I received a fortune cookie which said "Others find your charm irresistible."
If you replaced "Others" with "Bacteria" then I think you might be on the right path.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Why I am NANOWRIMO'ing and You Should Too!
The temperature is falling, the leaves are turning golden yellow and I need to restock my supplies of cocoa.
There is an amazing spectacle, this magical experience, of epic proportions where the veil separating the worthy and unworthy is torn down...anything seems possible because when you are writing a novel no one can tell you what to do!
Yes, National Novel Writing Month is a mere twenty-seven days away and I am still frantically trying to catch up on homework while turning over ideas for this years book.
Some of you may be sitting at home right now, sipping on your chai latte thinking, "Gee Matthew, isn't it sort of stupid to write yet another manuscript, much less when you have dozens of things to write and the need to start finding a Masters thesis?
Why yes, for those unaware I am that insane.
This is the sort of insanity that comes when all the rules get thrown out the window, the Nazi Grammarians are tranquilized and stashed in a closet and my inner editor is given a copy of James Joyce's "Ulysses" and put up in a kennel for the month.
Why go through a process to put down another manuscript when I have three others that are in such horrid alarming states that I pray no living being reads it before I try to revise them?
It is a legitimate question to ask because I am already having to adjust the next few weeks so just I have things in order for me to slip off to novel land a few hours each day.
Without further ado here are some good reason why I and anyone who can string a sentence together should do NANOWRIMO:
1.For the first twenty-one years of my life (okay so maybe we can't count the first five years of my life) I have always been insanely interested in stories. There are several milestones in my life where I realized that the written word will always be my one and only true intellectual mistress.
It took me until I was twenty-one to fully realize I was in danger of becoming one of those incredibly disillusioned people that are "never weres", in the since they never took the time to write, they never took the time to read, they never took the risk of seeing if they were even capable of writing.
I can think of at least a dozen or so people in my life who should join me in this endeavor because if you do not try you will never succeed. How many English teachers/professors medicate themselves at pubs and go on about this great novel they were never able to write?
Do you know why they never wrote it?
Because they did not take the time!
National Novel Writing Month is the sort of excuse a person needs to say "Screw you self-consciousness! I don't like you and you made my high school years suck so I am not longer going to let you dictate to me who I am and will be!"
2.When you have a million things to do, adding one thing to the list isn't really all that bad.
The goal is to reach 50,000 words in thirty days, which comes out to being a mere 1600ish words a day. You still have to sacrifice free time in order to do this endeavor but what would you be doing? Watching bad reruns of "Seinfeld" and playing Farmvile?
Contrary to popular belief, novels (art in general really) do not pop out out of a parallel world where all the good stories live and Muse brings an artist their story to tell.
Writing a novel is hard but enjoyable work.
It makes your mind focus, bend, sweat and grow so that you can make dialogue and settings that are somewhat believable.
If you want to learn how to play an instrument, to bake a cake or make a guillotine in your backyard for reenacting the Reign of Terror, then you need practice.
3.Exuberant imperfection.
For some incredibly sick and twisted reason (The Fall?) people/me are ashamed of themselves, ashamed of what they like, ashamed to to think that they can do something artistic and enjoy it.
Why did finding joy from the arts become such a taboo?
Every time I try to work on a story outside of NANOWRIMO I always stop several pages in because I loose confidence, I begin to doubt everything and soon there is this fifty foot tall wall separating me from the story.
The only way I have found my way around this is by locking myself into a "write or die!" mode during November and although I have not been able to rewrite any of the first three manuscripts there ARE salvageable parts and after writing about 150,000(+) words of fiction you start to get the handle of what works and doesn't work.
4.Although I agree with Douglas' Adams sentiment about enjoying the "whooshing noise as a deadline flies overhead, one of the most important aspects of NANOWRIMO is that you have a limit to abide by. A time limit forces the brain to go into overdrive and although you end up with a lot of crap, it is intoxicating, beautiful crap that is YOURS.
It doesn't matter how many times I do it, I am never able to finish a project until the night before. There is something about the rush that brings excitement to life...and I just realized how I just described myself as a "Noveling Adrenaline Junkie"... >_< moving on.
5.Everyone has a story.
I will be the first to admit that I only have a rudimentary knowledge of how language works, the parts of speech and whatever a comma splice or whatever a gerund is but that doesn't stop me and should not stop you.
