NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

"By December 1, they had 1.5 finished NaNos (hers was 50K, his almost 25) and a serious romance."

"It was a dark and stormy night—no really... it was! November 1, 2004 was cold and rainy in Seattle. But the inclement weather was not enough to hinder the novelist wannabees of western Washington from congregating at the Lion's Den in Bothell. Amanda was one of the first people to arrive. Bringing with her a palm pilot with IR keyboard which contained the more than 3000 words she had written just after midnight, she felt prepared but looked awful. (Did you miss how she'd stayed up until she'd written 3000 words after midnight?) Andrew was the last person to show. He had come straight from work and wanted less to type at his novel than to take pictures and chat with the other Wrimos. His laptop computer got much less mileage that night than his DSLR. In fact, he wrote only four words but took more than a hundred pictures.

She thought he was cute—if a little annoying (she hates cameras). He thought she was cute—although he had mistaken the redhead's golden highlights for real blond hair. By that Thanksgiving they were hosting dinner together. By December 1, they had 1.5 finished NaNos (hers was 50K, his almost 25) and a serious romance. In 2005, Amanda became Jr. ML for the Seattle region, and finished another 50K. Andrew was right there and brought in 30K. Andrew proposed on the ice at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, NY on December 23, 2005. On February 14, 2006 the two bought a lovely craftsman cottage north of Seattle and began to plan their wedding.

In 2006, Amanda was the Senior ML and the couple helped put on the first ever pay-per-word sponsorship NaNoWriMo fundraiser. Amanda ended November with another 50K win and her fiance crossed the finish line alongside her with his 1st 50K.

Andrew and Amanda were married March 11, 2007 at Old Christ Church in Pensacola, FL. In the wedding party were three NaNo bridesmaids, including world champion fundraiser Jamie, and AbigailJoy who dared Andrew into NaNo in the first place. Maid of Honor Tara was the person who introduced Amanda to the concept of NaNoWriMo.

The Cherrys have been an inspiration in their region for word count, fundraising, and now romance. Fellow Wrimos Chris and Sora who met at a write-in in 2005 will be married next June in Seattle. Go Ducks!"

—Andrew and Amanda Cherry

Andrew and Amanda hail originally from Long Island, NY and Pensacola, FL respectively. Each came to Seattle, WA after college; Andrew for a job and Amanda to be with a sick friend. On a dare and a lark (again respectively) they joined the ranks of rookie NaNo writers in 2004. They were married March 11, 2007 and still reside in the metro Seattle, WA area. He is a a software developer for Microsoft and she is an actress. Both have been Wrimos faithfully since 2004; he with a pair of wins and she with a perfect record. Amanda, two-time word count champion and 2007 fundraising champion in the Seattle, WA region, will be a 4th year ML in 2008.

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"And in February 2008, we called Kelli again to ask if any of the students might be interested in having us publish their novels."

"On her way to work last November, Open Books Marketing and PR Director Becca Keaty heard a story on NPR about a group of juniors at George Henry Corliss High School who were participating in NaNoWriMo using donated AlphaSmarts. That day, she called teacher Kelli Rushek (who by then had also been featured in the Chicago Tribune along with a few of the students). A week later, 20 of them boarded the El and made the long trek to the Open Books offices for a write-in session.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/openbooks/sets/72157603154213918/

As the month progressed, we kept in touch with Kelli and the kids. At midnight on November 30, we toasted them (along with everyone else in the room, and in words we might not quite recall now...remember that by then some of us, including Stacy, were going on our 37th hour of writing). And in February 2008, we called Kelli again to ask if any of the students might be interested in having us publish their novels.

http://open-books-press.org

From the incredible Open Books volunteer corps, we found at least one editor for each novelist. Illustrators volunteered to do the covers; the amazing Eric Erickson, a local photographer, saw the announcement and did two photo shoots to produce professional author pictures of each writer. We went to Corliss every week to meet with the students, share their editors' comments, and provide encouragement and help. And on May 30, six months to the day after NaNoWriMo 2007 came to its triumphant close, we celebrated the Corliss novelists with a grand gala book event at 57th Street Books, where they read from their published novels to a standing-room-only crowd and signed copies for all their admirers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/openbooks/sets/72157603963699939/

Did the experience have an unforgettable impact on the Corliss novelists? Do they think that, if they can write a published novel, they can do almost anything (including be the first black female President of the United States)?
Absolutely.

http://blip.tv/file/928171

Some of the Corliss novelists are writing sequels to their first books. Some joined us (and 120,000 other people) at the Printers Row Book Fair to read from their novels at a special session. All are enjoying a well-deserved summer break.

