Lessons from NaNoWriMo

Last year at this time I wasn't thinking about writing a book. In fact the thought didn't really sink in until late October when I came across an offer for some materials from Writer's Digest. They were offering a package deal for something called NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month. I did a little digging and well, you can check out the post from last year. Anyway, this year I've been thinking all summer about whether I'm going to finish the book I started last year or go with a completely new book which has been rattling around in my mind. Either way, November 1st I'll be at it again in a race to the finish with 50,000 words.

Meanwhile, I just happened to run across an old email I sent out to friends last year after completing NaNoWriMo victoriously; not finishing the book, but at least writing over 50,000 words in one month. I learned some valuable lessons through that process. I sent that list of lessons to my friends last year and now I share them here:

Things I learned:

1. One little comment can lead to an odyssey - this entire journey began when Reggie made an analogy about salvation. (I'll have to finish the book and you'll have to read it before I go into details!)
2.  I do have the tenacity to stick to a goal if I want it bad enough - there were a few times I thought about quitting, but then I remembered that I had told you all that I was doing this and the thought of not finishing was just unacceptable. No, that's not completely true, it was partly that, but mostly, I just really wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.
3. If I really pace myself I can do just about anything - helping with Mom and going back and forth to the Cities and working on other things at the same time meant a lot of juggling.
4. It's okay to change goals along the way - my stretch goal was to reach 50k by the 18th at midnight. I thought that would be an awesome birthday present to myself but   things didn't work out for me to be able to keep my pace which was 3,000 words a day in order to make it so I needed to let go of that one and create another one which I did, but didn't make it because of Thanksgiving, so I had to create another one, which I did, but didn't make it because I got within reach of the goal and did nothing (aka procrastination) BUT, I still finished before the 30th! (That would be the day before the 30th! Kind of like $3.99 is less than $4!!) Minus all the days I didn't write anything, I probably actually finished on the 23rd (Happy Birthday William!) 
5. Any little bit of encouragement is like a glass of water in the desert - haven't figured out why that plays such an important role, but really it does, so if ever you get the chance to encourage someone on with a project, jump in with both feet!
6. 50,000 words is not a lot for a novel - I honestly thought I would be near the end by now, but really, I'm probably a little over halfway finished... maybe...hopefully! It depends on the people I'm working with. (see #9 below!)
7. Classical MPR is very conducive to writing important scenes when the right music is playing - during the day I had MPR on most of the time. When the book is published and selling, I'll have to remember to send them a hefty donation!!
8. Richard Souther is very conducive to writing, period. - At least for me; his Innermission CD was most likely worn to a pulp during the process. I'm afraid to open my CD player and see what it looks like now!! I don't think I'll send Mr. Souther a donation though, he makes money from selling his CD's; although I might send him a thank you note!
9. Characters have a life of their own and some just barge on in and take over - I've never written a novel before so it's been very interesting and amazing to me how these folks can seem like they actually exist. A minor character I created just demanded that she get major time for one section. Bossy little thing! But she has issues so I'll just have to be patient with her. In another scene I was writing about the grief of a character and he was so destroyed that I had a lump in my throat and wanted to cry too. I had to leave that scene and come back to it; it was just too emotional for both of us!
10. Writing a book is like going to a movie - except the movie is in my head and it just unfolds before me. Wow! I understand now why some writers go into seclusion and write for days on end. It really is like going off into another world. 
11. The answers come - I'm not sure if it just works this way naturally or if it's because I've been praying through the process, but I've been completely awed by how the answers to my dilemmas and questions just appear; not always immediately - for instance, this morning I just got the answer to why things are the way they are in the story. One would think I had that part worked out in the beginning. Nope!
12. A wide variety of tea is a must - so I've got about ten different kinds of tea, black, green, white and herbal. The tea pot stayed on until the wee hours of the morning and occasionally until dawn. 
13. Jicama is an essential writing food - Jicama sticks became a staple for me. Somehow the crunch helped the thinking process and calorically speaking, the price is right!
14. Sunflower seeds and Snyder's Honey Mustard pretzel pieces are almost as important as Jicama - I say almost because cracking the sunflower seeds made me a little apprehensive in the middle of the night; I was afraid the noise would wake up Reg and Karen; it's amazing how when the house is quiet every little noise sounds like it's broadcast through a megaphone! And the pretzel pieces are great writing food, but they are a bit pricey in the calorie department plus I had to be watchful of crumbs.
15. Reggie and Karen really love me! - A HUGE (read billboard size big,big,big!!!) shout out of thanks go out to them. My despondency early on about finishing had to do with the many crashes my laptop went through; I ended up hand writing several pages then putting them into the larger computer to send them to NaNo and praying for a way to get a new laptop early enough in the process to make a difference.(yeah, right, with no money!)  Have you ever written by hand for four hours? Chris Crutchfield sent me a text asking if I'd be interested in getting a new laptop in exchange for doing rail roads (Bless you Chris, I really think God was working through you to give me enough hope to keep going and not get too far behind!) to which of course I said YES!! However, somehow it just didn't work out. But God apparently tapped Reggie and Karen on the shoulder and whispered in their ears because they gave me a (drum roll please!!) BRAND NEW ASUS KSOMETHINGWHATEVERTHEMODELNUMBERSARE LAPTOP COMPUTER!!!!! Making the beginning of the last year of my fifties the best year ever!! Fully loaded with everything I need, then some. I've been smokin' on this baby ever since! It's even a step or two up from the one I had my eyes on! (I confess I wanted an Asus because the name was close to Jesus (Asus - Jesus) I figured it was a good sign and the fact that this company has been making the insides of Apples and all the upper PC's for years I figured they must be pretty good and so far it's been as great as I thought!

