NaNoWriMo Blog blogs

Robot Arms!

Lindsey Grant — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 13:11:31 -0700

The best thing about our new, giant poster tubes is not that we can now fit a mug, a t-shirt, and a poster into one cylindrical shipment, but that the tubes are wide enough for us to play robot arms.

That is right! At 4" in diameter (as opposed to our old tubes' measly 3"), these poster tubes can accommodate an adult human arm! This really changes things here at the office. We haven't tried it yet, but we'll let you know how our game of robot legs works out.

I have secured an interview with one of these tubes, so stay tuned for the upcoming daily Q&A. It is bound to be controversial.

And when you receive your giant poster tube in the mail, stick your arm in it! Snap a picture and email to us! We're starting a new series: "Robot arms from around the world."

NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Don

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:55:26 -0700

I felt like one of the great novelists of old, bravely pursuing storytelling fame without the distractions of being a parent.

NaNoWriMo compelled me to convert our little-used travel trailer into a writer's cabin. It was perfect: away from the household hullabaloo yet within reach of the wireless AP, with a little fridge, and a table to set up on. I took my dinners out there and pounded the keyboard far into the night, bottle of scotch at the ready. I felt like one of the great novelists of old, bravely pursuing storytelling fame without the distractions of being a parent. Now, having experienced my absence while I was out writing my NaNoNovel, my wife encourages me to move into it permanently. Yay! Thank you NaNoWriMo!

—Don

Dreaming about writing for three decades, Don grew up in the East Bay but now resides in bucolic splendor far from the city.

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NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Lynn Nicholas

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 17:49:06 -0700

I needed to talk about it, so I finally admitted my crazy obsession with National Novel Writing Month to my husband.

It was late October. I was sitting at the keyboard, filling in dates and to-do’s on my November 2007 calendar page. November was shaping up to be a nonstop month, packed with family and social obligations; I was already feeling overwhelmed. When an email came in from the NaNoWriMo coordinator for Tucson, who I knew casually through BookCrossing, I sighed a big sigh as I replied that there was no way I would have time to even think about entering. My calendar was crammed. There was no 'me' time. There never was any 'me' time.

I tried, but I couldn’t get the ‘NaNo bug’ out of my mind. Plot lines and characters' voices were racing around in my head. I needed to talk about it, so I finally admitted my crazy obsession with National Novel Writing Month to my husband. At the same time, I acknowledged the impossibility of being able to fit in any time to write.

Sensing my disappointment, and understanding me better than I understood myself, he knew it was time for me to put myself first. It had been a rough year. Family obligations were burning me out. He pushed me to jump in, to give it a try. No pressure, no goal in mind, no worries about reaching the 50K minimum word count, just get my feet wet this time. He would do what he could to help me free up time to write.

So, I started writing. A storyline took shape and my characters began living their lives. I reached 7,157 words on November 3rd and, to my surprise, I discovered that my characters still had more to say. I stayed up late at night, my husband patting my shoulder as he headed off to bed alone, honestly pleased to see me absorbed and charged-up in a project of my own. I kept writing.

I hit 17,000 words, and my characters wanted to go on. Their complicated lives needed resolution. November unfolded. I planned birthday parties, made calls to social workers regarding an elder-care situation, and still found time to write. I hit a wall at 24,000 words. My husband encouraged me to talk the plot kinks through, and I hit the keyboard again, renewed. His 60th birthday came and went—the surprise party was a roaring success—and I kept on writing.

By November 17th, I was over 34,000 words. A novel was actually forming—a story with a beginning, a middle, and the ending I knew I could write. My eyes burned and pins and needles had settled into my right hand, but now I couldn’t stop. Not reaching the 50K goal was no longer an option. I needed to write as much as the story wanted to be told.

I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 and still managed to find time to write without neglecting my houseguests. And I did it. I reached the November deadline with 55,054 words. I had drafted my first novel. My husband cheered my accomplishment and even bragged a bit about me to his friends. But it didn’t end there.

My husband is an amazing man. On Valentine’s Day 2008, he told me that he’d been working on a special gift for me since my birthday (in early Feb.), and it was finally ready to be picked up. I wasn’t to ask any questions, just sit tight and be patient. We drove into town and turned into an older residential area. I was asked wait in the car while he knocked on the door of one of townhouses. I waited as patiently as I am capable of, and wondered if the gift might be a set of custom-made bookshelves. I’d really been wanting some new bookshelves.