And where will they—and we—be five month from now?
Right back where we started, writing furiously for NaNoWriMo 2008.

—Open Books

Open Books is a nonprofit bookstore, literacy community center, and volunteer corps dedicated to raising awareness about illiteracy, improving reading skills, and spreading the love of books in Chicago and beyond. Their Executive Director Stacy Ratner (Pico on the NaNoWriMo forums) is a six-time NaNoer, so in 2007 they hosted weekly write-ins plus a grand 36-hour final write-a-thon for Chicago Wrimos. For more information than most people would ever want plus a slew of lovely photos, pay them a call at: http://www.open-books.org

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"That's how NaNo 2007 felt, like a birth with the fetus being a seventy-five page labor of willpower and plain old Brooklyn stubbornness."

"The fantastic thing about willpower is that you don't know what it will accomplish before you set down to a task. Amassing your will is a surprising process, usually fraught with procrastination, aggravation and a number of other -ations that I need not go into. Needless to say, it comes out of nowhere, swallowing your time and energy and the byproduct is usually something amazing or wonderful. That's how NaNo 2007 felt, like a birth with the fetus being a seventy-five page labor of willpower and plain old Brooklyn stubbornness.

When NaNo came about in 2007, I was on the brink of bankruptcy. As a college student I simply hadn't had the time or the luck to find a job that would accommodate going to classes and making enough to survive. I managed to skate through thanks to the loving help of my family, but after a string of no-go jobs, I was trapped. I was taking fifteen credits in college, racing to the finish line of a bachelors degree, and I was fully sure I would never be able to survive the hole my finances had become. In my mind, everything was hopeless. After all, why go to all the trouble of getting a degree in film when everyone knew that only big-name people in Hollywood made money in film, and money was what I needed. What was the point of a degree if I couldn't pay my bills? What was the purpose of being creative then, if you couldn't put money towards credit card bills when necessary? I was trapped and sinking fast.

A job came out of nowhere in the last few days of October. It was a daunting retail position, probably the most challenging of my life, and it paid enough to get my life on track. The trouble was that it meant juggling nearly thirty-five hours of work a week with fifteen credits in college, plus any sort of social engagements. As I was just starting the position, a new co-worker reminded me that NaNo was coming up. I was sure there was no chance I would get to it. The fact is, NaNo was (in my mind) for people who had time! Still, I had to take a crack at it and for the first few days and weeks I stumbled and fell and tripped over a plot I was sure was trash. I just kept on chugging on days when I came home from work and my feet ached so terribly I couldn't take it anymore. It was with this sort of exhaustion in me that I got to the last week of NaNo with nearly twenty-five thousand words left. I wasn't going to make it.

Then I went through my realization: NaNo was created, not for those who had the time, but for those who didn't have the time. This was for those who couldn't find time to write, who lost track of their goal to put pen to paper, and who needed a boot-to-butt to get to the business of writing. With the scant time remaining, I carved out the twenty-five thousand, turning out the last 12,000 words in a matter of less than six hours. By the time I was finished, I didn't even remember how I'd written so much, but I'd conquered my own mountain in NaNo that November.

Now I'm still at the same job, still finishing out school, still busy, but that one push in 2007 got me to realize how hard it is to find the time to write... and how vastly rewarding it can be to actually do it. This year's going to be more of the same, only this time I'm taking eighteen credits at college while I try to train for a career in law enforcement in the future. Personally, I can't wait for the challenge."

—Shoshana Kessock

Shoshana is a two time NaNo winner (2006 and 2007), Brooklyn film student and writer, who works retail when she's not slaving away at being a gamer and storyteller.

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"My inner editor is of the tyrannical nit-picking type who lies awake worrying if s/he discovers a single typo in an email AFTER it has been sent."

"Fifty thousand words sounds like an awful lot at the beginning of the month, but when I'd crossed the finish line on or about day seventeen, I was a bit surprised. Not that the story was good, or anything! It was a terrible, disjointed collection of vignettes with no cohesive plot, and even after thirteen more days of work, nothing really got resolved. The characters were only an inch or so deep. Worse, it was full of typos. (My inner editor is of the tyrannical nit-picking type who lies awake worrying if s/he discovers a single typo in an email AFTER it has been sent. 'Horrors! Now they'll think I'm not perfect!')

