Currently Busy...

... with NaNoWriMo!

If I know you somewhat (i.e. if I think you're a real person who won't steal my story ideas, hehe!), you're welcome to read the story on my *whispers* super-secret blog.  Just comment with your email, or send me a note at rael{dot}henson{at}gmail{dot}com, and I'll send you an invite. 

I'll be back eventually. :-)  Bye for now! *dives back into novel-writing* 

Ah, September. You're here!

September 1st... just saying it thrills me to the bone, for many reasons.  It heralds more fall coming on.  It holds some friends' birthdays.  And, it means in precisely two months, my favorite writing challenge of the year shall begin.

Yep.  National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.  The 50,000-words-in-a-month challenge.  Click the picture above to see the website and learn more about the madness.

I wrote down a few character ideas tonight, just for fun, and already I want to know what happens with the happy plumber's family and the hardworking, silent young man who lives in their guest house.  They live in the same little town as the Thistlebanes (for those of you who know that family).

I have absolutely no idea of plot yet.  

I do think I have decided to give Melod and Co. a break this year.  I want to venture once again into the weird and wonderful small-town minds, to experience what we call "everyday" happenings, which are so entirely mysterious and unplumbed that we usually don't see them.

Like when we go outside at night to get something from the car, and we forget that there's an upside-down hole right there above us, light-years deep, nothing between us and it but air and clouds and atmosphere, and that only because of a few laws of physics and gravity am I not falling headlong into outer space.

Um, yes.... Probably time to stop writing for tonight.

But I am getting cautiously excited about the approach of the 1st of November.  Time slips by fast, and I have plenty to get in order before frantic noveling ensues!

In other news, AWANA started tonight (hurrah!), and on my way to and from it I experienced an earnest West Texas dust storm, the musty smell of rain in the desert, warm sprinkles of rain, grand rumbles of thunder, and a huge full rainbow. :-)

NaNoWriMo Begins!

I won't be doing my writing until this afternoon or this evening, as it turns out.  But the adventure begins today!  Frightening, exciting.  Hard work and long hours ahead.  Here we go!

(Short post, I know.  But I couldn't leave an ingredient list up on a day like this, could I?)

Would you like to read my NaNoWriMo novel? Old and/or New?

Life has been busy lately!  Just yesterday I was blessed to be able to show a mother from my church how to make bread.  She has a daughter with so many food allergies it's a challenge every day coming up with anything for her to eat.  Most bread has either some form of corn, soy, or a grain which she can't eat, so the brave mother is learning to make bread which she can eat.  We had lots of fun all morning, and she went home with a couple of kinds of bread for her family to try.  I'm so glad I do not have a full-time constricting job to keep me from doing random ministries like that!   Food allergies are more scary than I used to think, too.  After talking with the mother of a daughter with a frightening amount of them, I can now be more sympathetic when I meet people (and their families) who have them.      

*drumroll*

Now for the news.  Are you ready?  I would like to give more people a chance to read last year's NaNoWriMo novel, Brecken's Quest (or The Un-monstering) Unfortunately I am still slightly paranoid that some stranger might find my few brilliant paragraphs, and steal them, which would be tragic if I ever re-wrote it enough to try to publish it.  But if I know you in real life, or have shown yourself to me to be a genuine person, then I will share my story with you.  

So, if you want to read, or re-read, a wild adventure of a brother and sister searching for the lost King, encountering monsters of all shapes and sizes, friends winged and friends many-toothed, secret passages and magic gifts, loads of corniness and wonderful moments,  and a young, rediculous, happy, encouraging bard named Melod - then please let me know!  My email is rael.henson[at]gmail.com, only insert @ where it goes... there, do you think that will confuse the Dread Monsters of Spam?  I'll risk it for the sake of my readers. ;-)  Or if I already have your email, just comment! 

Or if, perhaps, you don't care to re-read my old tale, but would like to follow my new one as I write it (beginning in 16 days!), let me know that, too!  It's energizing to write for a live audience, and (if you don't want to steal my marvelous *cough* tale) I would love to have you aboard.  