A few minutes later my husband got back into the car and dropped a heavy object, awkwardly wrapped in paper towels, into my lap. Completely bemused, I peeled back the paper towels and unwrapped a hard-back book, the title in gold letters: Skipping Stones by Lynn Nicholas. My NaNoWriMo draft. My book in print. Tears blurred the title. I just couldn’t believe he had done this.

My husband could barely contain his excitement. He had tracked down a book-binder—an elderly gentleman who does custom book binding out of his home—and, with the help of the editor in his office, he had my NaNoWriMo rough draft formatted for print, created an author's bio page complete with a photo, and had my manuscript bound as a hardback book. He couldn’t have bought me a more incredible gift if he had gone to Tiffany's.

I swore to myself that I would never complain about my husband again (fingers crossed, of course). While my 'novel' is rough and raw and, if I ever finish it, will end up barely resembling the very rough draft, this hardbound copy marks a milestone. It represents a setting a goal and reaching it. It marks a formal starting point. Seeing my words bound between the book covers was an indescribable feeling. Knowing that my husband understood how much this accomplishment meant to me was an even better feeling.

—Lynn

Lynn (59) lives in Tucson, AZ with her huband, David, and her Australian Terrier, Lizzie. Writing has always been a private passion; NaNoWriMo has pried her out of the closet. 2007 was the first year she entered. She is looking forward to trying again in 2008.

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NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: K.J. King

Lindsey Grant — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 16:56:44 -0700

"Pretty quickly I decided that the only thing I wanted to write about was writing itself."

"Autumn of senior year is grueling. You enter it thinking you have it all together, tired of high school and ready to graduate. Many hope to go on to college, and that was definitely me in Fall 2006. I wanted early acceptance to my first-choice college and the comfort of knowing I wouldn’t have to worry come spring; my future would be laid out for me, steam pressed and unwrinkled. Unfortunately, it turned out that everything I had ever heard about college applications was true, and what really didn’t help was the personal essay.

My English teacher’s advice was to write about our accomplishments, or important experiences in our lives that (let’s face it) glorified us in some way. I am not big on writing about myself in the first place, and as far as building myself up and talking about something I’d accomplished? Too bad I’d spent high school ditching class, not researching a cure for cancer.

Pretty quickly I decided that the only thing I wanted to write about was writing itself. It was something I felt like I could talk about without feeling like a complete ham or like it would blend in with a million other essays all talking about how awesome their personality is and how that can’t be perceived in an essay so universities everywhere should change their system. I realized though, that I couldn’t just write about what writing means to me, or that I’ve written my whole life. Had I really pushed myself and dropped out of high school, maybe I’d have a book published and I could write about that. Then again, if that had happened, I wouldn’t be writing a college admissions essay in the first place.

That’s when it dawned on me. Why not write about NaNoWriMo? I’d been doing it since sophomore year while all but one of my friends thought I’d gone utterly mad (mind you, they already thought I was pretty strange for 'writing for fun.' What a concept!) and it was a great way to express how I felt about writing while building myself up a little bit.

I’ve never won NaNo, not once in the past 4 years. Honestly though, (and I will be corny for just a moment so bear with me because you probably feel like this too) I feel pretty kickass just for finishing a chapter. Getting past the first ten pages. Completing a major plot point. Every year of NaNo, I feel like a winner, just for taking time for myself to do something I love, and to do it intensely. That’s where I found its 'magic', so that even less-than-perfect me could write an admissions essay that I didn’t want to pulverize.

I didn’t get early acceptance, which resulted in three worry-lines on my forehead that won’t go away. (I’m only a teenager! I don’t deserve wrinkles yet.) It wasn’t the clear and comfy future that I wanted, but I did get accepted eventually to my backup school. After a year there, I’ve decided that I like it much better than what was my first-choice college. I’ve also decided that I want to be an English teacher, so maybe someday I can get a classroom of kids to feel that magic and see the reward that there is not only in writing, but in doing something for yourself every once in a while, regardless of the consequences. You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to find a way to give yourself a little love."

—K.J. King

K.J. is a Pacific Northwest college student who spent her freshman year perfecting the art of chugging 200 degree Fahrenheit espresso while running in obnoxiously high-heeled (but AMAZING) boots and still arriving to class on time.

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NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Amy Halloran

Lindsey Grant — Wed, 3 Sep 2008 17:07:36 -0700

"He went from impish 71-year-old to bedridden man who couldn't speak, so I tapped out my frustrations in a novel about a family getting naked by mistake when their car breaks down near a nudist camp."

