Maybe it is his video game withdrawal or the fact that he is not used to being outside for such lengthy periods of time, but Zane finds himself under constant surveillance of an alien named Jax. Jax never stops talking, trying to convince Zane that it is able to travel to an Inner Plane of the universe where an Aged is King is destroying civilization to find his lost jewel. Jax has plenty of stories to share about how the children of the Inner Plane are fighting back:
An orphan forced work in the textile factories within the Walled Cities who learns to read.
A warrior girl of the Arikara Tribes that reunites her people with the Great Herd.
An elemental boy who rescues a baby bear from wolves and learns they share a special connection.
The youngest sea captain who crashes on an island that reveals memories that had been purposely taken from him.
I had commented during a poetry segment in his Language Arts course that I thought he was an amazing poet and that he should think about continuing on with the art form after the course was over.
He is now in the working stages of creating me a book of his poetry!!!
To commemorate my son’s future as a poet, I am releasing, via my blog, a poem that I have written. It is featured in Scholarly Creative Writing, so if you’ve already purchased my book, it isn’t new (sorry).
Thus concludes National Novel Writing Month, and with it the Nanowrimo challenge.
If you remember, I was taking National Novel Writing Month TO THE EXTREME!
Some were able to make it to champion status.
Others didn’t, but they have more words than when theystarted, and I hope they continue to bring their ideas to fruition.
The most important lesson that this month taught me as a writer,is the need for discipline. That seems an ironic concept, as I trained in the martial arts for a few years, especially with the mindset that what you learn on the mats transcends into your every day lives.
Even if you don’t have a game plan for the writing, you have to have a game plan of when and what you’ll be working on each day or it won’t work. And if your schedule is as crazy as mine is, you really do need to pencil in times to write.
Writing is also like a muscle. You can likely finish a 10k without a training, but it won’t happen in the same time frame than someone who has been training for the big day. I was only successful because I have been working out almost every day… on writing. Don’t think I can actually run a 10k or anything.
I let the Stackskill thing go to the wayside. Again, from the martial arts, I was conditioned to believe that you must always go back to the fundamentals if you want to succeed, but these fundamentals diverted from my time to get to work. I felt like I was stuck in a lecture that, although brief, I couldn’t get out of.
I have about an hour left of Steven King’s On Writing. I’ve enjoyed it some extent,but I can see now why he claims he will never be able to break out of that Suspenseful Literature like he wanted to a few years back. His views on writing are the makings of the own box that he put himself into, but his insights are something that all writers should go through so that they can make conscious choices about their writing.
How was everyone else’s National Novel Writing Month?
I am a child of The Princess Bride movie. The witty banter, the belief in true love… the passion for adventure.
It’s crazy that my literary week has been consumed with William Goldman only to hear that he passed away.
It wasn’t easy explaining that to the kids. I had them fall in love with an author only to have him pass away.
Last night we got to the part where the man in black is climbing up the cliff.. and the rope is cut! But dang if that doesn’t stop him! Up he climbs, the true spirit of perseverance. But who is he?
And being 10, she kept saying “Inconsiderate” instead of inconceivable. My constant corrections were driving her crazy, but this is something you have to get right! It’s these small details that stay with you forever.
Of course, I corrected her by saying “You keep saying that word! I don’t think it means what you think it does.” Which cracked me up immensely, but irritated my little young reader. And when she got to the part were Inigo says it, the look on her face was worth it…
Not knowing how the tale unfolds, my daughter mourns the death of Westley. She was upset that he died because Buttercup loved him. Westley will be reborn… he will live on and will continue both his own legacy but Goldman’s as well. As writers, isn’t that one of the finer ironies in life? Your characters will live again and again within the minds of the reader long after you’re gone.
Thank you William Goldman for helping to shape my childhood, but helping me pass on memorable moments to my children.
November is National Novel Writing Month, and if you don’t think that I am the kind of person to take that seriously, then by golly you know nothing about me, for I have taken National Novel Writing Month TO THE EXTREME!
In addition to that- I am listening to Steven King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.” Honestly, I almost bailed when the Foreword mentioned his love for Elements of Style, but I am trying to be respectful of others making choices that might not exactly align with my own. I figure this is a good step in that direction. So far, I’ve enjoyed learning about little Stevie King!
I am also reading John Dufresne’s The Truth That Tells A Lie. I have read sections of it before for classes, but now I am going read it cover to cover to get the full Dufresne experience.
And to round off my obsessive tendencies, CNN was having a promotion of StackSkills courses featuring writing and copyediting. As I just finished my Bachelor program, I thought it would be fun to stay on the learning wagon and see what their courses have to offer me (plus it’s cheaper than going to get my Masters!).