This year, it is going to be a wild ride. (I'm also much busier - it will be challenging to write/edit four hours for work while I have about 1600 words of a novel to pound out afterward every day!  Should be interesting.  Can I do it?)  This tale will involve some old characters (Melod will be back, of course), outlaws, a lost and unlikely treasure, a cook whose ingredients are never right, a servant girl who sees more than people suspect, a young man who's eyes are being open but must pretend to still be blind, and an enslaved nation of people desperately in need of hope and light and truth.  Surprises await reader and writer both!  Would you like to join me?    

If I did it, so can you!

I tend to be a broken record. I get one idea in my head, and can't seem to lose it. The idea, that is. My mind I tend to misplace quite often... ;-)

But for those of you who want to know more about my NaNoWriMo experience and thoughts, here you go.


I tried NaNoWriMo two years ago, but only reached about 12,000 words, I think, and then go so far behind that I decided to give up. But I had a glorious taste of its joys that first time.

This last year, I tried again and actually won! The feeling of accomplishment and exhilaration at the end was simply indescribable. Of course my story was corny and often very predictable, but when you're writing furiously, when your inner editor is banished for the month (on pain of purposely mispelling every word to torture it untill it leaves), things start to happen that you could never have planned. Weird characters come out of nowhere. Dull characters start to say and do the funniest things. Long and twisty slides just happen to appear as perfectly handy escape routes.

Yes, that actually happened in mine.

The whole thing was definitely worth while, even if my wild tale never ends up going anywhere beyond my own editing. Some NaNoWriMo novels have been published, so it is possible. But it's not the main goal.

If you can get your hands on a No Plot? No Problem! book (the "official" NaNoWriMo guide), it's a great encourager. It does have a bit of crude language, so beware. But even if you just flipped through it at a library or bookstore, it's highly motivating and quite hilarious. And it mentions ninja monkeys.

Last year I posted my story on a private blog and sent invites to family and friends who I thought might be amused and/or interested. That was actually quite motivating for me. They were constantly commenting and wanting more, urging me to not leave my characters in dire situations, and I had more fun torturing readers (and myself) with horrible cliff-hanging chapter endings and corny mysterious lines left dangling.

Another thing that helped was having a good friend of mine in another state do it with me. She and I sent each other chapters as we finished them, and even though we didn't always have time to read them, it was a extra nudge to write my own story when I saw she'd just written a new bit. This technique might only work with one other person, and the best thing would be if it was someone you knew wouldn't mind typos or corniness or plot holes, because of course they will abound. Taking time to edit in the middle will kill your creative impulse. Find someone else craz- er, creative, and do it together!

As to times, try to figure out a good time to write. Away from sight of beds or comfy couches, if possible! If your days are very flexible (mine were last year, since I stay at home a lot and help my family and do all sorts of random and odd tasks every week), then it might actually be harder than, say, writing mainly in mornings or at night. But make yourself do it.

When you're in your novel, in "the zone", watching the story unfold before your very mind's eye, time is no more. You become a pioneer, going where no man or woman or kid or squirrel has ever dared to stick a toe before. And I think you get a wee, tinsy tiny glimps of the joys of creating which God had when He spoke the world into being.

I might be saying more about NaNoWriMo in future blog posts... The bug to write has really bitten me early this year, and I want other people to share in the joys of NaNo! ;-) If you decide to do it, please let me know, and I would love to encourage and urge you on! If you live nearby (you know who you are), we might even organize some writing days to meet at a bookstore and type together furiously for a few hours of literary silence. With coffee. Lots and lots of tea, chocolate, and coffee. :-)

Why write a novel in a month?

"The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work."

~ the NaNoWriMo website ~



Come along with me on the adventure of NaNoWriMo! It's a dangerous business, taking up the challenge. You start writing, and if you don't keep your sanity (which in some cases is overrated), you never know where you'll be swept off to.

:-)

Itchy Noveling Fingers

This past week I finished my intense six weeks of Next Step classes at church, and now I am trying to catch up on housey things and get back into a decent writing schedule. Writing for work, mainly. Once I get that down somewhat, I'll be freer to write purely for fun.

(Bella, our black cat, says "Mrooaaw" from her upside-down posture on the floor, by the way. She looks so cute and plump when she lies on her back, with all four paws in the air, and her little spot of white fluff prominently displayed on her large tummy.)