"In November 2005 I finished my NaNoWriMo novel despite a case of pneumonia. I believe my illness was induced by the stress I felt when my father had a stroke. He went from impish 71-year-old to bedridden man who couldn't speak, so I tapped out my frustrations in a novel about a family getting naked by mistake when their car breaks down near a nudist camp. Footnote to novel: my father regained his speech and limited physical ability. My husband and Ibought him a tricycle for Father's Day, 2007.

Last fall, I was 800 words into my novel, feeling pretty good that it was 11 a.m. and I'd written enough to deserve the mini candy bars I had munched. The phone rang and a man told me that my husband had been in a horrific accident. End of that novel.

The upside of that dramedy? My husband still has his hand, we are fighting an $11,000 helicopter bill, and I am writing profiles for college magazines rather than novels for fun and pleasure. Things were pretty lousy for a while but a couple of months ago, everything began to seem normal.

Two weeks ago, my dad had another stroke, and perhaps because I was novelistic when he had his first one, I am thinking of finishing the novel I didn't finish last fall. Between trips to visit him at rehab, words drift at me like clumps of clouds. Downstairs, the cupboard still holds the crappy candy that accompanied the candy bars I ate November 1st.

Will I try NaNoWriMo again? Yes, because regardless of the writing month's associations with grave family situations, I believe in its zany inspiration.

Besides, I'd buy deadlines at the mall if they sold them."

—Amy Halloran

Amy is a writer living in upstate New York with her family and 15 chickens.

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Scenes from Formal Friday

Chris Baty — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:11:07 -0700

So the last Friday of the month, everyone in the office wears fancy clothes to celebrate the fact that we don't really have to wear fancy clothes the other days of the month.

Here's our new shipper captain Bradford rocking the Formal Friday attire on the sidewalk in front of our office today.

And a shot of my tie. Which is the best internet-themed tie I could find at the thrift store. And yes, that square at the very top of the tie reads "28.800 bps".

How awesome is that?

Does anyone else have any weird office dressing traditions they'd like to share?

Chris

NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Anna W. Waggener

Lindsey Grant — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:45:44 -0700

"...I swore that the book would stay buried. I also swore that it would be avenged."

"In the last days of 2006 I was still smarting over the past November. NaNoWriMo’s sophomore slump had hit me a year late, leaving me well-aware of the 50,000 word thing hanging out on my hard drive. Disheartened, and perhaps a bit delusional, I swore that the book would stay buried. I also swore that it would be avenged.

Now, a spark had hit me midway through NaNo ’06 but, due to poor timing, it found itself ignored. It returned in the chills of winter and was again brushed off by the petulance of an annoyed writer. The plucky little thing continued to surface from time to time until, in June of 2007 and against my better judgment (at the time, I was not aware of the magic of outlining), I sat down and spent some quality time with pen and paper. Come November, I had a full-flung plot on my hands. I picked up my December promise and threw myself into writing. After wrapping on November 30th, I tucked the manuscript away to let it steep (and to let my fingers cool).

In February I did a fly-by edit, but as a high school senior I had to focus on college deadlines. In March, I perked up the first few chapters and submitted them to the novel contest hosted by Scholastic Press and its imprint, PUSH. It wasn’t so much that I expected a win, but I felt guilty for having neglected writing contests all through my high school career.

Fast forward.

At the end of April, just as I was getting through the door after work, my mother told me that I had a message from my college and needed to call back. I rang the number and was baffled when the answering machine picked up and it wasn’t the university admissions office after all. I left a (rather awkward, I admit) message, then went to check my email. I found a letter from Scholastic.

As my eyes swept down the page, I saw three things that made my jaw drop:

…Contest…

This isn’t a joke.

Congratulations!

I collected enough of my wits to actually read the letter, then immediately lost them all over again and started babbling to my brother in the next room.

The funny part? My mother really wasn’t trying to be coy about the whole college thing; it was just a communication breakdown.

So now I’ll be working to edit my novel with the help of David Levithan. I am, obviously, thrilled about this, and know all too well that a big part of the opportunity is owed to NaNoWriMo and its uncanny ability to whip my muse into shape.

I’d like to thank everyone who has ever contributed to NaNo, including the forum members and, of course, all of the remarkable people behind the scenes.

See you again in November!"

—Anna W. Waggener

Anna lives in the Midwest, USA. She has participated in NaNoWriMo every year since 2004 and won every year since 2005. Her favorite kind of lemur is the mirza zaza.

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NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Jessica Burkhart

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:28:03 -0700

"I thought writing about horses would make the pain worse."

