NaNoWriMo
So after a little bit of thought I've decided I'm serious about doing a NaNoWriMo this year. Starting November 1st I'll be aiming to do an average of 2000 words a day towards a 50 000 word novel. I am under no illusions that it's going to be a good novel, or even that I have a good chance of finishing, but by gum I'm going to try! Recently I've started collecting a scrap book of characters and stories and any ideas that are of inspiration. Basically I've been paying attention to anything in the ether that triggers an emotional trigger in me. Here's a big one that I heard the other day.
I heard this while listening to Dan Savages Savage Love podcast. The fellow who phones in is a gay man in his early 30s. He has recently been dumped by a long term boyfriend, and was thinking about getting back into the dating scene when he received from bad news from his doctor. He had been diagnosed with a highly aggressive case of ALS, a neuromuscular disease which results in progressive irreversable muscular degeneration, paralysis, and eventually death. Doctors said he could expect to be in a wheel chair inside of a year, lose the ability to speak within a year an a half, and most likely be dead within two years. He asks whether he should consider dating again, knowing that if he finds a long term partner he would be sentencing them to sit by and watch him die slowly and painfully. In the end we're left to wonder which is better, dying alone or watching your lover die? Someone said once that love is watching someone die.
Obviously it was difficult to listen to this caller without stirring up some very powerful emotions. If you feel like torturing yourself I would encourage you to download and listen to Savage Love Cast # 168. But based on this reaction of mine it gives me thought for the areas I would like to explore with a monthly novel writing project. What I've come up with is the idea of "Unspoken Truths". What are the things in life which are hiding in plain sight and we are unable to admit to ourselves? Mankind will soon exhaust the world's natural resources and our society will collapse in on itself. Possessions don't bring happiness. Everyone, despite a lifetime of love and friendship, will die alone and in pain.
I heard this while listening to Dan Savages Savage Love podcast. The fellow who phones in is a gay man in his early 30s. He has recently been dumped by a long term boyfriend, and was thinking about getting back into the dating scene when he received from bad news from his doctor. He had been diagnosed with a highly aggressive case of ALS, a neuromuscular disease which results in progressive irreversable muscular degeneration, paralysis, and eventually death. Doctors said he could expect to be in a wheel chair inside of a year, lose the ability to speak within a year an a half, and most likely be dead within two years. He asks whether he should consider dating again, knowing that if he finds a long term partner he would be sentencing them to sit by and watch him die slowly and painfully. In the end we're left to wonder which is better, dying alone or watching your lover die? Someone said once that love is watching someone die.
Obviously it was difficult to listen to this caller without stirring up some very powerful emotions. If you feel like torturing yourself I would encourage you to download and listen to Savage Love Cast # 168. But based on this reaction of mine it gives me thought for the areas I would like to explore with a monthly novel writing project. What I've come up with is the idea of "Unspoken Truths". What are the things in life which are hiding in plain sight and we are unable to admit to ourselves? Mankind will soon exhaust the world's natural resources and our society will collapse in on itself. Possessions don't bring happiness. Everyone, despite a lifetime of love and friendship, will die alone and in pain.