Thoughts on NaNoWriMo, Halloween, and Hurricane Sandy.

Tomorrow is the day.  Let the writing begin and the lack of sleep start to stack up.  National Novel Writing month may test my dedication, but I plan on coming out the other side a winner with a finished first draft.  I feel that I will approach this the same way I did running a marathon: training is important, but in the end you need to pace yourself and keep running.  Writing a novel in one month goes the same way: pace myself and just keep writing.

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Tonight I will enjoy a fun evening of trick or treating with the family.  We will order pizza and the boys will each have some friends come over to go out with. We will bundle up and go head out. I am prepared with about 20 bags of candy for the flood of kids.  I love today.  Where I live Halloween is amazing.  The subdivision is filled with kids and families can be seen everywhere.  Parents have fires in their driveways and laughter can be heard in the air.  It may be cold and it might rain, but it will not dampen the spirits of my boys who woke up early this morning very excited to get ready for school and the days Halloween festivities.  My daughter does not know what today is all about yet, but she does love dressing up and at just over a year is adorable in her princess dress. 

Afterwards the writing starts.  My goal is over 1700 words a day with an attempt at 2000.  Revision is to be put off till December.  I will try to get some blogging in as well.   Have a great Halloween and happy trick or treating!!!!

On a sad and reflective note my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone on the east coast and beyond who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Watching the coverage on the news has been very sobering and I know that the recovery will be long and hard.  In times like these we need to be able to lean on our neighbors for support and strength.  It is humbling to see the destructive power of Mother Nature and inspiring to see the enduring power and resiliency of the human spirit. 

To everyone involved and those on their way to help: stay strong, be safe, and God Bless. 

National Novel Writing Month is almost here and so is the World Series!!!

Today I signed up for Nanowrimo and I am really excited.  I am going to try and write a full novel in only one month.  I have reservations about the time I have to write with work and family to contend with, but I am encouraged by the support I already have at home.  My wife is fully behind this endeavor and has told me she will help in any way that she can.  I have an idea, a plotline, and noble intentions.  Now comes the moment that I need to step up to the plate and put my pen (or in reality my keyboard) behind my mouth. I will try to keep everyone updated on my progress here on my blog.  For anyone who has gone through National Novel Writing Month what are your tips for success and for those who have never attempted it check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

On a different front the Detroit Tigers are in the World Series vs. the San Francisco Giants and I for one am very excited. I remember 1984 as a kid and was there in 2006 when Maggs hit the walk off homerun against Oakland to go to the World Series.  This year I will watch the games through the eyes of my own boys who are as excited as I am to watch their Tigers win it all.

Visiting other Writer's Blogs

Today I read a very interesting blog post at http://thewritepractice.com/become-a-writer/.  The author Joe Bunting wrote a post titled, “5 Reasons you Should Consider Becoming a Writer”.  It is a really well written piece that lays out reasons to write other than to get published or to make big money.  In fact it speaks to the reason we all began writing in the first place.  It you are interested please go to the blog.  This was the first time I visited it, but after reading it I am sure to go back again.  Being new to blogging I don't know the etiquette for reposting comments I made somewere else but below is the comment I posted on his blog in response to the article:

F. Scott Fitzgerald said that “You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”

I write because I want to say something positive about the human spirit and the potential within us all.  I write because I have stories that need to be told and ideas that need to be expressed.  I want people to come away from my writing full of hope and imparted with the idea that you can rise above your means to become a better person.  A storyteller is saying so much more than the words on the page and the actions of their characters.  In my stories I am weaving a much bigger narrative that says something about life and the limitless possibilities therein.  When I first learned to read I remember being amazed at the world out there just beyond my door and enchanted by the fact that the words on the page could transport me into the worlds of Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Alexandre Dumas, J.R Tolkien, F. Scott Fitzgerald, David Eddings, Johann David Wyss and countless other authors.  These books were not only great adventures, but they taught me something.  In those pages I learned about honor, respect, love, tradition, & faith to name a few.  I saw in those pages how to be a better man.  That is why I write.  I want to tell a compelling story that says so much more then is on the page.  Writing is exciting and a good story that needs to be told is why I sit in front of a keyboard seeing where it will take me. 

A New Path

This weekend while I was sitting in church a new idea for a book came to me.  I know that I am working on a book, but it is stagnating and maybe this new idea is just what I need.  Plus it is all I can think about.  I flushed out some of the main ideas in my head as I waited for mass to end so I could hash out my ideas and talk about them to my wife who knew something was up by the look on my face.  Since then I have outlined some of the main plot points and jotted down a semi-basic plot line. (I never do plot lines) I have also started to do research on some of the background information I will need for this novel.

Stay tuned.  It is so exciting to have a fresh new idea that is dying to get out.