Uncategorized,  Writing

NNWM 2015

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It is September and that means a few things. One, that my birthday is in a month. Two that I need to book the date for our annual cookie baking day. And three, National Novel Writing Month is seeping into consciousness. I need to decide how I would like to participate and to what degree.

Last year I cleared the 50K with relative ease. My approach was to write at least thirty essays, one per day, on topics that I wanted to explore about myself. I created a list of ideas encapsulated in two or three words that I would take my train ride to think about and examine. I looked at my assumptions and where some of my rot ideas came from. I passed the 50K mark with days to spare and more than enough material to keep writing to the end if I really wanted to.

The year before was not nearly as graceful. I tried to write a fantasy novel. I still love the idea of it, and I completed the word count in an obnoxious sprint in the very last few hours. The total of what I wrote was a series of loosely connected vignettes and scenes. There was little character development, no plot, no story movement. I was glad that I completed the goal, but was frustrated about my lack of creative ability to tell a story.

There have been other years I have done and completed NNWM. Only one year I was not able to make the goal. I don’t even remember why. But I am worried that if I try a big project again, that I won’t be able to complete it or have another result like 2013. With the exception of last year, none of these attempts have been particularly easy. I expect the same of this year whatever I decide. And I don’t have the luxury of taking any outside time to get it done. It’s very likely that my work will intrude into NNWM simply because of the amount of things that need to get done.

Options that I am considering this year are writing a mini story a day. I have the idea of a quantum leap kind of scenario except the main character is a girl who experiences death over and over again. Quantum leap overlayed with X-files. I also thought of the story I started two years ago. I still like the story concept, but I might needed to outline more or do come character development. I also thought about working on a retelling or reimagining of the story of Daedalus. I have always loved the idea of Icarus dying from flying to close to the son, but as I get older, I wonder at the rest of the story that surrounded it. In that case, there is a rich, mythological history to draw from and the shell of the story is already there. I just need to figure out how I would reimagine it.

So far, none of these ideas really jump at me enough to get behind. In addition, I had the idea of running NNWM as an event at work as well. There is a subset of rebels that use it to complete other works. There is even a sub-subset of those working on academic papers and dissertations. I thought it would be a cool event to partner up with. But our laboratory space will not be open until November at the earliest. There is not enough time to turn that around. But I keep it on the burner for next year.

But for this year, I still need to figure out my own plans. I will keep looking for ideas. And I probably remind my family that this is coming up. I always get a little squirrely during the actual run. I know one of the things that I have to deal with is fear and creative block. It seems almost presumptuous to claim since I don’t make art for a living, but there it is. I still feel blocked simply because there was a creative part of my life that was present, and now it is not. I know I take this too seriously and that is part of the problem. For now, I need to just be thinking and doing a little planning. I have a little over a month for the rest.

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