O.K. So I am not back…

I am sure you have noticed that although I stated I was back I really am not back.  Nano had a strange effect on me.  It did influence me to think in ideas for stories.  However it did also seem to make it hard to go back to the way things were before I started Nano.  For one I would blog regularly.  I am not sure if it is because I stopped or if I was drained from Nano but starting back up has been harder then I could have imagined.

So where does that leave us.  Well no where really.  I will continue to blog.  But decided I will start back up after the new year.  It is always hard to get time to do extra things during the holidays anyways.

So here is the plan.  After the new year I will resume blogging at a rate of 2 or 3 times a week.  The other thing about taking a break is it will give me time to refocus on what this blog was meant to say about me.  I tend to constantly search for a focus without realizing this blog is my observations.  It doesnt have to be defined as much as it has to be an honest part of me.  So when we start back up we will get back to blogging about my observations on mostly things I enjoy.

So until 2010.  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  (Yes I said Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays)

I am out… God Bless!!

And We’re back…..

We are finally back from Nano Wrimo… I know it ended two weeks ago.  I decided that it was a good time for me to get my thoughts together before I posted.  I am hoping we will now roll forward as usual.

NanoWriMo was so much more then I expected.  I had some ups and downs through the whole process but in the end it was a positive experience.  In case you don’t know I came up quite a bit short in the word count.  I only made it to around 15k .  Yes I was disappointed but the positives outweighed the disappointment of not making it.

I learned so much from this experience that I decided instead of dwelling on why I didn’t make it.  I thought I would list some of the stuff I picked up from this NanoWrimo.  This was my first shot at this so the list should be decent size.

• The first thing is to go at Nano on purpose.  You can just hope to work on it when you get time.  You have to be intentional.  Regardless if you have support or not I believe if you work at it intentionally support issues can be overcome.
• Support is definitely helpful when you get behind. It is already hard enough to keep up with the schedule but if you fall behind it is twice as hard to catch up with out a peanut gallery.
• Being familiar with your characters.  I found myself in a few situations where I wasn’t sure how my characters would react to the situation.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t come up with something for them to do,  I did not know them well enough to know how they would react.  Knowing your main characters is very important.
• Another thing I will do next time is have easy access to my characters.  Forgetting who your characters names are in the middle of a story is a pain, you have to stop the flow and page back to find out the characters name.  Getting back into the flow or taking the chance of forgetting where you were headed are all possible if you can’t get to a character list quickly.
• Making the decision to go 1st or 3rd person.  When you are a new writer this isn’t something that comes naturally.  Like any other newbie I started out first person and switched to 3rd only to want to switch back later on in the book.  This is something in the future I will consider before anything even gets started.
• Researching the setting is another problem I ran up against.  I never really considered knowing the area in which my characters lived would be something I should of known before writing.  If I would have done a little setup and research on the setting it would have been a lot easier to avoid setting hiccups.

• Writing conversations is still very alien to me.  It seems almost every writer does it a little different.  I don’t have much in the next thing to try except to say this is something I need to research more.

No I didn’t get the 50k and win Nano.  But what I learned is so much more and I can tell writing is not something you ever master.  You just have to keep doing it.  In case anyone is wondering I am still working on that novel.  I enjoyed the process so much that I have no intention on giving up.

Until next time… God Bless!!

Nano Inspiration #3

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

Douglas Adams

Nano Inspiration #2

“You must not come lightly to the blank page.”

Stephen King

Inspiration for the NaNoWriMo’s

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

–Mark Twain

The Jitters

In less then 36 hours NaNoWriMo will start .  I thought for sure I would be looking for the escape hatch.  After all no one is around to stop me and it would be an easy out.

This time I did my research on the event. I picked up the book No Plot? No Problem written by Chris Baty founder of NaNoWriMO and I visited the website.

The description that Chris Baty gives is nothing like I would have pictured the actual event to be like.  When he describes it, I picture a bunch of “class clowns” sitting in a coffee shop joking and writing.  All the meanwhile pushing to see who can make it to the goal.  Yes this sounds like fun rather then the stress that I pictured.

