HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
You know, I look forward to this day every single year. Not just because of the large bags of candy I can purchase without the cashiers giving me strange looks, and not just for the costumes and movies, which I adore, but because the last few days of October turn cool and crisp and stormy…and help build my anticipation for November.
My daughter loves super heroes (like mother like daughter!) and so we have a very super themed costume year. She got a Ninja Turtles costume, then chose to wear her Batgirl outfit instead (totally understandable!) and I…well I cobbled together a few things and became: A SUPER WRITER!!! (theme song to written later).
As you can see, I have my notebook and pen at the ready in order to catch any stories that might come my way. My boom, bang, conversation bubble leggings are just begging for more super characters, and my masks: every good super hero must protect at least part of their identity, right? (*Side Note* My mother said ‘Oh! You’re a MYSTERY writer!)
You may be asking yourself why in the world I would choose this particular get up for the day…well, there are a couple of reasons. #1 I am a writer, so why not be a SUPER writer (muahaha, you knew that was coming). #2 My 3 year old daughter watches the Super Readers show and said to me one day, “Mama, you’re not just a super reader, YOU ARE A SUPER WRITER!” I liked that. and finally #3 NaNoWriMo begins tomorrow. I am writing a story like I’ve never written before. Not just the content, parts of which will be surprisingly similar to previous stories, I’m afraid, but also the target age group and the way I am putting the novel together. So, I might need to be reminded of my inner superhero by the end of the month, er, weekend.
This will be my 8th year (I believe) to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Most of you probably already know about NaNoWriMo, the month in which people from all over the globe log in their word counts and frantically attempt to reach at least 50,000 words in a single story, or group of works if you’re a rebel. 😉
I have won a few of the past seven years, I have fallen just shy of winning for a couple, and there may have been one or two of them that included a woefully shameful shortcoming (one year I didn’t even hit the ten thousand mark). The stress of everyday life can have a huge effect on your ability or desire to push yourself to write at all, let alone get to the *at least* 1,677 words a day you need to hit 50,000 by the end of the month. So why am telling you this?
I am telling you about this because whether or not I won a year, I still wrote. I still discovered at least a few of the beautiful words that lurked deep in the dark recesses of my heart and mind. I still made connections, I still worked hard, and I still reminded myself of my dreams. Yes, even if I failed it wasn’t really a failure because I can look back and see where I was, how far I’ve come, and even the steps I’ve taken to secure the hopes I had way back when. I hope that you are all able to find a way to do that for whatever your hopes and dreams are! No matter the stress or upheaval such an intense month might cause, the rewards, in my opinion, outweigh any issues that I’ve come across so far. I have made year long writing buddies, learned amazing things about my craft (and myself), and found even better ways to annoy my friends and family! (YAY NANO!!)
If you would like to learn more about NaNoWriMo, visit http://www.nanowrimo.org
If you are (or will be) participating this year and would like to add me as a writing buddy, go for it! I’m known as writerbaby13
If you would like to be kept apprised of my writing progress and/or the story I’m going to be pushing through this year, keep it tuned in to this blog or check out http://www.facebook.com/TyreeTomes (don’t forget to ‘like’ the page…and keep checking both sites!)
Here there Be Dragons! 