Saturday, October 3, 2009

Doing the write thing.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may have picked up that I have aspirations of being a writer.  I maintain a separate persona as a writer/poet under the name of David Seven

seven-3David Seven is my pen-name, and comes from my middle name, and the street where I was born.  (Seventh Avenue)  This is the name I use for all the poetry I write, as well as some of my other book-related activities.  Some people in the real world only know me as David Seven; which is weird I must say.

Except for my Bible Haiku’s, I try not to let the two worlds intertwine.  I have enough difficulty pretending to be a fish, without also pretending to be a writer. 

But I thought I should give you a warning that you might not be hearing a great deal from me for the next few months, because November is David’s favourite month of the year. 

It’s National Novel Writing Month!

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NaNoWriMo as it is known is a time of the year when hundreds of thousands of aspirant writers from around the world lock themselves away from their families and friends, and try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

You heard me right. 50,000 words.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Okay, yes it is.  But its still fun.

n537442018_405376_4515It’s a month of madness, and giving yourself permission to write really badly, and ignore your inner editor.  It’s a time to thrive on the insanity that is writing, and put of thoughts of editing until December.  At the end of the experiment/madness/adventure I hope to have a 50,000 word first draft for editing.  And 50,000 words of nonsense is a lot easier to turn into a novel than 0 words of pure genius.

Has anyone else ever heard of NaNoWriMo?
Has anyone else ever tried it before?
Is anyone else crazy enough to try with me?

“Madness?  This is NANO!!!”

7 comments:

  1. This is the first time I've heard of it. It sounds like fun though.

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  2. Have never heard of it, but then again I am pretty new to this whole blogging/writing world.

    But I think it is awesome and have complete faith that you will do fantastic! I am a huge fan of your Bible Haiku as you know.....and am sure that the same wisdom, inspiration and creativity will flow into this novel.

    Let me know if you need any comfort fish food sent over to your reef...

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  3. I don't think this sounds so crazy.

    But then again, my first attempt at fiction (after nearly 30 years of non-fiction and legal writing) netted 180,000 words in about three months.

    I'll miss you, Favorite Fish. Don't forget us!

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  4. Don't worry people, I'm not going to be completely abandoning the blog.

    But each word I type here is a word I could be adding to my 2000 words a day target, so I might be spending less time drafting posts.

    Unless I make one of my main characters in my story come and read my blog everyday, then I can retype it into the book.

    Hmmm. Interesting idea. :-)

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  5. Wait...

    I do that anyway. But you probably figured that out already. And I know your real name, but I'm not talking...

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  6. This is a very popular event at the college where I work, to the point where professors are even giving class time to allow students to complete their novel. Good luck!

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  7. I had actually heard that some college's are making use of it in their creative writing classes.

    Of course I think most serious academics react the same way as serious writers, which is to snort their noses at us and shake their heads.

    They're just jealous because it took them longer than a month to write their first book. :-)

    Hoo Ha HA!!!

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Say Hoo Ha Ha!