But it was a fun month. Having learned about the existence of the AlphaSmart in October, I ordered two of them, secondhand, off eBay—one for me, one for my then 11-year-old homeschooling daughter who had decided to write a novel for her English homework during November (she paid for her own AlphaSmart with babysitting money). These handy, portable little word processors have turned out to be just as convenient and useful as people say they are. During November, I enjoyed carrying mine with me while grocery shopping, visiting the doctor, sitting through a child's music lesson, mailing a parcel at the post office—waiting time that had formerly dragged became vivid and productive when my novel was there to keep me company. Twenty minutes of standing in line at the post office, for example—more boring than the grocery store, since the only literature within reach is of government issue—seemed no time at all when I could hammer out the details of another chapter in my story. By the way, whoever designed our town's post office must have been sympathetic to the needs of novelists: there is a railing with a broad, flat wooden shelf just at elbow level running the length of the waiting area. While others were using it only to rest their parcels on before mailing, I found it to be a wonderful, extended desktop for a keyboard. Every time the line moved up, I just slid my parcel and my AlphaSmart along with me and kept typing.

Possibly the three most interesting results of participation in NaNoWriMo were these, for me:

1) I get to tell everyone I wrote a novel, which is, of course, why many of us participants do it in the first place.

2) After winning, I suddenly realized I had it in me to finish a novel I'd begun writing as a gift for my two older daughters several years ago. It couldn't POSSIBLY be worse than my NaNoNovel, I reasoned, so I hauled it out and began typing again, having transferred the last of November's finished work into the computer to give me space to start afresh on my AlphaSmart. Nowadays, that's what I work on while my younger kids are digging sand castles at the park.

3) When April rolled around, I was all ready to try my hand at a real play with ScriptFrenzy. The experience of participating in, and winning, NaNoWriMo had given me courage to venture even deeper into the world of writing for the theatre. None of my previous plays had been longer than about twenty pages, but hey, anyone who can write 50,000 words of a novel can easily come up with 100 pages of a script, right? Sure enough! 108 pages, and THIS time the story hung together and had a beginning, a middle and an ending!

All I need now is an idea for NaNoWriMo 2008..."

—Barbara

Barbara is a 51-year-old married mother of six (four grown-up, but the 12 year old did NaNoWriMo last year when she was still 11...and won), writer (mostly emails), artist and craftsperson. NaNoWriMo: winner, 2007. ScriptFrenzy: winner, 2008. She likes sassafras trees, mockingbirds, crickets, tap-dancing, and T-shirts with appropriate witty sayings on them.

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"He had snuck into our computers and stolen our words."

"When my middlest daughter came home from high school talking about Nano-neeno something or other and asking if she could please please do it, I had to consider my answer. Kathryn was in grade 12 last year and on top of the normal pressures of her final high school year, she was trying to recover from a head injury and whiplash from a serious car accident. To invest in a month of writing on top of grade 12 courses seemed ridiculous. She was barely making it to school 2 days a week because of pain, headaches and dizziness. But it was only September and I did not have to commit my answer until November so I gave a 'hmmm maybe.'

By October it became clear that this was an important goal. Kathryn and her best friend were having character planning meetings over McFlurries or sitting outside by a river, or in a corner of the high school under the stairs. And when she could not get out of bed, she was still excited about the setting of her book or Googling supporting historical or geographical details.

Who knew the NaNoWriMo bug would be contagious? By mid-October my youngest daughter was doodling ideas and I had begun checking out historical novels for some.... uh... research of interest. November first, we all three were on board. It was exciting and fun comparing notes over dinner. When one of us was faltering, another would bring out the thesaurus or start throwing out outrageous ideas until the writer gave in to our well-meant support and started writing again.

For Kathryn, alas, her computer hard drive died in week three. Although her amazing Dad was able to bring it back from the dead before the deadline, she was short by several thousand words. No tears though. She is proud of her story and looking forward to another bout of writing in the future. I had done my minimum a week before the 30th. But Robin, my 16-year-old, was fighting it to the end. Having done much of her writing by hand, she was madly smashing her fingers into the keyboard trying to enter the requisite count before midnight. You could feel the electricity; it was so exciting how close she was. And.... she made it. We all wooped. It was a family effort.

