NaNoWriMo: Why I Participate

As the month of October progresses and November nears, many people are beginning to plan for Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Costumes are purchased, family is contacted, menus are planned, treats are bought.  In my profession of pastor, October is often the time to begin planning for Thanksgiving worship and the season of Advent.  We start learning Christmas songs in Sunday School and begin asking families to lead the lighting of the Advent candles.  But for me, the tail-end of October is about planning for something else.  Something that has become a very important tradition in my life, despite how time consuming and overwhelming it can feel.  I am talking about National Novel Writing Month, known to participants as NaNoWriMo.  It is thirty crazy days of writing 50,000 words of original fiction, whether it is from a preplanned outline or simply doing what has come to be called "pantsing" (flying by the seat of your pants).  I tried this insane journey for the first time in November of 2008 and only completed about 20,000 words.  Despite my failure, I attempted the feat a second time in 2009 and did even worse, quitting with less than 10,000 words.  In 2010, I attempted the task yet again, this time trying to finish the draft I had begun in November of 2008.  I was doing really well until an extremely busy couple of weeks at work completely derailed my ability to finish.  I ended up with another 20,000 words.

My failures were disheartening, but I continued to write anyway.  Between November of 2008 and October of 2011, I completed a first draft of a fantasy fiction novel titled The Lantern of Rahela.  All in all, the manuscript contained around 75,000 words.  I could not believe I had written so much.  Yet even in my excitement over finishing something, I felt I had an unfinished task left to complete.  In November of 2011, I did not participate in NaNoWriMo.  I had just finished my novel and was too excited about editing to do more writing on something else.  But when Camp NaNoWriMo rolled around in June of 2012, I was ready and excited to work on the sequel to my completed novel.  The awesome thing about Camp NaNoWriMo (which is different from regular NaNoWriMo) is that they assign you a virtual cabin with others who are trying to write 50,000 words.  For my first Camp experience, I was assigned an awesome cabin.  We nicknamed ourselves the Pantsing Panthers and encouraged one another through a group on Facebook.  With that support in place, I actually achieved my goal.  I wrote 50,000 words in the month and felt really good.  Unfortunately, the manuscript draft was nowhere near complete.  So, when NaNoWriMo rolled around that November, I decided to take the opportunity to finish my story.  During November of 2012, I wrote another 50,000 words and completed the draft of my second novel.  It was grueling, stressful, exhausting, mentally draining, and TOTALLY AWESOME!  I was hooked.

Now, you might be wondering why on earth I would subject myself to something that I describe as grueling, stressful, exhausting and mentally draining.  And that is a valid question.  I saw just today this funny comic that depicts this inner conflict in a funny way:

So, if it is so difficult and is strictly self-imposed, why do I do it?  Why do I participate in NaNoWriMo?  There are really three reasons:

1.  I love the finished product.  Writing so much in such a short amount of time draws weird, creative ideas out of you that you might never have come up with if you were writing the story at a slower pace.  Those elements, while not always keepers, add intrigue and interest to your story.

2.  Participating in NaNoWriMo connects me to something larger than myself.  The NaNo world is diverse, with variety in terms of age, race, sex, genre, and nation.  During NaNo, I feel slightly less isolated from this gigantic world we live in.

3.  It forces me to have better priorities.  I know that if I am going to find an hour or two a day to write I am going to have to make it a priority.  That means making other things less of a priority, things that probably should be less of a priority anyway.  I feel like I get more done in less time during NaNo because I have to set boundaries on everything.  And when I do that, I feel better about myself and my life.

So, maybe you are not convinced to do NaNoWriMo for yourself after reading this, but perhaps you at least can understand my craziness.  I truly believe that everyone should try NaNo once in their lives.  You might hate it, it might drive you to the brink of insanity, but you might also find that you love it...possibly for those very reasons. :)  So, that's why I participate in National Novel Writing Month.  Go to nanowrimo.org and sign up to join me!  It will be the most stressful and amazing month of your life!

