Sports Novel? Not Really.

One of the protagonists in my story plays field hockey. She is actually a goalie. Coincidence? Not really. I was a field hockey goalie in Junior High School and High School. I think it is a little funny that I went all the way back to Field Hockey in my own life when I started writing on November 1. My story doesn't take place in High School. I guess it takes place in College--although I'm not completely sure. They might be in some sort of futuristic athletic complex.

My characters are all athletes or coaches so far. I find this funny in a way because I think to myself: Self, are you writing a sports novel? I don't think it is really a sports novel. It just happens that the characters are athletes. The main males in the cast are ice hockey players and the female leads are field hockey players. This is a long way from the vampire stories I would write in day's of old. If you could even call them that since they never seemed to go anywhere.

Craig has been giving me suggestions for the names of the ice hockey players. So far we have laughed a lot but I have not used any of the names. If you are a Carolina Hurricane's fan you might get a chuckle out of some of the suggestions. Here are the top four that make me laugh hysterically: Brad Rindamore, Mutt Callen, Way Rippley and of Wam Cord. As you can see they get more and more ridiculous.

Day 1 NanoWriMo

Yesterday was day 1 for NaNoWriMo. I logged 1,188 words for the day. I fell short of the daily 1,667 word count but I'm still pretty proud of my progress. I did not start writing at midnight as I read that many WriMo's do. Sunday was daylight savings time and we gained an hour. There was no way that I was going to squander my extra hour of sleep!

All last week I spent time before falling asleep trying to figure out what I would write about. Often wondering if I would sit in front of the computer on November 1 with nothing to say. Should I go with Vampire story? Werewolf? Realistic? Futuristic? Post Apocalyptic? All of the above?

It's too early to tell, but so far I just started writing what I felt Sunday morning. Low and behold some characters and a situation started to unfold. A lot of it is probably a load of malarkey, but hey it's a first draft. So far it is a lot of fun and it makes me wonder why it has taken me over ten years to start writing something. I guess it is just because I have a goal of finishing by November 30th. After college, I didn't really have any concrete direction so I just let writing take a back seat to real life. Before I noticed a decade had passed!

Brainstorm

Now that I have joined NaNoWriMo I have been brainstorming about what I should write. So far I find that I am faced with the same familiar problems as usual. Do I really feel passionate enough about any subject to stick with writing a story let alone a novel? Many of the themes that intrigued me when I was actually writing way back in the day seem very trivial now.

Will I really be able to write 50,000 words? Isn't worrying about it now really just setting myself up to fail?

Some of the stories I find intriguing these days are really other people's stories. Is it really fair of me to steal their stories like some thief in the night? Is that what real writers do? I really need to shed any obstacles that can hold me back and just jump with abandon into the project.

I have, including today, 9 days to decide what direction I will take. Wish me luck!

Becoming a Writer

A few Years ago a coworker of mine told me about NaNoWriMo and I thought, "Hey, I want to do that!"

National Novel Writing Month takes place in November every year. Participants from around the world set a goal to write a 175 page, 50,000 word novel in 30 days. As they say on their website, it doesn't have to be a good novel the goal is quantity not quality. You don't worry about mistakes you just get the words out there. Throughout the month you log into your account on the NaNoWriMo website and update your word count. You can post excerpts of your writing for other people to read. Participants in different regions meet up throughout the month to encourage each other. This is exactly the kind of writing jump start I need!

When I first learned about it we were already two weeks into November so I didn't join. However, I made plans to do it the following year. The only thing was that I chickened out the following year citing a number of hockey games and other things I was doing that would take too much time away from writing. So, yesterday I set up an account on the NaNoWriMo website. This is the year I write a novel darn it!

Capital Area Greenway

This past Sunday, in an effort to try to be more active, Craig and I walked for an hour and a half along the Capital Area Greenway trail. The Capital Area Greenway is a series of trails around the Raleigh Area that covers about 63.4 miles.

Capital_Area_Greenway_Map.pdf

I really like that we can walk to the trail from the apartment and within minutes be surrounded by nature. In some places you can hardly tell that there is any traffic nearby. I hope that walking along different parts of the trail become a regular thing for us. Once we get our bikes in order, I think we will definitely be able to cover more ground.

Wild Animal Log:

While we were walking we saw one crane, two turtles one live frog and one smushed frog. We have seen multiple bunnies in the past but none on Sunday.

Evil or Pie . . .

Characters from Paul Friedrich’s Onion Head Monster comic have decorated the walls of various restaurants and coffee shops in downtown Raleigh for quite some time now. I remember first seeing some of Friedrich’s art at the Vertigo Diner back in the late 1990’s. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that I had even gone to an Onion Head Monster art gallery opening the summer after I graduated from college. More recently I remember seeing some of his art upstairs at The Morning Times Café a few months ago.

Last week, when walking past Holly Aiken’s store, Stitch, I saw that she had a purse with Dr. Strangegutt, contemplating evil or pie, dangling in her front window. Apparently she had collaborated with several local artists and created a limited edition line, cleverly named CAHOOTS.

Seeing the bag there in the window put a smile on my face. Not only does it bring me back to when I first saw this particular illustration, it reminds me to ask myself: "what am I in the mood for?"

Baby Games

My sister is going to have a baby and I am looking forward to throwing her a baby shower. Even though it is early in the game I thought I should start brainstorming now.

I was looking online about baby shower ideas and came across two really neat ideas. (Can you tell I am excited about throwing a baby shower?) One is for an activity and one is for the shower gift.

Instead of silly games at the shower I think I want to have a craft. While blog surfing I found a number of ideas for decorating burp cloths and onsies. Since we probably won’t be doing any sewing I plan to find some stencils and fabric markers and maybe some stamps that people can use to decorate with.

As far as shower favors go I want to give something nice that is also useful. In my search for a nice shower gift I came across this: A bar of glycerin soap with an attached rhyme “We showered (mom’s name) in pink and blue. Now this ‘shower’ gift is especially for you!”

Just Do It!

I have always wanted to keep a journal but for some reason never follow through. Too many times, I have purchased blank writing journals with beautifully decorated covers with the hope of filling them up only to be intimidated by their creamy blank white pages. I minored in Creative Writing when I was in college, but since then when I sit down to write I find that I have very little to say, or I am too tired or I am afraid I might offend one of my friends by telling their story. In an effort to get into the habit of writing again I have decided to start this online journal.

I have two goals for this experiment to start off with but I may add more along the way:

• Write at least 104 entries by this time next year.

• Invite friends to read the journal and hopefully begin an online dialogue