But that is not my story. On Christmas morning we all gathered to open stockings and my husband, the very sneaky and crafty man that he is, presented each of us with a hard cover book. He had snuck into our computers and stolen our words, bought antique books and carefully removed the pages, and printed our stories page by page on quality paper. With a paper cutter and binding kit, he'd carefully glued our precious works of art into personalized covers that he entitled with gold leaf. I tear up just thinking about it. Oh, the stories are not finished and not edited and for myself, on days when I could think of nothing to write, I wrote little blurbs and burps that are now hanging out the back end waiting to be cauterized... but we love them all just the same.

Kathryn graduated with top marks in creative writing, math and philosophy but I don't think she will measure her last year at home by the marks she got in grade 12. She will look at the three books on our bookcase written by herself, her sister and me and remember the year we all did NaNoWriMo."

—The Lawrence Girls: Justyna, Kathryn and Robin (but my husband Bob should take credit for the story)

Her little family lives in Richmond, Ontario (a village near Ottawa in Canada).

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"Writing was something for me to muse about while I tread water out in that cruel ocean."

"When I was fifteen, only less than a year ago, while other teenagers went out to gatherings and clubs to party the night away with their friends, I was at home, fighting for my life in a way that no one should have to. I had an enemy that I couldn't even see. Nobody hurt me. Nobody manipulated me. My enemy was inside me, and every single day was a battle to survive.

It was depression.

The days seemed twenty times longer than they should have been. I felt exhausted all day but couldn't sleep at night. I withdrew into myself. It grew so bad that at nights I'd sit for up to an hour on the kitchen floor, the knives above me in their block, tempting me so much. Sometimes I held them and examined them. Sometimes I even tested how sharp they were.

Life, I believed, was pointless. Not like the knives up there on the bench. While some people would shrug that thought off and go on with life, it threatened to consume me. I wanted to live for something, but I told myself I wanted to die.

Yet I kept going. The days seemed so dark, and in my memory they still are, but I can remember one thing - one of my best friends, Taya, pulling me through each day, talking to me, comforting me, giving me tiny tools to survive. Giving me something to float with on the cold sea before the rescuers came.

In stories, main characters usually have one person (usually a love interest) who stumbles across them and saves them. I wasn't so lucky. The only person who could save me was too far away to do more than throw that rubber ring to me. She could do nothing but watch as I clung to it.

What seemed like the darkest night of my life, I finally called for help. I went upstairs at three in the morning and asked my mum for a hug. She saw how distressed I was. She took me to the doctor, who recommended us to specialists. I was put on medication. I had a relapse on New Year's Day this year when I decided 'to hell with this!' and sliced my arm up with a broken glass, but aside from that, it was a smooth ride. While a lot of depression patients still fight their battles years after diagnosis, I'm already free.

I've been off medication for two months and only once have I ever thought that I might need them again - and that was a brief thought. Since then, I haven't looked back. I've turned from a pessimist to an optimist - to such an extent that it's starting to annoy people. ;)

Looking back on it, I realize it's NaNo that brought me here.

I was thirteen years old when I discovered it; thirteen and bored. Writing had become something that was only on the side for me. Dreams of being the next J.K. Rowling had been replaced by reality's 'Don't you dare even think you can do that' attitude, along with, 'You can't do it.' Writing was a dim candle that almost blew out. I never finished anything I started, but when I discovered NaNo, I decided, 'What the hell!'

NaNoWriMo turned it into a raging bonfire. It grew from a hobby into a full-blown passion. I met the Sporkers (and later the best friend who saved my life). Writing was something for me to muse about while I tread water out in that cruel ocean. The sole star in the sky. One day I'd be a writer, I told myself while I was out there. The depression said otherwise, but that didn't stop that star shining.

NaNo saved my life. It saved me from myself. I can't even imagine what would have happened to me back in those long months if I didn't have writing, or my best friend T with me. I don't think I would have gone to Mum for that hug. I'd have done a lot more damage that New Year's Day. If I wasn't dead, I'd be close to it. I've learned to live again, I'm starting to thrive, and I'm daring to dream big again. I won't be sitting in anyone's seat. I won't be the next anything. I'll set the new standards. Just you wait.

Chris Baty saved me that day he suggested writing 50,000 words in a month. A lot of people wouldn't have voiced the idea even if they had it. They'd have wanted to save face.

But voicing it could save so much more.

Thank you, Chris. <3 So much.

Oh. New standards or not, I'm still going to nudge Rowling out of her seat. ;) Just you wait."

--Zora Wood

Zora Wood currently lives in Sydney, Australia with two pet ferrets, two crazy birds and an abundance of cliches. She rides kangaroos to work, and has done and won NaNoWriMo every year since 2005.

