Nano
I should never say I'm gonna post about something. If I do, it never happens.
Moving on:
NaNoWriMo starts on Monday. You're thinking, what is this? Why should I care?
It's National Novel Writing Month and the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days (the 30 days of November). That comes out to about 1667 words a day. They don't have to be good, they just have to be.
If you think it's the lamest thing you've ever heard, well, then you're not alone. Most people think it's crazy and I'm one of three people I know who does it. Last year Dorian was only two weeks old when November started and I only got to 25,000 words before it was just too much. This year he's a little less hold-me-all-the-time, but it's not like my life is less hectic as a result. I'll be writing between a full time job, a part time job, and my never ending attempts to get into PhD programs.
Okay, I can give you lots of reasons why NaNo rocks but here is mine:
I will never be a published writer, at least not in fiction. It's okay. I mean, sure, I'd love it. I'd love to have book tours and people know my name and some one in some university applying queer theory to my text. However, I've been teaching writing for some time and read a lot of books and most authors are crazy: get drunk and swim in a fountain crazy; keep up a heavy cocaine habit crazy; leave their kids and spend their days with French prostitutes crazy. So, I can be crazy or I can right mediocre fiction (if not all together horrible) and function.
So, you're thinking, what's the point? The point is for 30 days a year I can be a writer. I can worry about deadlines, drink too much coffee and stay up half the night trying to get my character from A to B without turning to ninjas moving her in her sleep. It's fun. It lets me look into a person I will never be.
This year I'm trying out the hard-boiled detective genre. It.will.suck. But quality is not the point. The point is there's this woman who is not me and makes bad decisions and needs a place to grow up knocking around in my head. I wish she'd picked a better head to knock around in, but she picked mine and I'd like to see her through to the end. I can't wait until Monday.
To anyone inspired by this I recommend you sign up at nanowrimo.org. Then type write or die into your search engine. It's the best way to get to 1667 words! Happy writing!
Moving on:
NaNoWriMo starts on Monday. You're thinking, what is this? Why should I care?
It's National Novel Writing Month and the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days (the 30 days of November). That comes out to about 1667 words a day. They don't have to be good, they just have to be.
If you think it's the lamest thing you've ever heard, well, then you're not alone. Most people think it's crazy and I'm one of three people I know who does it. Last year Dorian was only two weeks old when November started and I only got to 25,000 words before it was just too much. This year he's a little less hold-me-all-the-time, but it's not like my life is less hectic as a result. I'll be writing between a full time job, a part time job, and my never ending attempts to get into PhD programs.
Okay, I can give you lots of reasons why NaNo rocks but here is mine:
I will never be a published writer, at least not in fiction. It's okay. I mean, sure, I'd love it. I'd love to have book tours and people know my name and some one in some university applying queer theory to my text. However, I've been teaching writing for some time and read a lot of books and most authors are crazy: get drunk and swim in a fountain crazy; keep up a heavy cocaine habit crazy; leave their kids and spend their days with French prostitutes crazy. So, I can be crazy or I can right mediocre fiction (if not all together horrible) and function.
So, you're thinking, what's the point? The point is for 30 days a year I can be a writer. I can worry about deadlines, drink too much coffee and stay up half the night trying to get my character from A to B without turning to ninjas moving her in her sleep. It's fun. It lets me look into a person I will never be.
This year I'm trying out the hard-boiled detective genre. It.will.suck. But quality is not the point. The point is there's this woman who is not me and makes bad decisions and needs a place to grow up knocking around in my head. I wish she'd picked a better head to knock around in, but she picked mine and I'd like to see her through to the end. I can't wait until Monday.
To anyone inspired by this I recommend you sign up at nanowrimo.org. Then type write or die into your search engine. It's the best way to get to 1667 words! Happy writing!