From time to time I tell you about people who inspire me on my search for my next passion.  I choose to write about these people because I hope their stories will be an inspiration to you the way they have inspired me.  Becky Munsterer is just one of those people.

Becky and I became fast friends while attending Colby College. Even then she was a great writer of both analytical essays as well as hysterical top-ten lists that usually included either her romancing an attractive celebrity or The New Kids on the Block. Becky went on to study creative writing and earned a Master’s Degree from Dartmouth.  She and I have many things in common — not the least of which is our love and admiration for Willie Geist. Additionally, neither of us like to write just anything.  We like to write what we like to write.

The novelist Becky Munsterer

What Becky currently likes to write is “The Stonehouse Caper” a novel that she is writing — and releasing via novelnibble.com — one day at a time. Every weekday a new page is posted and we learn a little bit more about Rosie Stonehouse, the book’s heroine who is being led on an epic scavenger hunt by her grandfather. Her adventure is reminiscent of “This is Your Life,” which allows the reader to get to know, and root for,  Rosie quickly.  The concept behind Becky’s literary endeavour is fresh and unexpected, but its origins may surprise you.

Becky developed the idea for Novel Nibble after a colleague complained that her favorite daytime soap opera had been cancelled.  For her, that soap was a daily escape which she had relied on for years. Becky thought that people might enjoy reading a story one page — and day — at a time. It could become their own daily escape while simultaneously inviting readers into an interactive community of literary lovers.

Becky is writing this novel in real-time, one page at a time and you can get involved…literally. She will, at times, extend a scene according to reader feedback (please note: I have already cast my vote for Rosie to end up with her high school sweetheart). Becky has written the book’s ending, but the roads her characters will take to get to their happy (knock on wood) endings evolves page by page, day by day.

As a writer myself, the most impressive part of Becky’s novel is that each page is crafted so that it can stand alone.  Sentences do not run from one page to the next. The first line of each page draws readers in, and the last line keeps them coming back for more. It is quite impressive and certainly unique.

Photo courtesy of Vermont Public Radio

She has more than 2,000 readers each month, and that’s all organic; she doesn’t advertise. She has received great feedback from readers and other writers and she says that feedback keeps her motivated and inspired. She has even earned the attention of Vermont Public Radio.

Like me, Becky is following her literary dream in addition to holding down a full-time job. She expects to be writing “The Stonehouse Caper” for about a year, so you have time to jump on the Novel Nibble bandwagon (as of this writing we are on page 70), and I hope that you do. All of us who are taking risks and following our hearts need to support others in our exclusive club. So click here now and start reading!

I was not compensated in any way for this post