Nano is over and I'm a Winner!!!

I have officially completed NANO and one day ahead of schedule, too!!!


What I got from this year's experience is that sometimes the muse just wants to run naked through the woods and smell the flowers ... and some days the muse wants to have someone put babyoil on his back while he soaks up the sun.

Play with the muse.  Name him or her.  Don't be so critical of what you write, want to write, what amuses you, what intrigues you, and what pushes your buttons.

Learn from yourself and don't sweat the little stuff.

This novel was a series of beginnings.  I love beginnings.  It sets the tone for everything that comes later (and for the things that get left unsaid). The putting the clean paper in the typewriter (yes, I am that old) and starting something ... to find out that something else wanted to be done/written.

Whew!  I'm going to do it again - maybe next time it will all about the middles!

Thanksgiving-ish thoughts

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out to another is to risk involvement

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self

To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss

To love is to risk not being loved in return

To hope is to risk despair

To try is to risk to failure.

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow,

But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.

Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

Anon

(seen variously attributed with slight variations to William Arthur Ward, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Leo Buscaglia, and anonymous)

premature punctuation?

Everyone fears doing something prematurely or far too late in the game.


Do I walk the dog before or after dinner?  If it is before dinner, how long after dinner before we have to go and bark at the neighbors again?


Men and sex.  Enough said and on all levels.


The muse. Do you write things down when they occur or do you hope that the inspiration will remain if you delay the satisfaction of writing even by a few minutes?


I killed my own NANO experience by waiting to scribble ideas down until the official date ... when I started to write, I had pre-mature punctuation and sentences that belonged to paragraphs that just existed in my head ...


I read some great advice about typing in a font that you can't easily/readily see on the screen - to prevent over editing of ideas ... I did it in the middle of the night. 


Shall we say that by doing it that way, no one but no one (not even the world's greatest typing teacher) could translate what I wrote.


It just made me, dog tired.


Trying again - well, next time I won't worry about premature punctuation.

I Love to Write Day - November 15 - set your reminder ...

Have you ever wanted to share your love of writing with someone?  Why not consider I Love to Write Day.

It is less of a commitment than NANOWRIMO, but might still spark the muse.

Because time has a way of slipping away, put it on your calendars now!

Retthinking the Daily Grind

It seems that all writers, or want to be writers, spend a lot of time observing the daily grind of others.

My response?

Guilty.

The best dialog seems to be what is overheard at McDonald's during the lunch crush.  At a Starbuck's when the line is long.  At the airport waiting at the luggage carousel.

The most  contentous circumstances?  Easy, read the paper or watch the news.

The best news?  Find family events (school plays/high school band concerts/t-ball).  There is drama but there is also love,  hope and light.

Am I boring?  You bet.  Do I observe every day?  Of course.

What's that got to do with anything?

Easy. 

Inspiration is in the daily grind that is all around us.  It might be daily, but unless you have no imagination, it is seldom if ever boring.