it! This is a fantastic tool for contemporary novels, but I’ve used Google Maps for historical novels too. That can work well depending on your era and location.

Have you ever made a map for your book? What did you use? Also, if you participated in NaNoWriMo, how did it go?