Getting Back in the Swing

Wow, how embarrassing. 

This post took months to write. I had countless drafts on paper, on my laptop, on my iPad--none felt right. This November, I wrote over 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo, but still no blog post. How silly is that? My most prevalent excuse was my transition from literacy coach back to school speech-language pathologist which was accompanied by much wailing and gnashing of teeth. As part of this process, I busily searched for other speech therapist bloggers, tweeters, and Pinterest pinners. I also lurked on the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) member forums. While reading an ASHA forum focused on school speech therapy issues, I finally got the guts to post on a thread about reading comprehension. I had no idea how other speech and language professionals would react to my literacy-coach-mixed-with-speech-therapy thinking. Thankfully, Mary Cummings, an ASHA certified SLP, responded to what I wrote in a way that didn't make me feel like an idiot. So thank you, Mary Cummings, for reminding me that writing is a risk worth taking, spelling errors and all.

Needing a Pep Talk

I am woefully behind on my 500 words per day challenge. I’ve been avoiding. I’ve been blogging and playing around on Pinterest, which is addicting by the way. I’ve been working at mothering, sistering, daughtering, spousing, and teaching. Lots of shopping and wrapping, too. But I haven’t been writing as much as I want, as much as I need. I am reminded of Lindsey Grant’s pep talk about sick cats. Toward the end of NaNoWriMo, I received an email from Lindsey, and with her permission, I have reprinted it below:

Hi Wrimos,

One wordy week remains in this literary marathon, and I am in the weeds. Nothing I can’t recover from, but I feel chagrined all the same. I don’t much like being behind, and the 23,000 words I have left to write are weighing on me.

I could make excuses for this. I have a really sick cat, for example. Yep, Mufasa K. Grant-Bowen is having a really rough November. (To be honest, he’s having a pretty rough life.)

You know what, though? We all have sick cats. Maybe your “sick cat” is a term paper; it could be a business trip smack in the middle of this already-intense month; perhaps it’s a sick parent or child. Or a sick you!

The point is, we all lead lives that are outrageously packed with obstacles, obligations, surprise catastrophes, (or, in my case, cat-astrophes). But we keep at it, because what we’re doing is important.

How much time in a day, or a week, or a month do we usually set aside to work on a project that is important to us? A project that allows us to create and explore and tell the story we’ve been carrying around in our head or heart for ages?

I know I spend most of my spare time on maintenance: exercising, doing laundry, buying the groceries, cleaning the dishes, making the bed, getting the car serviced, going to the dentist. And lately, going to the vet. A lot.

This is our time! This is our moment! Think of all that we can accomplish in the remaining week.

From where I stand in these word-count weeds, I am so heartened to know that we are all in this together. You, me, my sick cat, and everything else that keeps us away from our novels. Let’s steer this boat toward November 30 and make the very most of what time we’ve got. (And hope that my cat doesn’t barf on us.)

Packing extra paper towels,

Lindsey

Even though Lindsey’s pep talk was meant to encourage novel writers, her words are encouraging for writers in general. The idea is to just keep going. Don’t stop. Keep writing. Creating conditions for young writers to learn how to stick to it even though it is hard is a powerful experience.  This is more than a writing skill. It is a life skill. Lindsey's pep talk impacted me because I knew she was in the writing boat right along with me.  Our students need to know we are in the writing boat with them.



Inspired by Amber Dusick's Crappy Pictures.

Trying to Press On

Sometimes, even when the road ahead
may be challenging to navigate, you just
have to press on, even if you have to
slow down.

I’ve been trying to write more posts and comments this month. I felt like last month, it was all I could do to write my 1700 words per day and post a slice once a week. Not much time to read and comment on the posts of others, which gnawed at me. But the TWT community was incredibly generous.  I have appreciated that TWT slicers instantly welcomed and encouraged each other and if life's challenges trumped posting and commenting, that was okay. There was always, tomorrow, next week, or next month to try again.

I started off this month with a new writing challenge. I joined the 500 Words Per Day Challenge and I planned on posting to my blog daily. So far, the 500 words have flowed fairly well. I’ve commented a lot more, but the daily posting fell apart last week. I haven't given up though. When I was in the midst of the NaNoWriMo challenge, I received a pep talk email from Lindsey Grant from the Office of Letters and Light that I still reread and think about. Lindsey wrote about the obstacles and obligations that all writers face but that pressing on is important work. I think all writers need pep talks, whether you’re a third grader or a 50-year-old. Maybe I will write a pep talk of my own.

Sunday Snippet: Mary Malloy Shoulda Been a Boy, Chapter 1

Image from Microsoft Word

The following is a snippet from my NaNoWriMo novel tentatively titled, Mary Malloy Shoulda Been a Boy. These paragraphs are from the first chapter. After submitting my 50,000 words last weekend, I didn’t plan on looking at the draft again until Christmas vacation. The thought of beginning the revision process was too daunting. I was afraid when I looked at what I wrote, I would hate it, or be embarrassed, or disappointed. So far, I don’t feel any of those things. What a nice surprise. Today, I spent time rereading and revising just a little bit. It felt satisfying like starting to put together a puzzle or beginning to sew pieces of cut fabric to make a garment.

Shoulda Been a Boy

Mary rode her sister's hand-me-down Huffy bike with skinny wheels and twin baskets in the rear to the pool nearly every day that summer. She started swimming lessons later than the other kids and was older. Mary was determined to get through Intermediate 1 and 2 in one summer because she wanted to be able to go to the pool by herself instead of begging her sister to come with her.  Kids that were under 16 had to pass a skills test or pass Intermediate 2 in order to be at the pool without an adult.