There are always people weeping about how Nanowrimo is destroying the English language, will cause an excessive amount of poorly written manuscripts but ultimately their opinion is just that, an opinion.
Until you let go of this need for "perfection" you will never hear the story in your head...but when you get to a point to where you can tune it out...and it is just you and story, you will be surprised at what you see and how perfectly made we all are to tell stories.
One of the people I miss the most is my grandmother and in the last couple of years before she passed away she mentioned knowing the entire history of Providence (the local church near our house) and those around it. When she passed she took with her a unique perspective that can never be given or know again.
You story may just be one to share with yourself and one or two loved ones...but ultimately there is this sort of intimacy that comes from giving of yourself to the story.
6.When you are jumping off a bridge it is best to bring several people along for mutual moral support and idea bouncing. I have only had limited experience with the idea of writing in a group where people encourage, give ideas, threaten to beat people if they leave or quit and overall the fact people bring baked goods, coffee and tea...but it is something awesome!
What more can I say?
I am the kind of person who loves school, loves learning, love reading and loves to write. There is the romanticist in me that hopes to one day be published, to take the literary world by storm and have enough money to build a Hobbit Hole themed house to live in...but ultimately I am writing for myself first and foremost, the rewrite is where the idea of trying to write to others comes in.
My goal with NANOWRIMO is the same with my poetry and essays...I want to capture a moment of time, something that is fleeting but should be preserved.
How that turns out is yet to be seen.
Oh...and as a bribe if anyone decides to join me and makes an account on their website and they hit 50k words then I'll bake you some brownies as a reward for doing something awesome. ^_^
There is an amazing spectacle, this magical experience, of epic proportions where the veil separating the worthy and unworthy is torn down...anything seems possible because when you are writing a novel no one can tell you what to do!
Yes, National Novel Writing Month is a mere twenty-seven days away and I am still frantically trying to catch up on homework while turning over ideas for this years book.
Some of you may be sitting at home right now, sipping on your chai latte thinking, "Gee Matthew, isn't it sort of stupid to write yet another manuscript, much less when you have dozens of things to write and the need to start finding a Masters thesis?
Why yes, for those unaware I am that insane.
This is the sort of insanity that comes when all the rules get thrown out the window, the Nazi Grammarians are tranquilized and stashed in a closet and my inner editor is given a copy of James Joyce's "Ulysses" and put up in a kennel for the month.
Why go through a process to put down another manuscript when I have three others that are in such horrid alarming states that I pray no living being reads it before I try to revise them?
It is a legitimate question to ask because I am already having to adjust the next few weeks so just I have things in order for me to slip off to novel land a few hours each day.
Without further ado here are some good reason why I and anyone who can string a sentence together should do NANOWRIMO:
1.For the first twenty-one years of my life (okay so maybe we can't count the first five years of my life) I have always been insanely interested in stories. There are several milestones in my life where I realized that the written word will always be my one and only true intellectual mistress.
It took me until I was twenty-one to fully realize I was in danger of becoming one of those incredibly disillusioned people that are "never weres", in the since they never took the time to write, they never took the time to read, they never took the risk of seeing if they were even capable of writing.
I can think of at least a dozen or so people in my life who should join me in this endeavor because if you do not try you will never succeed. How many English teachers/professors medicate themselves at pubs and go on about this great novel they were never able to write?
Do you know why they never wrote it?
Because they did not take the time!
National Novel Writing Month is the sort of excuse a person needs to say "Screw you self-consciousness! I don't like you and you made my high school years suck so I am not longer going to let you dictate to me who I am and will be!"
2.When you have a million things to do, adding one thing to the list isn't really all that bad.
The goal is to reach 50,000 words in thirty days, which comes out to being a mere 1600ish words a day. You still have to sacrifice free time in order to do this endeavor but what would you be doing? Watching bad reruns of "Seinfeld" and playing Farmvile?
Contrary to popular belief, novels (art in general really) do not pop out out of a parallel world where all the good stories live and Muse brings an artist their story to tell.
Writing a novel is hard but enjoyable work.
It makes your mind focus, bend, sweat and grow so that you can make dialogue and settings that are somewhat believable.
If you want to learn how to play an instrument, to bake a cake or make a guillotine in your backyard for reenacting the Reign of Terror, then you need practice.