"After a failed attempt at NaNoWriMo in 2005, I had no idea that deciding to try again in 2006 would be the decision that changed my life.

That November, I was a nineteen-year-old senior at Florida State University. I was a full time student and a freelancer on the side. I’d wondered if I could write a novel, but I had no experience in book-length fiction. What would I write about? Then it hit me. There was only one answer—the topic I’d been avoiding for six years. Horses.

In 2000, at thirteen, I’d needed a spinal fusion for severe scoliosis. My spine had been shaped like an 'S' and it had pressed on my heart and lungs. After surgery, I had to wait at least two years before riding horses. But future riding came with a caveat: if I rode and fell the wrong way, I could snap the rod in my spine or become paralyzed. The surgery had been excruciatingly tough and I didn’t know if I could go through something like that again. I stopped riding and tried to push away my deep love of horses.

But it never went away. That passion and adoration of everything about the equestrian world gnawed at me. I freelanced for dozens of magazines and wrote about everything but horses. I thought writing about horses would make the pain worse.

Then I couldn’t fight it anymore. My NaNoNovel for 2006 had to be about horses. The idea wouldn’t go away. A small town girl leaves home to attend boarding school and try out for the advanced equestrian team. Does she have what it takes? Thirty days later, I’d answered that question and had a rough (so rough!) draft of my first young adult novel.

Now what? An agent seemed like the right answer. I drafted a query and sent it to two agents. The first was rejected the same day and the second agent requested a full. While the full was in the mail, I got an e-mail from another agent. It was January 4, 2007. She’d read my blog and requested my manuscript. Did agents really discover authors via blogs? That sounded like something out of The Writer. After checking out the agency, I sent the manuscript. Three weeks later, I signed with Alyssa Eisner Henkin and revisions began. I enrolled in what I fondly dubbed Revision Boot Camp and we changed the manuscript from young adult to middle-grade.

My NaNoNovel went on submission in mid-May 2007 and less than two weeks later, it sold as part of a four book series to Aladdin MIX, a tween line from Simon & Schuster.

Writing Take the Reins helped ease my longing to ride and it brought back my memories of being an active equestrian. Without NaNoWriMo, I might have discarded my dreams of writing a horse book. I blogged about my journey through NaNo that year and now I look back on my archived blog posts and smile. Those who doubt anything publishable can come from a month's worth of over-caffeinated writing are so wrong. So ignore the naysayers and write your damn novel!

I was privileged enough to interview Chris (you know, Baty) for an article for Listen about NaNo. The enthusiasm in his voice and the love he has for this project are infectious. Now, I’m more obsessed with NaNo than ever. : )

I’ll be writing the third book in my Canterwood Crest series this fall, but you can bet I’ll be NaNoing along with my friends and fellow writers. I can’t wait to blog and vlog about this year’s NaNo and watch everyones word meters fill up. Cheers to all of my NaNo friends and here’s to NaNoWriMo 2008!"

—Jessica Burkhart

Jessica Burkhart, 21, is an author and freelance writer. She has over 90 published magazine articles. Take the Reins, the first novel in her Canterwood Crest series, hits shelves in January 2009 from Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin MIX. Visit Jess online at http://www.jessicaburkhart.com and find her blog, vlogs and more.

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NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Laura

Lindsey Grant — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:18:36 -0700

"My inexperience pierced holes into my ship like a porcupine in a plastic bag."

"In July of last year, I was what one might call a 'struggling soon-to-be-writer.' I wasn't much of a writer yet, as I hadn't ever finished anything. (The only thing I'd ever done for non-school purposes was a 3-page story about John Cage's song that was made up of only silence. I still think it's amazing that I wrote three pages about nothing.) I had never done anything large scale—like writing a novel. Oh no! That was left to the professionals.

I had a story to tell, but had not roughed the seas of attemptive noveling yet. I knew my Boat of Noveling would sink. My inexperience pieced holes into my ship like a porcupine in a plastic bag.

However, as I said, it was July of last year, when I became a 'soon to be writer.' I dreamed up this cliched-beyond-belief story, and decided to see if I could write it. So I started typing away in the story that I am slightly embarrassed to even mention now.

Only a week after I started writing, I found out about NaNoWriMo from my sister, who knew a WriMo. I checked it out, and fell into the fascinating, soul-eating adventure that is called NaNo.

Of all the wonderful things NaNo '07 gave me—
a whopping bucket of fun, addicting forums, cool people to meet, and awesome pep-talks—my two favorite things would have to be: 1) the confidence to just get out there and type for the fun of it, and not because the story has to be readable and 2) an introduction to a character who is sure to follow me around for the rest of my life, showing up at Joe's Crab Shack for a dance, and meeting me at work. (Yes, those are some of the places I have seen him post-NaNo '07.)

