Come on, Come on, Do the NaNoWriMo With me…

By Terrie Leigh Relf

I e-mailed a writer friend of mine last week to ask if he was doing the NaNoWriMo. 

“I don’t know that dance,” he replied.  “Is it like the Mambo?  The Cha-cha?”

“It’s not a dance,” I tell him, realizing by his ensuing comments that he really didn’t know what I was talking about, and was not, therefore, attempting to be funny.

“It’s the National Novel Writers Month writing contest,” (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) I type in (thinking how these words should really go into my novel count…). “We write a 50,000-word novel in a month.”

 “Do agents read it?”

“No,” I tell him, “but it’s an opportunity to get a first draft done.”

“Whaddya get from this again?”

 “A first draft.”

 “Is it any good?” he asks.

 “So far, it (insert expletive of your choice as I won’t type in the one I used…),” I say, “but it’s a first draft.  Proceeds go to building libraries and to raise literacy awareness.  It’s also a great bonding process if you have a writing partner.”

“Oh,” he says.

“Oh” is what a lot of my friends and students are saying, looking at me incredulously.  Every once in awhile, someone will ask me my word count.  Just in case you’re wondering, it’s at about 25,300 right now, with two weeks, fourteen days, and I don’t know how many hours, minutes or seconds to go.  Chris Baty over at nanowrimo.org has the countdown posted and regularly updated, if you’re interested.

So, on Sunday afternoon when I limped into Rebecca’s Café where I host a bi-monthly open mic, fellow writers and familiar café patrons asked me what happened.  A few offered one of those telltale winks; others asked me if I’d been out dancing.

“Yeah,” I told them.  I’ve been doin’ the Nanowrimo!”

 “I don’t know that one,” a few people responded.  Others shook their heads.  One friend winked, thinking it was a euphemism for…well, you know (wink-wink).  

What ensued was my explanation (too long-winded to include here) of how I was “in the zone” for about seven hours, sitting in my dilapidated office chair, with what was obviously poor posture (i.e., alternately sitting with my foot under my derriere, half-lotus, full-lotus, slung over the handrails—who knows what other body-defying contortions I attained!).

“Better put some ice on that,” one of my well-meaning friends suggested.  “Alternate that ice with heat,” a nearby patron countered. 

I don’t know about you, but when I’m “in the zone”, I forget about my body unless it screams for food, air, coffee, clove cigarettes—or whatever else it thinks it needs. I love being in the zone.  The words just flow out of my mind, through my fingers, and onto the screen.  Being in the zone even for a day makes up for all those other days when each and every word laughs at me because it can’t believe I actually have the audacity to even type it—much less keep it in the file.  Being in the zone for even an hour makes up for all those hours I lie awake in bed playing around with plots and characters and setting and dialogue, etc. Being in the zone for even a few minutes is like a mega dose of  B-12 vitamins, as it can put me in such a good mood that I forget all those other issues (e.g., paying bills, doing laundry, finding a new job, etc.).

Of course I’ll “finish” the NaNoWriMo. As to whether my novel-in-process is good, let’s just say it has potential.  Ask me if it has a plot, and I’ll tell you that I expect to uncover it by the time this draft is done. Hopefully.

As to my poor writing posture, I’m trying really, really hard to sit up straight, shoulders back, chest open, and head dangling from that invisible string, but I feel my feet and fingers twitching to do the Nanowrimo…(Thank goodness for body workers, acupuncturists, kung fu, bak fu pai, and yoga!)

If you’d like to explore the wacky world of writing without a plot you’ve absolutely got to get Chris Baty’s guidebook: No Plot? No Problem! I guarantee you’ll be inspired!

If you’re not busy doin’ the NaNoWriMo, then maybe you could provide support for someone who is. You can clean their house, bring them prepared meals, coffee, and lots of chocolate. You could also take their kids to school, pick them up, assist them with homework, read them a bedtime story, then put them to bed.  NaNoWriMo-ers will really appreciate your efforts—and promise not to snarl at you when they receive your countless perky phone calls, messages,  and emails letting them know how much more time and how many more words they have to get to that “finish” line.

 Draft two?  Hey Chris, if you’re reading this, maybe we could have a NaNoWriMo boot camp throughout the year…

Until Next Time,

Terrie Leigh Relf

Writer without a Plot

Terrie Leigh Relf lives in South Park, a community burgeoning with writers, in San Diego, CA.  If you’re looking for a writing coach to keep you on task (and to assist you with finding your plot, etc.), then give her a call at (619)234-0763 or e-mail her: tlrelf@cox.net.

If you live in San Diego (or thereabouts), please stop by Rebecca’s Café on the corner of Juniper St. and 30th (in South Park) on the second and fourth Sundays, from 5:00p.m. to 7:00p.m. for the open mic.