Well, nearly a year later and I'm still smokin' on my Asus! I love this thing!! And I love my peeps for being generous enough to get it for me. I'm looking forward to National Novel Writing Month this year and I believe I'll be a little better prepared. I'm adding pistachios to my writing food and I think Lex de Azevedo and David Lanz to my play list. I'd love to add Seal, but I can't write to music with words!

To all those people out there who want to write but are afraid to, or don't think they have the talent or are just holding back "because" I encourage you to join NaNoWriMo and take the challenge. Reread the lessons above - the ones that could apply to you - then look up National Novel Writing Month and join. You can even look for me, I'm StoryCoat and I'll be writing my buns off in November!

A Matter of Semantics...or not

Has your imagination or curiosity been "peeked" by something you saw or heard? Maybe it's been "peaked" by a beautiful piece of music or a gorgeous sunset. Interestingly, I've seen very little mention of anyone's imagination or curiosity being "piqued" by anything.

From as far back as I can remember words have intrigued me. I anxiously waited for the newest copy of Reader's Digest to arrive in the mail so I could take the Word Power quiz or try my hand at the analogies game. I enjoyed doing crossword puzzles and even created some of my own. When teachers required that we write our spelling words in sentences for practice it was not unusual for me to come up with a poem or little story. It took me a long time to find a word in the dictionary because there were always so many other interesting words along the way that begged me to read their definitions first.

When I was told I didn't have to major in the sciences to get into dental school and that I should major in a subject I really liked since I would just have to repeat all the upper division science classes anyway, I changed my major to English Literature. I loved it.

Words, dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, pens and paper are all so very dear to me. I'll tell you right now that I'm not perfect in my writing. My sentence structure sometimes leaves something to be desired and I often suffer from comma trauma. I too, occasionally fall victim to the misuse of a word or two. I've always told my children, now grown, and I tell my grandson: don't use a word unless you know it's meaning.

That was part of my training growing up. If we didn't know what a word meant, well then, we were told, "Look it up!" We had several dictionaries in the house. There was the old blue one, well worn and falling apart that my father received when he was in the service. My Godmother gave me an American Heritage dictionary when I went off to college, which I truly treasured. My mother bought a 500 pound behemoth dictionary from someplace (of course that's an exaggeration, it was only about 100 pounds! {just kidding, but it was really big and heavy!}) and Dad built a special stand in our library to hold it. Then there were all the sundry smaller dictionaries that we acquired throughout the years. One Christmas, my mother gave all the grandchildren dictionaries; nice, hardcover, Webster dictionaries.

These days of information overload when I peruse the blogs and websites I am constantly astounded by the lack of care in choosing words or forms of words. I'm sure it's mainly because people don't know better:

• a pear of jeans
• going for a plain ride
• having a really grate time
• having trouble finding there way over they're to see what their doing
• writing something that will really peek your interest

And the list goes on. It was the last one that inspired this entry. To peek is to glance or look quickly. A peak is a high point or something that comes to a point like a mountain top and to pique is to arouse or provoke.

There are some people who may label me as a language cop. Nah, I'm really not that vested in other people's use of the language even though it sometimes makes me cringe. However, coming from a long line of educators of one sort or another and as a person who values education and correct speech, I believe these beautiful United States could benefit greatly from her citizens taking a little more care in their approach to language. But hey, that' just my opinion. Did this article pique your interest?