The confidence to write is perhaps the most important item in my doggy-bag from NaNo, but I figure everyone will say something just as cliched as I will, so I won't attempt to talk too much about it. I will only say that NaNo gave me the confidence and ability to move from being a 'struggling soon-to-be-writer' to an actual, honest-to-goodness writer. It was an amazing transition, and my life will never be the same again. (Now people can stare at me when I say I'm a writer, like they did when I told them I was a musician.)

I will enjoy the confidence boost quite a bit, but I have to admit, hanging out with Jimmy (my MMC from NaNo '07) is more fun than sitting on a log, contemplating my confidence level. I loved spending a month with Jimmy, in the crazy pursuit of a ridiculous robber who stole burritos at gunpoint. Let me tell you, it was the most meaningful attempt at bounty hunting I've experienced yet. I plan on running off with Jimmy again sometime, to do some more criminal hunting. Unfortunately, I have to take his girlfriend with us. Bummer. If she had a little more character development, (which I'm trying to edit into my NaNo right now), then maybe I wouldn't be so annoyed at her tagging along. I have to admit though, when she's with Jimmy, they click. So I'll keep her, for Jimmy's sake.

To sum up: NaNo was tons of fun, gave me a confidence that will only be shaken (a little) by a rejection letter, and the knowledge of who to take with me when I go fishing or on some other rollicking romp through a day that needs livening up.

NaNo also taught me two things about characters: 1) I learned to let a character be who he or she wants to be, because s/he will tell you how to fit her/him into the story later. 2) I learned to listen to the characters in my head, and let them do what they want, because they know the story better than I do. Even the little blobs of half-characters sometimes know more than I do. What do you know—my Boat Of Noveling was not actually punctured by my inexperience! What I thought were holes actually turned out to be little blobby pieces of characters who wanted to go on great journeys with me. Yay! Cohorts for my future noveling adventures!"

—Laura aka Christian Writer

Laura lives in Texas, has done/won NaNo once, and likes Ring-tailed Lemurs best, by far.

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NaNoWriMo True-Life Tale: Elizabeth Fernandez

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:10:40 -0700

"It kept me going, and though at times my body, quite accustomed to home-cooked organic fare, rebelled at my sudden diet of Coca-Cola, coffee, and fast food, I felt better at my keyboard than I had in years."

"All I ever wanted was to get paid to write and edit. And now that I do, I realize I want even more! I need the stories in my head to take over for awhile, and drown out the real world. Not that it isn't a nice real world I live in, mind you. It's just that my fiction fantasies seem so much more interesting at times.

And so I challenged my brother, also afflicted with the writer's curse, to complete NaNoWriMo with me. Although I had already published several books as an editor, I suddenly found myself relearning everything as I delved into my science fiction universe. A trip to Central America last summer inspired me, but for months I did little except take notes. I found that on the very first day of NaNoWriMo, I wrote with a sort of ambitious fervor I've never experienced before. It kept me going, and though at times my body, quite accustomed to home-cooked organic fare, rebelled at my sudden diet of Coca Cola, coffee, and fast food, I felt better at my keyboard than I had in years.

Although quite accustomed to deadlines, this was different, and somehow I felt better seeing my word count fly past 50,000 than I did after seeing my name in print for the first time. Don't ask me to explain it. I just felt free, and my imagination soared, and the characters surprised me, and the plot kept finding new ways to entangle me. And I fell more in love than ever with my friend the written word.

I'm still finishing up the final touches on what looks to be a 150,000 word project, but I know I never would have gotten this thing off the ground without all of you at NaNoWriMo, especially my local groups, whose criticisms, ideas, and opinions gave me the courage to write surprisingly vulnerable, poetic language far removed from the succinct 800 word articles or dusty, rambling history epics that had come to dominate my literary life.

Thanks for giving me just what I needed, and inspiring me to aspire for even more than I dreamed of!"

—Elizabeth Fernandez

Elizabeth is an editor and freelance writer, delving back into fiction after a long departure for the world of non-fiction journalism and history book publishing. She spent her whole life telling stories, until making them up in her head felt like an automatic and ongoing project. During college and afterwards, Elizabeth spent all her free time getting her career in journalism and publishing off the ground, only to find herself missing her fantasies. So she decided to cut back on the freelancing and stick to highly unprofitable science fiction instead!