1: And so it approaches...

It is now the day before November 1st, or if you want to look at it a different way, October 31st. Either way, it is the day before NaNo. That is what we all have been waiting for, that is what I have been writing my outline for, this is the one adventure that proves to be the same, yet completely different for each person who partakes.  We are no longer counting down by days, but rather by hours. For some, it has already started. Australia and New Zealand for sure...I'm not sure about any other places. 

So today, today the plan is to look over by outline one more time and make sure everything is exactly as I want it. Though as I am writing some things will probably still change. 

And so, if you have never attempted NaNoWriMo, but it sounds just crazy enough that it is right up your ally, I really would encourage you to try it out. It is fun and amazing. If writing isn't really your thing, or even reading, then I guess it wouldn't be a good idea. But even if you don't think you can make a masterpiece, that's all right, it isn't about that. It is about getting outside of you what is longing to be brought out. In the words of Chris Baty himself, "There is a novel in you than only you can write."

2: How I NaNoWriMo

And so begins the penultimate to the count-down. The only difference...this time, it's personal...

and not in a revenge sort of way. Instead of just talking about NaNo, I will be telling how I do NaNo.

I know it says "Becca's Dictionary, but I changed it into my

outline book.

The first thing you should know, simply because it is really obvious if you ever see me during NaNoWriMo, is that I am a total planner. I part of me wants to be a panster, especially during NaNo, but a story needs to be in my head for several years before I even begin to think about writing it. Anything I write isn't worth very much unless it has time to "age," like cheese or wine. All this time is to accumulate plot points for a wonderful plot, otherwise the plot is is forced and reads as stilted and predicable. For having to plot for so long, I don't go too detailed on the plot, surprisingly enough. I used to think I did, but then I looked at some of the more detailed plots people write. A chapter is typically only a couple sentences in my outline, and really I don't even bother separate things into chapters. I do it to the manuscript as I feel fit. 

The inside of my outline book. You can even see the Q
from back in the day when it was still a dictionary.

So, I am a planner, so an outline in an outline book is the first thing on my list of things I need to do NaNoWriMo. Next on my list is my laptop.

A part of me will always like writing with paper and pencil more than the impersonal computer, but it just takes to long too write a novel doing it the old fashioned way.


As I said yesterday, caffeinated beverages are a large part of NaNoWriMo, and while I don't drink chai because it has caffeine in it, I still like to have a cup of it while writing. Oregon Chai is the best kind IN THE WORLD!!!! All chai drinkers I know agree. The only sad thing is that it is hard to get unless you live in Oregon or the surrounding states.

Last but not least, when I write I simply use the Microsoft Word processor that came with my laptop.

Sure, a part of me is attracted to the shiny cool writing programs, but once I research them I still always come to the conclusion that it will be easier to use Word. I know how it works, plus I've built quite a bit of my writing style on using Word, and I have a really good and efficient system for me. Frankly I don't think a really cool program will make my writing any easier or better. The same probably once I get used to the new system, but Word is free, so it has the cheaper card which is dealt quite a bit with me.

Last year I was pretty consistent. I did about 2,000 words a day in about an hour and a half and never had any real trouble in keeping up. Not really slow, but definitely steady wins the race with me.

NaNoWriMo is so close! Only one more day.

3:NaNo Culture

When I say "NaNo Culture," I am referring not only to the way people live during NaNoWriMo, but the kind of people who do it, and all the little things idioms and nuances that go along with any culture. It used to be that NaNo was only for "crazy writers." You know the type, the people who are living like it is NaNo all the time. Those "weird" people who spend so much time scribbling words onto paper they don't get to see the sun very often. That was only the first couple years though, now NaNo attracts all sorts of people. There are still the crazy writers of course, but now there are the stay-at-home-moms, the over achieving student, the under-achieving student who are setting themselves up for failure, computer programmers, retired people, and many other clicks that really don't matter, because everyone doing NaNoWriMo care about only one thing. Writing, writing something that is inside of you, even if you don't reach 50,000 words, it's still all about writing...