I want to send out a quick shout-out to fellow writers! Do you know what month that starts with N is coming up rather quickly? Do you want to go on a fabulous and crazy adventure with me? Do you smell the fall in the air, and feel the chill wind blowing you inside to mugs of hot stuff and worlds of imagination?

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, will soon be here! Visit the official website for more about the marvelous madness, of which I partook last year. Muhahaha.

My little desk has a new spot to live, and she and I are getting on nicely. I haven't worked with her in a long time because of a bad location, but now her nooks and little drawers are fairly organized, her flat surface fairly clear, and she's been helping me immensely to get back into a good writerly routine.

What is a good desk name? My friend Catie would know, as she names everything from geraniums to cars to computers. Hmmm... Perhaps Little Dorrit. Always helpful, never complaining. Yes, I think that suits her. ;-) I shall try to post a picture of Little Dorrit at some point in the future.

Time for more writing and a mug of coffee! And please do think about joining me for NaNoWriMo in November. I'll mention it again well before then to remind you. You don't know what you're missing if you refuse!

Jane Austin vs. NaNoWriMo

(my inner debate) "What about that novel over there? Why don't you finish it" "It is...tolerable. But not Austin-ish enough to tempt me."

Oh dear. Today and tomorrow are the last days of November, and thus the last days of NaNoWriMo. I have about 6,000 words to go. It might be pulling teeth to get them.

It was probaly a bad idea last night to start watching the A&E Pride and Predjudice... "Just a litte," said Rael. Ha.

Now, the problem was not that it took much time. After a full day of writing (I cranked out almost 5,000 words yesterday!), it felt like a well-earned treat. I didn't even finish the first disk before I started dozing off and had to hit the bed.

But now that I've already written the turn of the climax in my story, I'm feeling rather unmotivated. Sure, the heroes are surrounded by hordes of evil minions, but we know they'll get out of it. Then it's all happy ending stuff.

At the moment, I'd much rather keep remembering why the long P&P is my favorite, savoring the lines, and chuckling at the humor. A cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows would go along nicely.

But no! Must keep writing! Must must must!!!!!! Lizzy and Co. will still be there when I'm done! Hmm, maybe if I can get out 3-4,000 words starting now, I'll be able to watch more, guilt-free.

I needn't be thrilled to death over my story at the moment to write it, I suppose. Maybe I'll fall into it again as I write, but otherwise, the main thing is to get my words on paper and get my characters out of trouble. And then to get back to Lizzy and Co.

"NaNo what O?"

"What have you been up to, Rael?"

"Well, I'm doing this thing called NaNoWriMo..." Thus I begin, and is it any wonder I'm met with confused stares?

National Novel Writing Month is an event, a challenge, a crazy and frantic month of scribbling or typing, wherein the participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in November.

That's approximately 1,667 words a day, roughly 2 and 1/2 pages (single spaced, 12pt font).

I attempted it last year.

Here's the official site explaining it.

Though this year I don't have a school work load, I do have my family and various responsibilities to think about. As much fun and as useful an excercise as NaNo can be, I'll need to be careful not to put sacrifice more important things on its alter. But handled carefully, it could be a monkey barrels of fun. Muhahahaha!

Three days in, I am on track so far, wondering if this will be the year of a completed NaNo novel. If anyone is interested in reading what I've done thus far, I am posting it on a private blog, but can send you an invitation to read it if you promise you won't steal all my clever plot ideas and stunning prose. ;)

This year my story is about a boy who has been a slave nearly all his life, but must set out on a quest to find and rescue his father, who has been turned into a monster. It is very deffinitly fantasy, and I'm sure will at some point contain all the stereotypical and overused elements of that genre. But maybe some original stuff will show its face now and then.

That's rather one of the points of NaNoWriMo. You just focus on writing lots, and once your inner editor stops hyperventilating about all the hokey things you actually let stay on the page, the stage is set for refreshing and surprising things to begin happening.

And if anyone wants to do this with me next year, or jump in now (you'd only need to write about 5000 words today to catch up), let me know, and I'll do all I can to badger- excuse me, that is, encourage you to join the madness- er, I mean fun. ;-)