It was fairly early in the morning and there wasn’t much traffic. Mary rode her bike on the sidewalk no-handed unless she had to turn or cross a street. The Green Valley City Pool was a fifteen minute ride from her house. She arrived at the pool, chained her bike, and checked in with the lady at the counter by the entrance to the locker rooms. Mary’s name was on the list for Intermediate 1. She walked through the locker room with her eyes down. Older ladies and some young moms with kids actually undressed in front of each other in there. Gross.

Reflections on Using Word Counts

Hmmm . . . let's see, that makes
one word, two words, wait . . .
what's a word?

Up until my participation in NaNoWriMo 2011, I never really thought about word counts. In fact, my view of counting words as a motivational writing practice was dim, especially when working with young writers. Although, I’m still not sure how I feel about using word counts with kids, I’ve completely changed my tune about using them personally. So much that I am attempting another writing challenge for the month of December. My goal is to write 500 words a day. Since it is a personal goal, I get to make my own rules about what kind of writing I can include in my word count. I don’t imagine I would count emails or texts although I could if I chose to. I want to work at producing words that will help me grow as a writer.

The whole NaNoWriMo thing has had sort of a weird impact on me. Not at all what I expected. The biggest thing I learned is so simple I feel dorky writing it. Writers need to write a lot to get better at writing. Duh. I knew that, didn’t I? And writing fiction is very different from composing a blog post. But I was able to use many of the ideas that I played with in SOL’s in numerous scenes throughout the book. I still snort and chuckle when I write that. A book. I wrote a book. And I don’t care if anyone but me ever reads it. It is a piece of me. And with writing the previous sentence, I’ve gone from chuckling to blubbering like a bawl baby. Maybe I’m just tired or menopausal. I’m telling you, this thing has really changed me. By the way, I just wrote two-hundred-ninety-three words.

NaNoWriMo Update: Done (sort of)

Done.

13 chapters.                                                 

142 pages.

50,144 words.

I am not going to think about the reworking, rewriting, revising just yet. I probably won’t even look at it again for another month.  I learned a ton about my writing process and how the people I live with view my writing. At least I think I did. I just need to step away from the whole thing for a time to gain some perspective.

NaNoWriMo Newbie Update: I'm a Plantser

Check it out!

As I write this post late Monday evening, I have 37,000 words down and 13,000 words to go. My purpose in participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge wasn’t to become a published author, although who wouldn’t like that? I wanted to try on the feeling of being an author of a book. And right now it feels like a full-time job. Trying to balance family and school and book writing is much harder than getting the words on the paper. I think it helps that I’m more of a pantser than a planner. I think I am a plantser. I am a planner in that I have an overall road map of where I’m going and a general destination. But I do fly by the seat of my pants and let characters lead me. I also try to hit the suggested daily word count goal. The NaNoWriMo site allows you to create a profile and add your daily word count and graph your progress. For me, this has been motivating and essential in helping me to manage my time. And I'm learning a ton about what it takes to write long and strong. One of the best parts of the challenge has been to receive pep talks from other writers about writing. I found Chris Cleave’s to be particularly inspiring.

My writing buddy is sleeping on the job. :)

NaNoWriMo Newbie Update: Ignorance

Check it out!

It is a darn good thing I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to participate in this challenge.

NaNo Poem

Day 8

13,342 words

Losing some steam

Day 9

15,004 words

Doubting my characters

Day 10

16,628 words

Lots of interruptions

Day 11

16,628 words

Don’t wanna write

Day 12

18,184 words

Still plodding along

Day 13

21,106 words

Grinding it out

Day 14

23,475 words

Almost half way

Newbie to NaNoWriMo

I didn’t start the NaNoWriMo challenge until the third day.  I first considered participating in the challenge last summer. I sat down and tried to write 1600 words about a potential character in a single sitting. I wanted to see what it looked like and how long it took me. Writing at least 1600 words a day was the only way I  thought I could achieve the goal of completing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I don’t have too much fear of facing a blank page so I shamelessly barfed a character up onto the page. It took a good 90 minutes for me to write 1600 words in a fairly coherent manner. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the character or my writing but I figured that part of the experience of writing a novel in 30 days was about trusting yourself and just going for it. I didn’t think about it again until the beginning of October. I never really decided not to do the challenge but I never made a firm commitment to myself either. After giving presentations at school on the first two days of November, exhausted and relieved, I went to the NaNoWriMo site and signed up. I didn't begin putting words on paper until the next day. I started my writing by thinking about a character I liked enough to write a lot about. From the character I determined my audience and purpose. My novel is geared toward a YA audience but also boomer parents who might like YA too. It is set in the 1970’s which might even qualify as historical fiction. Seriously, I’m not even sure.

After 12,000 words, I have begun to adore my characters. And for me, this is a absolute shock. I never expected this to happen. I think about them before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning to write before I go to school. My process for cranking out this novel is very different from writing a blog post. But all those weeks of writing SOL’s and playing with snapshots, dialogue, and explode-a-moments has helped me tremendously. And blogging and sharing with the TWT community has given me confidence. I’m looking forward to seeing if I end up completing this novel in 30 days and what will happen after that. Whatever happens, I’m good with it. For me, it is more about traveling than arriving.

Yes, this is a messy plan but at least I have one, sort of. :)

My list of ideas for chapters or scenes for my nano novel. Just
 saying that I'm writing a novel cracks me up. It feels good
just to try!