Okay, I'll admit it, "NaNo Culture," isn't even a real topic. I just couldn't think of anything for today so I thought I would come up with a vague sounding one and come up with it as I went along. I'm not even writing this today. I wrote it yesterday(today?) on Friday and scheduled it because I wasn't sure I could get to it today, (tomorrow?) I am also planing on doing the same thing for tomorrow's(the day after tomorrow's?) post. Another busy day.

Anyhoo, while it isn't an exhaustion list, here a some bits and pieces of "NaNo culture" for your enjoyment. 

Idioms:

NaNo-is a shortened version of NaNoWriMo. It literally means the same thing, it's just two lest syllables. It can also be used as an adjective meaning something is affiliated with NaNoWriMo. Such as, "Oh, I love your NaNo mug!"

WriMo-I've actually only seen this a couple other places, but those few places agree in their use of it, and it means someone who participates in NaNo. In fact, I used it in NaNo Events and Programs. 

Nuances:

The Traveling Shovel of Death-I'm not sure how this got started, but it is a huge part of NaNo now. It is quite random, and one would think most would have found it old after a couple years, but it is still alive and kicking. 

Music-What music you listen to is a huge part of NaNo culture, or at least everyone is always talking about it during NaNo, so I assume it is.

COFFEE!!!!-Coffee is huge in NaNo, or if you're not a coffee drinker, tea, most likely chia. You can't novel without your caffeinated beverage. 

Waiting till the last moment-I personally don't do this, but I should sometime, because apparently that is what most people do. They write the last 25,000 words in the last five days of NaNoWriMo.

4: NaNoWriMo Published

So when I first came up with all the topics for the NaNoWriMo count-down, I thought in this post I would give a short synopsis of all the books written during NaNoWriMo that had been published, but that was before I realized exactly how many NaNo books have been published. A lot, actually, after I did some research. Sooo, since I am lazy I don't want to take the time to compile them all onto this blog post, and since I am also too lazy to come up with a different theme for today's post, here is a link on the NaNoWriMo website that lists most of the published NaNo books. http://www.nanowrimo.org/publishedwrimos.

True, the majority of these books weren't written in November, that be it, and then get published. Many of the novels completely changed during the long and troublesome editing process. After all, NaNoWriMo isn't to make works of art, but rather to write a lot to get it out of you, and then make it a work of art if you so desire. Many of the authors who's books are published didn't even finish the rough draft during NaNoWriMo. Several got 50,000 words of their rough draft done, but several of the novels are many pages longer than that.

Anyway, it is still really cool to know that many books written during this crazy month of literary abandon. It makes m, at least feel a part of something more than just writing a book all by myself.  

5: NaNo Events and Programs

Yesterday we looked at all sorts of fun "goodies" that NaNoWriMo has to offer, but wait, there's more. As well as a website with lots of cool things to do and get, there is also local NaNo stuff. 

Come Write In is a program that libraries and book stores take part in. The library or book store agree to take part, and they get this snazzy poster that says, well, Come Write In. Imagine this, a WriMos desperately needing a place to write that will feed his imagination and motivate him to write happens to pass one of his favorite book stores and sees the Come Write In poster in the window. By the poster there he can tell that this store/library at least knows about NaNoWriMo, and that the a fore mentioned WriMo is perfectly welcomed there to bring either his note book or lap top, sit down at one of the tables, and write. Sometimes it is a planed thing, and WriMos meet together at a specific time and place. Sometimes it is a random thing, and people go in to write as they will.

What better place is there for a writer to write than surrounded by books! Plus the WriMo might be tempted then to buy a book, or as coffee shop book stores are popular in my town, a warm drink to sip as you write. 

Then there is the Night of Writing Dangerously. The official one happens in San Francisco, which makes sense as The Office of Letters and Light is situated somewhere around there, but all over the world WriMos host their own. What is it? It is one night, where a bunch of people participating in NaNoWriMo meet together, and pull an all nighter eating copouise amounts of food, playing games, and writing...dangerously. Sadly enough I have never been to one. There has never been one near enough where I live for me to attend.

"But wait," you ask, "who exactly arranges this stuff?" That would be the municipal liaison. It is a volunteer position, and the municipal liaison is in charge of arranging any events, motivating and helping people reach 50,000 words, and fundraising to keep The Office of Letters and Light going.

