NaNoWriMo & Me

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo since 2006, when my fellow writer and adopted niece Kira Cattan first told me about it.  NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, but the “National” part is a misnomer because it has spread all over the globe.  In it, you write a 50,000 word novel in a 30 day month. It used to be that if you didn’t have a plot, no problem, just writing, maybe one word 50K times, and you had it.  But these days, they’ve turned professional, and are asking us to prepare for the big event. I have had several of my NaNo novels published, once they were polished and edited.  Or was it Kira? It strikes me that it was actually my fellow Druid Michael Sharding who informed me about NaNoWriMo, and the rest is history. I got involved in it. My dearly departed the late Richard L. Fulton II called it “the Olympics for writers.”

Like many other writers, I battle writer’s block every day, so I got a book by Jenna Glazter titled Outwitting Writer’s Block  from Writer’s Digest Books.  I employed several tricks from the book, but my favorite has to be “the ugly notebook.”  From a salvage operation I participated in during a muggle gig, I acquired a 3-ringed looseleaf binder that had started its existence as an Office Services manual. I disposed of the contents, and put a package of college ruled notebook filler paper in it.  In this “ugly notebook, I warmed up and limbered my brain to do my writing. I started with the verbal form of scat singing. Scat singing is an art form started when blacks were slaves, and not allowed to own or play any musical instruments. For one thing, it’s rather difficult to play the banjo when your hands were required for picking cotton.  After they were freed, Such artists as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, and in our own era, Bobby McFerrin were known for their scat singing skills. I did it to warm up my brain. After all, dancers warm up their muscles, as do athletes. Shouldn’t we, as athletes of words warm up our writing muscles?Later, I took to asking questions pertaining to my stories.  

I have what’s known as dyscalculia, or math anxiety, so it was easier for me to write 2000 words per day for 25 days than 1667 for 30.  I took 5 days off for the Veterans’ Day parade, Thanksgiving, the Scottish Ritethe Liberty Lodge Thanksgiving dinner, and spending the day with my daughter.  After Doc died, and I moved to Sacramento, my housemate Stephen couldn’t understand why I would engage in something that didn’t have an immediate monetary payoff, and would try to sabotage me in all kinds of ways, mostly by trying to distract me by his incessant chattering like a monkey.  To persuade him of my seriousness, I wrote every day, resulting in 60,000 words or more.  Once I’d polished my manuscript, I submitted it to my new publisher, and after some edits, the book would come out, in ebook format.  After I got my Dragon, It was that much easier to produce my 2000 words, since I would dictate them, and the Dragon would type them on the screen.  I wrote in the morning because the chances were greater that I would be left alone, and I would have the rest of the day to do whatever I needed to do.  

I was, by now, participating 3 times a year, because they added Camp NaNoWriMo in April and  July. At first the April Camp Nano was “Script Frenzy”, and I wrote a screenplay, and a stage play.  Then I turned back to writing novels. Lately, so that I don’t have to wake up to a blank screen with an equally blank mind, I scribble out on paper on my clipboard “(I have 10), at least a portion on my writing for the morrow.  I take that clipboard with me to the bank, the store, the bus stop, and Kaiser, so that I’m always creating, even when not at my computer.  

A warning:when you go to www.nanowrimo.org to commit to your novel and sign up, they will strongly encourage you to donate.  With the exception of one November Nano, and two camps when I either couldn’t participate at all, or had to drop out for health reasons, I participated for 13 years without donating, so you don’t need to, if you’re low fixed income like me.  But if I ever strike it big, I intend to. So get an idea, go to www.nanowrimo.org and register your novel idea. Plan and prep.  Then, starting November 1st,at 12:01 am if you’re really eager and a night owl, write your 1667 words or however many words you write, and on every day, through November 30th, then validate your novel,and join me in in the winner’s circle.