UPDATE: Potato Towers

Well, I have been attempting to grow potatoes in towers for 23 days.  This is a new experience for me, so I am trying to document it as I go along.  I've been a little slow in posting so I have two updates to share.  I noticed the first plants sprouting on May 27th...15 days after planting the seed potatoes.  Here is what they looked like:

A potato plant at the very top of one of the towers

A couple plants growing on the side of a tower

Since then, the plants have really started growing.  We can see them from inside our house now.  It's exciting to watch.  Here are some pictures I took today (June 4th - 23 days after planting).

The same plant from the first picture above.

Here is one of the towers.  You can see all the plants growing around it.

I'm enjoying this fun experiment.  So far it is going well!  Can't wait to see if we get some potatoes from it!

Growing Potatoes in Towers

Today, I began something I've never tried before.  At the request of my almost 5 year-old son, we are going to try to grow potatoes.  I knew nothing about how to do that, so I began to research the process online.  I discovered a few sites that suggested you could grow potatoes in a tower.  Each site gave instructions for how to make such a tower.  I read those sites and then modified them a bit to go with the resources I had at my disposal.  Here is what I did:

Step 1: Clear a space of ground about 2 ft. by 2 ft.
Step 2: Put a tomato cage in the middle of the square.
Step 3: Wrap wire fence around the cage with about a 1 to 2 inch clearance and connect the fence to itself with wire.
Step 4: Put dried grass clippings, straw, or hay against the fencing on the inside of the tower.
Step 5: Press sprouted seed potatoes (sprout side facing out) into the dirt in a circle about an inch from the hay and about 4-5 inches from each other. (I put about 5-6 potato pieces per level.)
Step 6: Cover with dirt. (I did 2-4 shovel-fulls, ~ 2-3 inches)
Step 7: Repeat steps 4-6 until you reach the top of the fencing.
Step 8: Place 5-6 seed potatoes in dirt on the top of the tower and cover with more dirt.
Step 9: Cover top with more grass clippings and a shovel-full of dirt.

And this is what you have....

The finished tower

Three towers

I will update in the future to see how these turn out.  They may be a terrible fail, but I am hopeful that they won't.  Hopefully, in a few months, I will be able to post some pictures of the potatoes that have grown in these.  Either way, it will be an interesting journey.  Feel free to comment with suggestions or stories of your own experiences with growing potatoes.  Thanks!

Step by Step

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed today with the enormity of what I desire to accomplish with my novel writing.  There are so many steps to complete between here and publication, many of which are not in my control.  Adding to that my insecurities and my inexperience, you've got a recipe for giving up.  I know because I've been here before.  When I was in college, my dream was to be a singer-songwriter.  I felt certain that I had the talent to get signed by a label and recorded.  After a few struggles and much research into the ins and outs of getting signed, I eventually decided it was too much work and gave up.  Was that the right decision?  I don't know for sure, but it still makes me sad when I think about it.

We all have dreams like that.  We all have passions that drive us and inspire us.  But far too often the difficulties of living into those passions with all that we are is hard.  And when we face rejection or setbacks along the way, it is much easier to give up those dreams than to press on....or is it?  In the short term perhaps it is.  But when all is said and done, does the difficulty of giving it our all really outweigh the pain of giving up on our dreams?

The problem with giving something our all is that in doing so we make ourselves vulnerable.  For example, an artist throws himself or herself into their work.  She bears her soul in every painting, every sculpture, every song.  Then when someone rejects that piece of art it is as if they are rejecting the artist's soul.  That is tremendously painful.  And the longer an artist spends on his work, the more of him is embedded within it.  Therefore he has more to lose, more chance for pain.