Last but not least there is even a special forum for specific places. At the website you choose your region, and anyone else living in your region will be able to access the forum for that region. So even if you live in a town like mine, with no Come Write In, Night of Writing Dangerously, or municipal liaisons, you can still chat and converse with the other WriMos in your area. 

6:NaNo Goodies

Along with the benefit of feeling motivated to write a novel because thousands of other people will be doing it, NaNoWriMo offers several goodies to not only help motivate you even more, but to put a smile on your face. The site in of itself is a wonderful source of inspiration and random funness for any crazy noveler. (Yes, I know that funness and noveler aren't real words...No, I'll have you know I hold much respect for grammar and using it correctly...Look, there is a difference between using "me" when I should say "I," and then using words that are obviously made up...I don't care whom you tell that I have poor grammar.) 

Anyway, to start off, At the NaNo site there is a lovely forum where you can chat about noveling, (yes, another made up word,) learn and give tips on how to reach the fate 50,000, learn rules about grammar and the nuts and bolts of writing, get other people to name your titles and characters for you, and even dare people to do the most crazy and random things in their novels.  

Then there are the pep talks, written by an assortment of well-respected authors. Though technically they aren't actually talks; they're written, so...pep writes? Found either at the NaNo website, or through e-mail, pep talks are one of the ways used to motivate us WriMos to keep at it and keep writing.

To keep the ball rolling, there are the wonderful NaNo videos, a fun way to kill a few minutes of you're loosing steam.

For those of you who want a memento of this crazy month (other than 50,000 words,) check out the store, where you'll find all sorts of NaNo themed merchandise. Coffee cups, totes, books, stickers, and badges; they're all there.  

There are also cool web badges, like the one you can see to the right at the top of the column. There are several different kinds to choose from, but they each have a general "theme." The cool thing is that each year, the "theme" changes. I liked last year's theme better, but I still like how it changes. 

Last, but certainly not least, there are the word count widgets. I know how they worked last year, but I can't really say for this year, because they actually haven't come out this year, and I don't think they do until November. Each year though, there are all sorts of cool widgets that you can put on your personal website/blog. When you update you word count on the NaNo website, the widget updates as well and keeps track of your word count in a variety of cool graphs. 

7:Introduction

The music swells, reaching a piercing crescendo as the sun filters through the stained glass window, the frenzied  musicians bathed in glorious light. 

That sentence probably aptly captures how may people are feeling around this time of year. Why? you ask. The answer is simply. NaNoWriMo. 

For any of you who may not know, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It is an even pretty much described by its title, though now this event has become so popular that it is INTERnational. Run by The Office of Letters and Light, NoNoWriMo takes place all during the month of November, and is a great chance for everyone who loves to write.  

The basic idea of it is to get you writing, to challenge yourself to write during a time of year when people are officially challenging themselves to write. 50,000 words is the goal for those who dare this month. Why 50,000? Will apparently it is the smallest length that a manuscript can be and still be considered a "novel." Less and it is a novelette or novella. It doesn't matter the quality of what you write. During NaNoWriMo, it is all about the quantity. Revising and editing come later, when you're not preoccupied with writing about  1,667 words a day.

It is a community and challenge and event all rolled into one. I, as you may have guessed, am planing to partake of NaNoWriMo this year. I did last year and it was AWESOME!!!!!! Being extremely excited, I have taken upon myself to count-down the last week before it officially start. So every day, I will be posting something equally NaNo-y as the days tick off. 

Hey, I could be worse. There are actually people who stay up all night before the day NaNoWriMo starts and begin writing right at 12:00 AM the first day of November. Where as that would be fun...my typing would be even more riddled with mistakes than usually and I would...be...going...very...slow...ly. 

So join the insanity, or at least check it out. 

Words, words, words

As you have probably assumed, today's Writer's Block is all about words. It probably won't be the last post about words, as I have a deep affection for words, and most of the Writer's Blocks are based on writing exercise. I have two today that I would like to share.

First, find five words you did not know the definition of, them use them to write a few paragraphs.