Is anyone else celebrating National Novel Writing Month, and if so, what are you doing?
My son’s school is expanding, which kind of sucks because my property taxes went up, but it’s exciting because it looks like my kids now go to the school of the FUTURE. Seriously, I think they modeled the look of the school to be like a building on the Jetsons…only firmly cemented on Earth. Could you imagine the taxes needed to keep up a building that defies gravity?!
Now, I don’t know if this really makes sense, because you figure that if the school is expanding, so is the library, but they recently did a purge of books. I am proud to say that my book squirreling fanaticism was passed off onto the eldest, for he came home with more than his fair share of free books.
He had me in mind when he snagged one:
The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson.
coffee… social activism… rebellion… angsty characters..
Yup that about sums up my needs as a reader.
I will be making sure that every adolescent that crosses my path knows of this book’s existence. In a world that is so politically charged (and divided), this book inspires our next set of social justice activists. Now, the main character didn’t exactly set out to be a political revolutionary, but I’d wager neither do most social activists. It’s one of the consequences of seeing the need for change in the world you live in and realizing that no body is going to bring about that change but yourself.
More importantly, you don’t need to be older, smarter, or richer, in order to create change in the world. Young people are doing amazing things each day.
For example, The Stoneman Douglas Highschool Activists on creating safer gun control:
Malala Yousafzai advocating for women to receive equitable education:
Sophia Cruz on humane immigration practices.
It’s truly amazing whether you agree with their stances or not. Every day, no matter what your age or position in society, you have a voice!
And writing is a great tool for becoming empowered!
Stevenson wrote The Latte Rebellion during a NaNoWriMo challenge, which given that it is the Eve of NanoWrimo, should inspire those embarking upon National Novel Writing Month. I’m surprised that so many writers around me have not heard of this, so let me do a quick clarification. November (yikes that’s tomorrow) is National Novel Writing Month, and there is an organization called NanoWriMo that challenges writers to spend this month plugging away at a project. The goal is to get to 50,000 words, which is the smaller side of an average book. They have an online forum page, regional chapters who host events, web series, and word sprint mini challenges to keep writers engaged. They also host CampNanoWrimo events twice a year that allow you to set your own goals.
I find it incredibly useful to build up your writing muscles, but more importantly to NETWORK! Writing is incredibly isolating, and so it’s healthy to find a community of writers to support and to be supported by. I’ve found a lot of my online community by being a resident CampNaNoWriMo member. This will be my first official attempt at NanoWrimo itself. I have faith that if Stevenson can be successful, I can be as well!
I would like to personally thank Felicia Day for her memoir, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). I know her from her internet show, The Guild, but my mom, and most everyone else, know her as Charlie from Supernatural.
I’ve always loved her because she outwardly owns how I feel on the inside – an awkwardly adorable nerd. I could tell right away that she was a kindred spirit.
When I saw her memoir was on audible, it became my summer jam. Audible books are great, especially memoirs being read by the person themselves, because it feels like you are having a conversation with them.
I finished Day’s book while recovering from eye surgery. The memoir felt like she was saying “Yeah, you crying tears of blood is a bit weird, but have you heard about how I was homeschooled?” <~ It was the perfect distraction to help me re-coop.
I thought my right eye was literally going to pop out of my socket. I essentially laid on the ground thanking gravity for its existence, because I felt it was the only thing keeping my eyeball on the inside of my head. It wasn’t paranoia; it was science!
I really identified with her needing to get that 4.0 in college. Sadly, in both community college and in my four year institution, I did not maintain it. And you know what, I’m still bitter. The classes that took me down were supposed to be easy and fun ~> Looking at you Digital Photography and Introduction to Mythology! Felicia’s ability to keep her 4.0 is proof that she deserves to be put on a pedestal that I will forever worship.
There were other gems found in that memoir, specifically the issue involving GamerGate. I admired Day’s incredible strength in defending all gamer women. I’ve been accosted myself a few times playing games, and as one who has taken numerous sociological classes with a focus on gender, I can attest that these conversations are not only vital but well over due.
I am, however, disappointed because she mentioned that a PDF should have been included with the audio book, yet I never received it. I missed out on glorious visual elements that would have fully engaged my experience with this memoir.
Being partially blind for an entire week made me a bit crazy, but since the whole point of the novel is to own what makes you a weirdo, I feel comfortable sharing this with you all. Crazy and weird are practically synonyms right?
I am a child of The Princess Bride movie. The witty banter, the belief in true love… the passion for adventure.
And being 10, she kept saying “Inconsiderate” instead of inconceivable. My constant corrections were driving her crazy, but this is something you have to get right! It’s these small details that stay with you forever.
First on the line up-
In addition to that- I am listening to Steven King’s “
I am also reading John Dufresne’s 