The community and events  listed for my region on the website surprised me.   I guess when I picture any kind of writing, I picture some guy sitting in the his office all alone stressing over plot and characters.  This seems more flexible as you could write alone or in a group, but the stress of the character and plots seem non existent.

So Yes less then 36 hours away, I have no characters, no outline, no plot, yet I find myself anxiously waiting to get started.

Good luck to everyone joining in and have fun.

Until Next Time…God Bless!!

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo has been something that has always intrigued me.  In case you are scratching your head NaNoWriMo, stand for National Novel Writing Month.  Every November thousands of people sign up to participate in this phenomenon.

I have watched this process for a few years.  Last year was the first year I strongly considered signing up, only to back out at the last minute.  This year I already signed up.  I don’t know how I will do,  but at least I have already made it further then last year.  The hardest part for me will be cranking out the 50,000 words. When I write or talk for that matter I tend to be to the point and have trouble drawing things out.  This should be fun and would be great to have others join in.

Here how it works.  You have 30 days to pump out a short novel of 50,000 words.  I know, it sounds like an unattainable goal.  It is if your trying to write a finished product, but your not.  Your goal is to get a story down on paper, throw out the grammar, throw out plot holes and character flaws.  Just get the story down and get to 50,000 words in 30 days.

What do you get if you win?  You get a certificate and the feeling of self accomplishment.  For that reason alone, you wont get many people writing one word over and over again 50,000 times.

To sum it up.  On November 1 at 12:0:01 AM you start writing your novel with the goal of completing 50,000 words by November 30 at Midnight.  For those participating good luck.

Until next time…. God Bless!!!

?Question?

I was jolted awake last night. I realized quickly what woke me, my book falling on my face.  I have taken many shots to nose by a book, heavy or small at some point they all come down on me.  That got me to thinking, where do you like to read?  Also when do you think is the best time to read?

Until next time… God Bless!!!

Career Resources

During this woeful economy a lot of people are looking to change careers.  Some people are looking for anything at all.  While others are using this time to pursue something that they feel is more purposeful or at the very least something they might enjoy doing.  I have had read several books that are extremely helpful in finding your career path,or purpose.  To follow is three of the books that I found to be most useful and a brief description on what they have to offer.  On a side not this is not a review.

48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE by Dan Miller

Through self examination and following the principals in this book you can discover your calling in 48days like the name implies.  If your not interested in finding your calling there is other good information in this book from resume writing to developing a life plan.  There is also an interactive study guide that can be purchased to help achieve the goal of finding your purpose.

NO MORE MONDAYS by Dan Miller

Dan Millers builds on the principals he introduces in 48 days to the work you love, showing how it ties into starting a business based on your calling.  This book is geared more towards the entrepreneurial minded person.  Although as in his first book, I found a ton of useful information.

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE by Richard Nelson Bolles

This book is the standard in this subject.  Every year they come out with a new edition, updating and expanding on the old.  This book focuses on finding the career of your dreams.   It will walk you through resumes, cover letters, the job market and more.  It will also help you determine what careers might interest you by looking at your personality traits and interests.

There is a lot more information to found at your local bookstore or even the Internet.  I think finding the ideal career is an important part of our lives but it is only one component.

Until next time… God Bless

Then we grew up and forgot about it!

Think back…   For me it was that creative writing class or in Third grade, the teacher would assign that story writing assignment.  She would provide the topic and I would write the story.  Those assignments will always be one of my favorite things.  It didn’t matter the grade or that my grammar stunk, there was no pressure.  It was writing at its purest.  Self expression written on paper.  I loved those assignments.

Then I grew up and writing anything at all disappeared from my life.

Writing should have never been forgotten as a homework assignment.  It should be practiced into adulthood.  Writing is one of the greatest forms of self expression, letting that go would be a travesty.

Adults put adult pressures on ourselves.  In our adult lives there is no such thing as doing something simply for the sake of enjoyment.  They’re should be no pressure to write, we should still write and take advantage of the gift of recording the moments in our life.  There is nothing fancy required a simple  journal, but you don’t even need that just a piece of paper and a pen like back in Third grade.

Until next time… God Bless!!!