The words*

lassitude-weariness of mind/body; a condition of indifference.

indolent-having a disposition to be lazy; causing little pain/benign.

adust-scorched/burned

biblioclast-someone who destroys books.

gelid-very cold

The paragraph

 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is the story of a certain biblioclast named Guy Montage who must face what destroying books really means. At first he views what he does as most of his profession, as a favor to the world. But when he meets a young girl, Clarisse McClellan, he begins to realize that in truth the way he has been living is marked with lassitude. At first indolent, but soon growing to a dangerous proportion, Montages feelings of revulsion and disgust at what he does grows. Much like the he has burned laying in scorched heaps, he feels his living in a word adust, marked by burned out lives. As things come to a head, Montage must leave his home, and step out in an abandoned world that at first feels gelid to him, empty, and without hope. But as he finds some unexpected companions, he realizes that is the very place hopes lies.

*All definitions are paraphrases with Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary from 2006 being the original source.

Second, make up definitions for five words you did not previously know the meaning of.

kibitz-the child version of a monkey. 

The kibitz would often play rough with the others around his age.

nabe-a foolish and often mean person.

The bully was quite the nabe.

perdition-being a person/object that fills a prophecy.

In the fifth book, Percy Jackson realized it was in truth Luke who was the perdition to Delphine's prophecy.

regrate-a piece of art that only became famous after the artist has died.

As sad as it is to say, most of Van Gogh works ended up regrates.

sumac-a move in karate

John surprised his attacker by taking him down with a powerful sumac.

Furthering my Education

Perhaps, if you can recall a little less than two months ago, the blog post, My First Day of Not School, you will remember me mentioning something about a GED test happening the 1^st of October.

Well, obviously, since it is a couple weeks past that nefarious date, I have had my GED test. It went well, in case you are wondering. The actual test was fairly easy, easier than the practice tests I found.  As the test went on, I became more relaxed even. Not only did the test start with subjects I didn’t like as much, making it so I ended with the subjects I enjoyed more, they went much faster than I expected them to.  On the following Wednesday, I received the test scores. Apparently, I am superior in everything...but science. (The GED’s wording, not mine.) Grrrr, science. The problem with science is the test seemed to delight in asking Biology questions. Don’t get me wrong, I took Biology, and even anamaty physiology, but it wasn’t my favorite subject in the world, so quite a bit of it was in one ear, out the other. I made an honest effort to retain it, but I would be studying, and suddenly realized it had been several pages since I knew what the book was talking about.  (Regardless I still scored over 80% in science, but to be superior you have to score 90% or over.) Still, if the test had bothered to ask any chemistry questions...I would have been superior in everything ;)

Then just this Monday I went to my community college to take a placement test. I scored well on that too, scoring for the highest classes a freshman can take. (Because I really, really, need a head which is even more swollen. It isn’t near big enough yet.) Unfortunately, the next step is counseling.

Why is that unfortunate? you ask.  Well, there are several things I want to check out and consider before taking classes, and I wanted to start counseling as soon as possible, so I can get all my ducks in a row as soon as possible.  The soonest counseling is avaible though, is the month before your first semester starts.  Grrr, again.

A Weekend with the Kids

This last week end, while my mum and older sister were away at a Christian woman's conference, I was in charge. While I could have taken this time to invite all my low life friends to party it up, and then chip in to hire at least a dozen maids to clean up after the party, I instead spent the time having quality time with my little siblings, and enjoying time alone, (as much as a paradox as that sounds, I really did manage to do both.)

Mum and KatySue left early Friday morning, leaving me with the job to do school with the kids, all three of them. Gulp. It actually didn't go too bad(ly? my gut says no, my mind says yes, and the grammarian is confused and on vacation) though. I managed to get it all done in the morning, even the science experiment.

The afternoon to me was spent reading, writing, and a little bit of job hunting, and answering the phone. A lot. Still, nothing too exciting; just doing the everyday things, but doing them in a house that I almost had to myself. The little kids were downstairs, so except for the occasional shriek it was like they weren't even there.