I've been working on my novel for over 3 1/2 years now.  I've invested MANY hours into it.  I've recruited the help of others.  The characters have become my friends.  My heart and soul are deeply woven into the fabric of the pages.  The thought of my novel being rejected, disliked, or dismissed makes my heart pound, my nerves flare, my whole being quake.  So, what am I to do?  What are all of us to do with our dreams?  Can we afford the price it will most definitely cost to press on?  Can we afford not to?

This morning, I am feeling lonely and overwhelmed.  So many steps lie before me that I have a hard time believing I can make it to the end.  Even worse, I feel alone on the journey.  Even those who I know love and care for me seem outside the path.  The place I want to go is a place I must journey alone.  But how am I to get there?

I am inspired this morning by this song from the late Whitney Houston:



Here is the refrain:
Step by step
Bit by bit
Stone by stone
Brick by brick
Step by step
Day by day
Mile by mile
Go your own way!

It is time for me to stop looking at the big picture for a moment, to stop focusing on the ultimate goal, and instead turn my attention to the step that is right before me.  I love the scene in What About Bob? where Bob is told by Dr. Marvin to simply take life in baby steps.  And Bob proceeds to walk everywhere saying, baby-stepping to the door, baby-stepping onto the elevator, etc.  Hilarious!



So, today I'm going to take baby steps.  I'm going to enjoy my day off of work by hanging out with my kids, cleaning my house, and editing chapter 6.  I'm sure I will take some time to check on the Cubs-Cardinals game as well.  But I am going to try to avoid thinking about all the future steps that will need to be taken, try to avoid dwelling on the improbability of being published and the hard work needed just to get my manuscript read.  Those things will still be there later when everything else is in place.  For now I need to simply take it all step by step.  Care to join me?

Brackets, Spaces, Question Marks, and Other Punctuation (in bullet points)

I'm in the midst of a very busy season so have not written as much as I would have liked.  That said, a few things have been percolating.  So, here are my thoughts in bullet points:

• March Madness has begun.  I am not a big college basketball fan, but my wife and I usually try to put together brackets and compete against one another.  It is usually just for bragging rights, though on occasion we have placed small bets with one another (usually a Mt. Dew for me and something of similar value for my wife).  So, I have North Carolina winning it all, which is actually who I pick almost every year...primarily because they have a foot as their symbol on some of their parephernalia.  I will probably lose (as I do most years), but it is still fun.  Who do you have winning in your bracket?
• The sport that I most love is baseball...particularly Chicago Cubs baseball.  We are currently in the space between the end of last season and the beginning of a new season, but that space is coming quickly to an end.  Spring Training has begun and hope springs eternal!  The Cubbies go into the season with some new faces and some young up-and-comers.  Most are counting them out in 2012 because they see them in "rebuilding" mode.  But there is nothing I love more than an underdog story...and if it came in the form of my beloved Cubs making a run at the World Series, it would be even that much more amazing.  So...GO CUBS GO!!!!
• On a very different note, it was recommended this week that my wife have surgery to remove a couple of masses that have grown on her thyroid.  We were told all the statistics regarding the likelihood of the masses being cancerous and the stats regarding all the possible dangers of the surgery, and in the end we chose for her to have the surgery.  But we still have many question marks.  Are the masses cancerous or benign?  We won't know for sure until she is under the knife.  How will she come through the surgery?  Will there be any lasting consequences?  We obviously won't know that for a while.  Who will watch our kids so I can be with her before and after the procedure?  The answer to that is beginning to become clearer, but has not been fully answered yet.  I have a deeper appreciation for the many people who have gone through these situations with a loved one or for themselves.  My thoughts and prayers are with all those who are in a similar situation as us with many unknowns, those who are facing the "knowns" of cancer or other illnesses, those undergoing treatment, those whose loved ones are gone, those whose loved ones are still fighting, those whose loved ones are in remission, and those who live in fear of disease wreaking havoc on their own body or that of a loved one.  May you all experience healing, peace, and wholeness!
• As a tool for relaxation, and because I simply enjoy it, I have been doing a lot of reading lately.  My current selection is Book 2 of the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull.  It is a wonderful fantasy series about a magical preserve that is home to all sorts of wonderful, mystical creatures.  If you like fantasy (or even if you don't), I recommend this series.
• As far as my own writing goes, I am blessed to have had one of my readers finish reading The Lantern of Rahela and provide me with some wonderful feedback.  I now have two other readers in process and a few who have received the manuscript but have not told me they are reading it to this point.  I hope to have had three readers finish the manuscript by the summer so that I can make some edits, have another round of readers, and then begin preparing a query letter to send to literary agents with the hopes of getting my novel published.  In the meantime, I have been working on the beginnings of two new novels: the sequel to my first, which is tentatively titled The Mountain of Me'arah, and a YA sci-fi novel that is presently untitled.  I'm hoping to do Camp NaNoWriMo (www.campnanowrimo.org) in June to complete a draft of one of them.
• Finally, I am LOVING the almost summer-like weather in mid-March.  What an amazing blessing!  I hope you are all having a wonderful year so far...full of exclamation marks!

