NaNoWriMo

Rita Jeptoo is a Kenyan marathon runner who won the 2006 Boston Marathon, with a time of 2:23:38 hours. She came back to win the 2013 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:26:25, and the 2013 Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:19:57, which is her current personal best.

Among the world’s marathoners, Jeptoo is the woman to beat.

I ran a marathon two weeks before I turned forty with a time of 5:12:22 and I was ecstatic with my time.  I finished, and that was my goal.

They say that many people have running a marathon on the “bucket list” as it is the challenge of note that a normal person can give their body. 

They also say that many people have "write a novel" on their bucket list.  Is it true for you?  In every person I have ever met is a book waiting to be written. 

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in the USA.  Since it was Founded by Chris Baty in San Francisco, NaNoWriMo now has participants on every continent – even  Antarctica. 

Technically it's now International Novel Writing Month, but the original name has stuck.  The way it gets done has become a phenomenon – online.

Because the internet has become such a “big brother” (pun intended) that we all share, the networking has become phenomenal.  Strategies for “getting it down” are shared and bounced around between writers and aspiring novelists all over the world. 

Last year during NaNoWriMo I started blogging while I wrote my YA novel, euphobia.  Blogging and writing a novel at the same time is INCREDIBLY challenging and my trip to my blogsite became a weekly excursion, rather than a daily one.  This year is no different.  I am in the middle of my next work (I’ll introduce you tomorrow) and I am officially making an invitation to do the same. 

HERE ARE SOME GUIDELINES if you want to join in!!

·         Participants register for free at www.nanowrimo.org to log their progress and share anxiety levels in the forums. Last year over three hundred thousand people took the challenge. This year 500,000 are expected to sign up.

·         a novel is officially 50,000 words, but some (like me) say that’s a baby novel, or “novella” (Stephen King wrote “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” as a novella).  Still, 50,000 words is a hulluva start on a rough draft.   NaNoWriMo’s website says a novel as "a lengthy work of fiction.”   Get started and get going.

Want to know the BEST thing about running a marathon?  It was meeting runners.  Runners are a special breed of people who think that everyone can run and there’s no such thing as “good” – there are only the people who do it.

Writing is the same.  We all have a book deep inside of us – if we had the time to write….

Just do it. 

Mario greets me at the finish line of our marathon
(He finished with a time of 4:18:49)

story

Stories are things that soothe us, stimulate us, make us laugh, cry, forgive and hope all in the matter of a few pages. William Shakespeare told good stories for the stage, still produced today.  In the past century, modern authors have seen their stories  adapted for the screen - and most of the time the book is better.

WHY?

A good story sticks in our mind and forms a memory - usually attached to a sense (comfort, fear, love).

I remember my first story that stayed there – it was of a little boy named Sambo, a boy who meets four hungry tigers on the way to school.  He gives to one his shirt. To another his pants (Sambo had a diaper on underneath in my book),  to the next his shoes, and to the last his umbrella so they will not eat him. The tigers in the story began to show off for each other, each saying they looked the best.  In fury and frustration, they end up fighting and eventually chasing each other around a tree until they churn themselves into butter.  

Sambo (who has encouraged the tigers to fight) picks out his possessions from the churned butter, then  and scoops the butter to bring home to his mother.  At the end of my picture book, Sambo’s family are all eating stacks and stacks of pancakes – smothered with the butter.

The story of Sambo has since been banned because it is 1) Politically incorrect (Sambo was black - the word "sambo" has since been considered a racial slur); 2.) encourages animal cruelty (turning tigers into butter is mean); and 3.)lacking in educational value, (other than the educational fact that butter is good on top of pancakes). 

Stories don’t  have to make sense.  

The ones that stick in our hearts have characters who are clever, frightened, weak, vulnerable and think well under pressure.  They encourage us to root for them as they navigate the rough waters of their predicaments, and cause us to cheer when they prevail.  They remind us that revenge is sweet, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and good should always triumph over evil.  

Sometimes they just make us hungry (I remember lying in my bed after the story of Sambo and thinking that I would do anything for some pancakes right now).

Some things never change.

Jesus spoke to people in parables (stories)  to explain the Kingdom of God.  The deep truths in life are better disguised so that people make their minds up themselves.  It is good to have part of your heart attached to a story so that your future decisions can be shaped by its message.  Aesop called this a fable.  Jesus called it a parable.  

It works.  

Today is the November 1 - the beginning of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I am embarking on writing a novel in one month.  This will require two hours of focused writing a day.  My novel (at the end) will be rough, unedited and ready to revise.  

Care to join me?  

If not, let this month encourage you to write - a daily writing prompt will appear for an idea for a story that will be birthed in your head.  

BEGINNING a good story:

A good story begins with someone we care about.  They usually find trouble right away – or they’re already in trouble.  They are ill-equipped to handle their trouble and often they seek out the wisest person they know. 

This is the beginning of Great Expectations, Seven Samurai, The Outsiders and each of the Star Wars books.

Begin with an idea...but make sure that trouble is close at hand.

Daily Writing Prompt: 

Write a short story about a child who is lonely until he/she meets an unlikely friend.