Mid afternoon though the kids come up waving a Lego magazine in the air, asking if they could call Hero Factory, saying they had found the number in the magazine. After looking at what they were talking about, I decided they could, at 1-888-4HERO-FACTORY. They were taken to an automated answering matchine where they could hear reports from their favorite heros, or villians. They could even leave a mesage.

That night I made the most Delicious thing I could think of that all the little children liked.

Grilled Cheese!!!

We ate dinner in the living room while watching Fantastic Mr. Fox. I had picked it up at the library the other day. I remember having wanting to see it when it came out, but never getting around to it.

Well, except Abi. She thought it looked weird so she watched Spirit on my laptop.

After they went to bed, I sat down with a bowl of pop corn and a soda...and read. Hey, I'd already watched a good movie that night.

Then Saturday was chores in the morning, and playing a couple of games with the kids in the afternoon. I forget exactally what we did, but I know the game Snap was involved...

...this picture...

...and a lot of being locked in my room, (by said children,) and being fourced to play with them.

The Journal

Blank, empty, soulless, nothing but page after page of lined paper pressed tightly between my covers. My patterned cover attracts a young girl. She picks me up, and runs her hands across the cover and along my spiral edge which binds me. She flips me open and ruffles my pages. I revel in the caress of air around my still leaves. She traces the tips of her fingers along my lined pages. Suddenly I realized something lacked within me, and it pains me to be without it. I still did not know what it was. I only knew, as the girl ran her fingers across me, that she could give me something I needed.

I was expecting to be fill up right then, my pages nearly rustled with my excitement, but the girl closes me with a harsh "snap!" I am placed in a bag that rustles and crinkles. I stay there for a while, wishing for the girl to pick me up again. Eventually she does, but not to open and fill me, but to give me to another, who waves me around under a  red light. I am handed back to the girl, and placed once again in the bag. I swing, sit, jerk, and tumble in the bag as I am taken somewhere. I know not where.

Finally, being taken out of the bag, I am placed on a shelf by the girl, and that is all.

I wait.

Before the girl, I had sat on a shelf, my only knowledge of the world the other books which were around me, which I know realize where just as empty as I am. It makes me wonder if they too feel the emptiness inside of them and wished to be filled. Now though, I am surrounded by all sorts of companions.

I wait.

They are very worldly and kowledgable, these other books. Some are story books. They are full of character and plots. Other are picture books. They show amazing scenes of the world, capturing a singe moment of life on their pages. They whisper things to me, telling me of the world. Some laugh at me, mocking my bare pages, tittering about the dullness of my repetitive lines. They say what point can there be in a book like me?

I wait.

Others comfort me. They search their own pages for clues to what I am, and how I am to be filled. They never found out though. The books come and go. Sometimes I lose a friend, sometimes I gain one.

I wait.

And then...

Then girl picks me up, only she is different, unlike me; I have not changed at all. She opens me and I think she is going to trace my lines again, but instead she lays me on a table. Gently, she places the tip of a pen a little above the very first line, on my very first page, and then she writes...

                    I had forgotten about his journal, lost among the regular books on my

                    shelf. I needed I new journal, and I happened to find you...

The girl was filling me! Filling me with words, wonderful words she means for me and only me. Line by line and page be page.

The girl places me back on the shelf and I show the others the few pages the girl had filled with her messy script. I can talk about nothing else.

I grow thicker, as if the words the girl writes in me somehow add substance to me. It isn't everyday the  girl writes, but she does several times a week, filling me with more of her words.

Then the day comes when the girl writes upon the last line of my last page. She closes me, and places me on the shelf again. For a moment, just before she put me down, she ran her fingers along my spine and cover, like she had done the day she first picked me up.

I never felt the girl's touch again. A few other people picked me up casually, even flipped open my pages, but never with the tenderness of the girl.

But it doesn't end there, for I tell others of the girl who filled me. Like a picture I have captured her, and like a story I tell her adventures. But more than that is laced through my pages. The girl herself lives in me, her heart beating and her laugh echoing. I am her dreams, her fears, her sorrows, her joys, her wishes, triumphs, failures, life, losses, and loves. Even as the girl changes and fades, I will hold her, young and vibrant.

Forever.