3.Exuberant imperfection.
For some incredibly sick and twisted reason (The Fall?) people/me are ashamed of themselves, ashamed of what they like, ashamed to to think that they can do something artistic and enjoy it.
Why did finding joy from the arts become such a taboo?
Every time I try to work on a story outside of NANOWRIMO I always stop several pages in because I loose confidence, I begin to doubt everything and soon there is this fifty foot tall wall separating me from the story.
The only way I have found my way around this is by locking myself into a "write or die!" mode during November and although I have not been able to rewrite any of the first three manuscripts there ARE salvageable parts and after writing about 150,000(+) words of fiction you start to get the handle of what works and doesn't work.
4.Although I agree with Douglas' Adams sentiment about enjoying the "whooshing noise as a deadline flies overhead, one of the most important aspects of NANOWRIMO is that you have a limit to abide by. A time limit forces the brain to go into overdrive and although you end up with a lot of crap, it is intoxicating, beautiful crap that is YOURS.
It doesn't matter how many times I do it, I am never able to finish a project until the night before. There is something about the rush that brings excitement to life...and I just realized how I just described myself as a "Noveling Adrenaline Junkie"... >_< moving on.
5.Everyone has a story.
I will be the first to admit that I only have a rudimentary knowledge of how language works, the parts of speech and whatever a comma splice or whatever a gerund is but that doesn't stop me and should not stop you.
There are always people weeping about how Nanowrimo is destroying the English language, will cause an excessive amount of poorly written manuscripts but ultimately their opinion is just that, an opinion.
Until you let go of this need for "perfection" you will never hear the story in your head...but when you get to a point to where you can tune it out...and it is just you and story, you will be surprised at what you see and how perfectly made we all are to tell stories.
One of the people I miss the most is my grandmother and in the last couple of years before she passed away she mentioned knowing the entire history of Providence (the local church near our house) and those around it. When she passed she took with her a unique perspective that can never be given or know again.
You story may just be one to share with yourself and one or two loved ones...but ultimately there is this sort of intimacy that comes from giving of yourself to the story.
6.When you are jumping off a bridge it is best to bring several people along for mutual moral support and idea bouncing. I have only had limited experience with the idea of writing in a group where people encourage, give ideas, threaten to beat people if they leave or quit and overall the fact people bring baked goods, coffee and tea...but it is something awesome!
What more can I say?
I am the kind of person who loves school, loves learning, love reading and loves to write. There is the romanticist in me that hopes to one day be published, to take the literary world by storm and have enough money to build a Hobbit Hole themed house to live in...but ultimately I am writing for myself first and foremost, the rewrite is where the idea of trying to write to others comes in.
My goal with NANOWRIMO is the same with my poetry and essays...I want to capture a moment of time, something that is fleeting but should be preserved.
How that turns out is yet to be seen.
Oh...and as a bribe if anyone decides to join me and makes an account on their website and they hit 50k words then I'll bake you some brownies as a reward for doing something awesome. ^_^
"Head Down" - Nine Inch Nails
Without a doubt that has quickly become one of my favorite NIN songs.
It's almost like it is the idea of almost minimalistic industrial.
This surreal lost of identity in the growing crowds.
Such understated poetry with no resolutions...saying so much and so little at the same time.
"Hey you
What you running from?
All your hate
What you've become
Bet you didn't think
It would happen to you
All used up
Half way through
And this is not my face
And this is not my life
And there is not a single thing here
I can recognize
This is all a dream
And none of you are real
I'll give anything"
You know...it is so easy to lie to those who do not want the truth.
It is so simple.
Child's play.
Mostly, I think, because it is just that...the meandering thoughts of children.
It is so silly that so much of life is taking up by such a waste of time and effort.
There is beauty in being freed by the truth and no longer bound by false perceptions and fool's gold.
Words really only have as much meaning as you give them...and I guess this means they have none.
For now at least and into the indefinite future.
It is so simple.
Child's play.
Mostly, I think, because it is just that...the meandering thoughts of children.
It is so silly that so much of life is taking up by such a waste of time and effort.
There is beauty in being freed by the truth and no longer bound by false perceptions and fool's gold.
Words really only have as much meaning as you give them...and I guess this means they have none.
For now at least and into the indefinite future.
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