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"Yes, indeed, I am now the copywriter for a major international organization because my boss noticed me typing my NaNo story at lunch."

"Who has time for work when it's NaNo season? Not me! A humble call center employee, I would sit at my work desk, typing little notes and scenes from my story between phone calls, and banging out 1000 words during my lunch break on my ancient computer. My co-workers would come in to eat lunch, and occasionally ask questions about why in the world I was trying to write a novel in 30 days, but mostly they left me alone.

But lo and behold, someone noticed...and I got promoted! Yes, indeed, I am now the copywriter for a major international organization, because my boss noticed me typing my NaNo story at lunch. The first issue of the newsletter that I co-wrote will be going out to more than 40,000 people in a few weeks, and I write a weekly e-newsletter that is sent to hundreds of thousands.

Also, this past November, I was active on the Viddler NaNoWriMo group. Many of us from the group have stayed in touch via Twitter and Skype. One night, while chatting, we decided to meet up, and six weeks later found ourselves in San Francisco! Five of us were able to go on the trip, and we're already planning our next trip. We spent four days touring the city, hanging out, enjoying the weather, and just having a blast being together. The highlight of the trip was visiting the Office of Letters and Light (we spent about ten minutes outside the office just geeking out over it!)

So not only has NaNoWriMo been an insane amount of fun, but it got me a great new job, and a circle of friends that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world."

—Joi Weaver

Joi lives in southern California, has participated in NaNo four times, winning three years. Last year she had a 20-day streak in which she averaged over 5k words a day.

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"It suddenly hit me that if the cancer was fatal, he'd never read it."

"NaNoWriMo changed the course of my life. I'd been working on a novel with some vague aspiration of publishing for about six years. The novel sucked (it still does) and I was often stuck and frustrated. My online writing group, Imaginaries (http://www.imaginaries.org), had these crazy people who would do this thing called NaNoWriMo and talked about how great it was except for in November when they were all stressed out about it. I thought it might be fun to try, and sort of planned on doing it, but never followed through with it.

Then in October of 2004 my brother (then 12) was diagnosed with bone cancer and started chemotherapy. I'd been telling him stories since he was a baby and he was the inspiration for several of them. I'd always planned to write his favorite one into a novel… someday. I knew it would make a good kid's book. It suddenly hit me that if the cancer was fatal, he'd never read it. Writing my first novel was six years and counting! My reason for doing NaNoWriMo was set, and on November 1st, 2004 I dug into my novel with a vengeance.

I'm sure it was hard, although I don't remember it as such. My characters came alive, and although rough and full of problems, a novel took shape under my typing fingers… quickly! Somewhere in the midst of that story writing frenzy of my first NaNoWriMo, I also finished off that first novel. Typing up the last bit of it seemed child's play next to the raw frenzy of getting an entire novel done. I hit 50K with the book close to done, writing the last 10K of it the first week in December. But, I had over 50K by the end of the month, making Dragon Boy my first winning NaNoWriMo draft.

My brother read the book while in chemo and loved it, marking it up rather seriously in red pen so that I could revise it. His treatment was also successful and so I celebrated in 2005 by writing him a brand new novel that dealt with my feelings about his year of cancer. I finished the book a week early, proof that I was well on my way to becoming a NaNoWriMo regular. The book moved him, something I didn't think I was capable of doing to a thirteen year old kid, and I knew then that I'd found what I wanted to do with my life: become a children's book author.

I've done (and won) NaNoWriMo every year since, and while I've yet to snag an agent and the golden prize of publication, I know that I've achieved what counts—sharing the stories that mean so much to me with my brother. He's still my biggest fan."

—Ardyth DeBruyn

Ardyth DeBruyn is a native Oregonian with a restless nature and a degree in Anthropology. After hiking over 1500 miles across Europe and living on the Mexican border for a year, she settled back in the Pacific Northwest (for now) to write fantasy stories. She has decided she can type herself into adventures faster than walk. She has fiction published in Alien Skin Magazine and upcoming fiction in Sorcerous Signals and Beyond Centauri.

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"Even cooler? It was from the agent who represented the book I'd passed so many times on that young adult shelf."

"After unsuccessful attempts at NaNoWriMo 2004 and 2005, I didn't think I was going to participate in 2006. But in the time between, I started working at a bookstore. Everyday I would pass a certain book in our young adult section and the cover never failed to catch my eye. One day, I broke down and bought it. I read it in one sitting. When I finished I decided that was the kind of book I wanted to write.

