NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

Listen up all you writers and W-T-B writers out there, now is the time to pull out your pens, pencils, crayons, typewriters, computers, tablets, charcoal or whatever you scrawl with and start putting onto paper or electronic storage device all the wonderful ideas you have floating around up inside your brain pan.

This month is National Novel Writing Month and although I am not asking any of you to write 50,000 words by the end of the month I do encourage all of you to write what you like and submit it here to be viewed by all. I myself am very excited to write some new material or perhaps even dust off some of the stories I worked on earlier this year for a more polished story, you know like with a beginning, middle and end. Wouldn’t that be great?

An amount of time ago (last year I believe) a friend of mine and I were talking about writing and I being full of crap, of which I am often, had mentioned that I wanted to write a book of some nature. I had a ton of material I read and enjoy so the choices of which genre I would write in were really endless. I thought it would be easy. He said it wouldn’t be, that there was a lot of work was involved with coming up with plot and characters not to mention actual writing style…blah…blah…blah…to which I called bullshit. I said that all you need is an idea and the will to make idea come to life on paper.

After finally visualizing what I had in mind I started to write. I initially started with describing certain scenes that I thought would be perfect for effect. Something that would draw people in, that would spark the imagination. How easy was this going to be? I continued to write and write, often redoing parts that were rough or didn’t make sense. At the end of the day I thought I had something that I was sure was going to spark in other people what was sparks in my imagination. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Even as I read the parts I had written all those months ago, I could envision what I was writing. The unfortunate part is that it does not translate well. People could not see inside my head to what I was envisioning. Thus I had failed as a writer. I could not accurately describe a scene in my head enough so that people felt or imagined what I felt or imagined.

I realized that writing a book or even a short story is really pretty tough. My appreciation for writers has blossomed even further after having tried my hand at it. It has also strengthened my resolve to actually create a story however short, and post it for all to read and scrutinize. I imagine I will do it either in installments as I get blocks ready for viewing and then put them altogether in one final story for viewing once complete. I cannot say how long this will go on, lets say until the end of the month. Write is as often as you want and at the end of the month I will post all the works here.

I encourage everyone that reads this post and has even the slightest inkling to write should do so. Even if you do not want to send it to me to post, just writing for yourself is all I ask. If you feel comfortable enough with submitting your work, please feel free to do so. Please let me know if you want to have it posted or if you just want feedback from me personally. I can be quite a character and can come off a little over the top but one thing I can say is that I will give honest feedback and I will never do anything to make you feel like your work isn’t worthy or meaningful.

Stories of all lengths, poetry, rhymes, limericks, lyrics, thoughts and ideas are all welcome. This isn’t a novel-writing contest, just my way of trying to engage with people about writing. I will also post ideas people have for writing if you feel you have something valid to share. Just let me know that you want me to post your response with everyone.

One final though; please make sure these are original pieces of work. True writers spend too much time and energy doing what they do so we can escape from our own world for a brief period of time just to have some knuckle-head copy their work.

So what are you waiting for…start writing.

More to come…