My Sunday Afternoon

So, I had all these plans for today.  I wanted to do some laundry, wash some dishes, clean up the house a little, read more of "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins, and perhaps do a little writing on the scifi novel that I started recently.  Instead, my son asked me to make Radiator Springs from the Disney Pixar Cars movies.  I had attempted this once before and it was destroyed quickly, so I was relectant to try...BUT...he kept pestering me, so I gave in and here are the results:

RADIATOR SPRINGS

FILLMORE'S ORGANIC FUEL, SARGE'S SURPLUS HUT,

& ORNAMENTAL VALLEY MECHANICAL CLINIC

FLO'S V8 CAFE & RAMONE'S BODY ART

COURTHOUSE/FIRE DEPT & LUIGI'S CASA DE LA TIRES

LIZZIE'S CURIO SHOP, THE COZY CONE MOTEL,

& TOW MATER'S

This was far more effort than I really wanted to exert on an unnecessary project today, but it turned out pretty good and Jakob loves it.  Fun to find uses for the numerous sheets of cardboard that I still have from my job back in Illinois (which I left 8 years ago).  Ka Chow!!!



Attention Seeking

I decided to take a small break from writing posts just about writing and address something on my mind today.  As a father of two young children, I am all too familiar with the desire of children to seek attention by all means necessary.  My 4 year old and 2 year old have tried many things, both good and bad, to summon the attention of myself or my wife.  In my conversations with other parents and interactions with other children, I know that this behavior is not at all uncommon.  But as children grow, they begin to realize which behaviors get them "good attention" and which get them "bad attention."  And as they learn this, they begin to stop most of the behaviors that get them "bad attention."

As I watched the Grammys last night, I began to realize that one the biggest problems we are facing as a society is that we have a generation of kids reaching adulthood now who have never navigated past the attention seeking stage.  They never learned that "bad attention" is exactly that...bad.  And that view is supported by the superstars that this generations clings to....the Chris Browns, Lady Gagas, Katy Perrys, and Nikki Minajs.  They are known more for their outrageous, lewd, or violent behavior than for the talents they possess.  That is not to say that they don't possess a great amount of talent.  These young musicians have never learned that it is better to have good attention and be praised for the things inside them that are beautiful, noble, and excellent than it is to receive the kind of attention that comes from performances like the one Nikki Minaj gave last night at the Grammys.

We wonder where our society has gone wrong and we look to politicians to fix it.  We see the problems in our children and we blame the schools for not doing a better job.  The reality is that the problems of our attention seeking society start at home.  They start with me and you.  So, it doesn't really matter which candidate ends up in the office of President or what promises they make us.  Change must happen on the ground, in the trenches, at home.  We are the change makers.  We are the catalysts for worldwide reform.  And that change begins with us all navigating the attention seeking stage for ourselves and then helping others to do the same.