I know I can do this. I'm a NaNoWriMo winner!

It was an interesting experience. Can I write 50,000 words in a month if I ignore misspellings, bad punctuation, and places I am yearning to edit? The answer is yes. I accepted the challenge toward the end of October and I met it today, November 28, 2009.

What's interesting is the feeling now that I can do that. I can do it. If I can do that, then I can edit it to perfection and hopefully send it out for the next test: does anyone want to publish it. From my writer acquaintances I know that selling your novel can be difficult, but not impossible.

In my case, I know I can edit and polish the book. I've done that for years as a technical writer. I know there will be some surprises, but there were surprises when I wrote the draft. For instance, I didn't know Charlie would nearly drown because he couldn't swim. I didn't know about the secret tunnel, or that I would gain new friends by meeting adversity. Once I got going, I just went whoosh! If I did it once, I can do it again.

If you think you'd like to try it next year, go to the NaNoWriMo web site and check out the rules. Then next November, let the fingers fly. I expect to do it again next year. See you there.

Marilynne

Just a drop of water

I found this on Facebook, brought to me by Dana Stabenow, the author. It is so cool I thought I should help pass it along.




Marilynne

NaNoWriMO

I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. I'll be checking in here now and then to tell you my woes or my word count or whatever I have time for.

Wish me luck. 50,000 words is a lot of words.

Marilynne

Nov. 1, 2500 words to start. So far, it's easy.

Nov. 4, 9000 words and more to write today.

Nov. 7, 16, 300 words. I'm beginning to enjoy this.

White Sand, Nothing But White Sand

We've been to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The dunes are beautiful, wonderful, awe-inspiring. I took a movie so you could see. I am turning in my spot a full 360 degrees.

Music from Tombstone, Arizona

We visited Tombstone, Arizona, this week. It's where they had the gunfight at the OK Corral. It was hot and so we visited the Big Nose Kate Saloon. The music here is provided by Mick - no other name given.

Enjoy.

Marilynne

Unintended accusations

Last night I left one of my poems at moments of perfect clarity .

Julochka said of the quilt she had pictured that it had been made from clothing her children had once worn.  She always thought of them when she looked at it.  I related to that and thought of the poem.

I thought today that I would tell you a bit about the way this little ditty came to be.  

I was in my first writing class and I’d joined the class late.  Our teacher liked to knit while we read or discussed things.

On this day we were to write a limerick.  I’ve always loved writing limericks and this one popped into my head nearly whole, as my poems often do.

Writing Class

There once was a teacher of note
Who listened more than she wrote
To words of great wit as she sat and knit
Words and letters entangled became.

One day she spied a sweater
And remembered every letter
Of the words between the stitches she had knit
To the words she gave her name
To who belongs the fame?
To the sweater, or the teacher, or the wit?

(c) Marilynne Smith

There is an odd ending to my writing this limerick.  When I wrote it, I didn't realize there is an accusation here.  After all, I was only writing a silly little poem.  I was proud of it and told my teacher that since she was the inspiration for the poem, I was giving it to her.

Ah, unintended accusations.  My teacher never returned to the class.  I was only encapsulating a thought as a poem.  I meant nothing.  I did not intend to accuse her.

I've always felt I would have liked to apologize to her.  But then, would that be making it worse?  I don't know.  I just know that limericks tell a little story and that is the one I told.  It was nothing more than that and nothing less.

Marilynne

WiFi clog.blog

Today as a treat I went to Barnes and Noble and used the 15% off coupon they sent me in the mail.  I grabbed an audio book and an armful of Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagarten books to read on our vacation.  I was having a good day.

I went to the in-house Starbucks for lunch.  I ordered my lunch, and turned around to find a table.  The tables were all filled with people and laptops using the WiFi.  Some had even stacked their books on the adjoining tables so they were holding down two tables!  ARRRGGGHHH!  Here I am with lunch coming and nowhere to eat it - except at the counter in the sunshine.  I guess I should be grateful that sunshine and laptops don't get along.

Having WiFi at a coffee house is a great thing.  I do like the idea.  However, does one cup of coffee entitle you to a seat for a morning or an afternoon?  Time to do your homework with a friend or crash out some work in a friendly environment?  Are you entitled to hog the space?

I asked that, but I really don't care about the answer.  All I wanted was a nice place to eat my $8.50 lunch.  I felt entitled to a comfortable table and they were all taken.  I wish they would expand these coffee houses now to make room for the environment they created.  I wish everyone could have a seat there.

Marilynne