When NaNoWriMo 2006 rolled around, I parked my butt in front of the computer and started to write. I'd love to tell you I was a winner that year... but I wasn't. However, I didn't stop writing when November ended. Or December. Or January. Or, well, you get the picture. I didn't finish that first draft until the end of July 2007, but I finished it.

I spent the next two months revising and polishing and by the end of September, I had a manuscript I felt comfortable sending to literary agents. My first queries went out the first week of October and just after Thanksgiving, I received an offer of representation. Even cooler? It was from the agent who represented the book I'd passed so many times on that young adult shelf.

My agent was in the process of leaving her agency to hang her own shingle, so I spent the holidays doing revisions for her. On February 1st she opened for business and mine was one of the first manuscripts she sent out on submission to publishers. Three weeks later, Delacorte Press bought my book.

I'm in revisions with my editor right now, but we're shooting for a release date of Fall 2009 or Spring 2010. Either way, look for My Way Or The Highway...coming soon to a bookstore near you!

(P.S. Querying, revising and selling my first novel didn't leave me much time to participate in NaNoWriMo 2007, but I'm in for 2008. Who knows? Maybe I'll start AND finish book number two!)

(P.P.S. If you're curious about that book I read? It's 13 Little Blue Envelopes by the super-talented Maureen Johnson. Go read. I'll wait here.)"

—Trish Doller

Trish writes novels for young adults. She lives in South Florida.

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"And that's when I noticed it. My 'later bucket' had been knocked over and there, sitting right in front of me, were all of those things I said I would get to."

"I've always wanted to be a writer but I never had any ideas that I liked. In those rare times I actually had an idea, I immediately dismissed it as derivative or puerile. In short, I really didn't believe in myself. Nor did I give myself a chance to try to rise above my inhibitions and self-doubts. I had my work, my family, my responsibilities. There would be time for such folly later. Ah yes, 'later.' That lie we tell ourselves about our passions. 'I'm busy now. I'll get to it later.'

But we don't, do we? It's a convenient bucket into which we can throw the things we secretly, truly want the most but are too afraid to pursue. We throw them in believing that we aren't stifling ourselves. We believe our own lie and go on with our boring lives not realizing the violence we'd just committed to our own souls.

2007 was a life changing year for me. Amid all of the turmoil (and there was a lot of turmoil) two things allowed for a third to happen, which, in turn, changed everything. First, my father-in-law died and, with him, many untold stories. Shortly afterwards, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, which, while not life threatening (not if I control it, which I do) certainly does make one well aware of one's own mortality and the need to take control of one's life rather than sitting passively and moving from day to day along some kind of conveyor belt moving ever forwards (with your 'later bucket' sitting in front of you, always ahead of you).

My friend Carla was carrying around No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty and told me what it was all about. I had tried to join NaNoWriMo some years back and never wrote a single word. It, too, went into the 'later' bucket and sat there, staring at me with those big round, guilt-inducing eyes. But something in me had woken up and I went out and bought a copy of the book and read most of it in a single evening. Within a day I had an idea and a rough plot outline. And then it was November 1st and I was off and running.

I finished my 50,002nd word on November 30th at 9:30PM and raced home from the write-in I was attending in Providence to upload my finished novel. Everyone had gone to bed early so I was alone in my little celebration. But in that moment I felt more alive than I had felt in ages.

And that's when I noticed it. My 'later bucket' had been knocked over and there, sitting right in front of me were all of those things I said I would get to. All of those secret desires I had been hiding, ignoring, or pretending weren't there. I scooped them all up, dusted them off, and threw out the ones that no longer applied or interested me.

Here I am, seven months later. I bought and have been teaching myself to play the guitar, I am starting a new podcast http://www.OurStoriesPodcast.com which will collect recordings of stories from anyone who is willing to let me record them (because everyone has a great story to tell), I have a new copy of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and much more. I have been creative and alive this year and I already have a lot of story ideas running around my head. I can't wait for November 1st!"

--Andy J. Williams Affleck

Andy was born and raised in New York in the suburbs of the city, lived in Boston, Washington D.C., the wilds of New Hampshire, and currently resides in Rhode Island. He won NaNo in 2007, his first time participating. Andy is a project manager/PMO by day, and a pursuer of the creative by night. He wrote a book on podcasting (Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac) and writes numerous articles for http://TidBITS.com.

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