The end of Nanowrimo

So remember that blog post I wrote at the end of October? The one where I said I'd take the Nanowrimo challenge and write an average of 1,666.66 words a day or 50,000 words in the month of November? Then there was that second post I wrote a week into November where I talked about taking breaks between writing. So you want to know the truth? OK, here it is. I tried. I tried really hard for about a day. Then I tried hard for another couple days. Then I just simply tried for the rest of the week. Then I stopped trying and just enjoyed November. And that was the best choice I could have made. Because in the whole month of November I wrote a total of 469 words of the novel I thought I would write. (Hey, that's almost a whole essay, right?) But I wrote a lot of other words. Words in e-mails, words in comments on other people's blogs, words on Facebook posts. And I did a lot of things. Came back from a trip to the southern states where I got to see family and friends I haven't seen for more than a year (or two). Cleaned a church member's house and yard almost from top to bottom in four days. Took more pictures than I care to go through of the family of three deer that frequent the yard. Drove to and from the Orono area several times where we're moving to for Jonathan to take his master's. Went to New Jersey with Jonathan and his mum over US Thanksgiving weekend to help his grandparents clean up their shore house from the damage it got during Hurricane Sandy. Helped Jonathan clean the chimney (actually, he did all the work, I just held on to the rope). Helped Jonathan hang Christmas lights on the house. And today, moved the first van-load of things up to our new apartment!

I don't think I could have done all those things and also written a novel. And I'm not really sad that I gave up on Nanowrimo because if I hadn't, I might not have been able to do all those things and more. Maybe I'll actually do Nanowrimo one year. Maybe I'll actually write a novel or a book or even just write up family stories some day. Maybe. But maybe not. At this point in time, I think I need to spend more time with people and less time with my computer. So I'm not sad that my 469 words didn't turn into a book this month. I got to embrace life in other ways and I want to keep on doing that. Nanowrimo, thanks for the challenge, but it wasn't quite what I needed this year. I'm so glad I started, though, to realize it wasn't my main priority.

Inspiring photographs

Usually it's Jonathan who blogs about photography. I like photography, but it's not one of my hobbies or passions. But tonight, I feel compelled to mention a feast for the eyes that I have been enjoying recently.

For the past several days, whenever I'm trying to write something for NaNoWriMo all I can think of is "Why hasn't someone else (like my favourite Canadian young adult authors Jean Little, Kit Pearson, or Sarah Ellis) written this story already? I would LOVE to read what they have to write about this subject." And I've realized I would so much rather read my ideas in already-written story form than create the whole storyline myself. Writing a novel is completely exhausting. So I've been taking lots of breaks. And what have I been doing during those breaks? Why, looking at awe-inspiring pictures by photographers from around the world.

Paul Nicklen / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012

Before our recent Southern-USA Trip, my brother posted the message, "This should be right up your alley." on my mum's Facebook page with this link: Winners of the 2012 Wildlife Photographer of the Year. I clicked the link and was blown away by the amazing pictures as I scrolled through the post. In the few days I've been home, though, I've gone farther than that 'This is Colossal' post, and have looked through the full gallery online. If you're at all interested in photography or just enjoy seeing some really great wildlife pictures, I'd encourage you to do the same. (I'd love to post more of the pictures on here, but I'm not able to download them. You just have to go look yourself.) These photographs have inspired me in so many ways. I've especially appreciated the short write-ups about each picture. Where each photograph took place. How the picture came to be. How long the photographer took to carefully set up each shot. How quickly the perfect conditions disappeared, sometimes leaving the photographer with only one amazing shot that made all the trouble worth it. Each story and picture is so incredibly fascinating and inspiring!

Richard Peters / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012

Some of my favourite pictures were in the Young Awards category. Photographers, as young as 10 and under and up to 17 years old, submitted pictures and won awards for their work. They inspired me in a special way because I remember writing stories starting at nine years old. (I thought they were masterpieces; reading them now, I realize they were not.) But seeing something a young person creates, takes the time to think carefully about and loves into existence, that's impressive and I appreciate the efforts these young people have gone through with their photography.

All the galleries have set my travel-instinct alight again, and my soul is filled with desire to see the spectacular settings featured in each picture. But more than that, my heart is aching to do something similar to these noteworthy photographers. To set another person's soul ablaze with inspiration. To light a candle in someone's heart that leads them to learn more about something they're passionate about, to recover a forgotten hobby, to follow a long-lost dream. That's what I'm trying to work on this month with NaNoWriMo. Even if all I manage to create is a short story, a page, a paragraph that inspires someone else, it will all be worth it.

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Some of the other great pictures I love (sorry, I just couldn't stop adding pictures):
'Porcupine watching' by Vladimir Medvedev (Russia)
'Last wild picture' by Steve Winter (USA)
'The tourist tiger trail' by Melisa Lee (Malaysia)
'Relaxation' by Jasper Doest (The Netherlands)
'Living on thin ice' by Ole Jørgen Liodden (Norway)
'Hare in a landscape' by Robert Zoehrer (Austria)
'Evening rays' by Claudio Gazzaroli (Switzerland)
'Midnight feast' by Thomas P Peschak (Germany/South Africa)
'Bumper life' by Pål Hermansen (Norway)
'Midnight snack' by Alexander Badyaev (Russia/USA)
'Aurora over ice' by Thilo Bubek (Germany)
'The great Maelifell' by Hans Strand (Sweden)
'City gull' by Eve Tucker (UK)

Getting started

Remember how I said I was going to do NaNoWriMo this year and write 50,000 words in the month of November? Yeah, so do I. Want to know how many words I've written so far? OK, here it is: 0. ZERO?! Yes, exactly zero words written so far. November 1 was Thursday. That morning I said goodbye to my friend, Shae, and her adorable baby boy and spent the rest of the day driving from Orlando to Atlanta with a stop at the Tanger Outlets just south of Atlanta. I enjoyed watching the scenery change from flat Florida to cotton-covered southern Georgia to metropolis mid-Georgia. I had fun browsing stores that I haven't set foot in for more than a year. I ate more Olive Garden salad and bread sticks than I ever have before, while my family and I talked over the take-out boxes in our hotel room. And then the rest of them watched a Christian movie while I chatted with Jonathan online. It was late (or ummm, really early) when we all finally went to bed. So zero words written on November 1.

The next day didn't fare any better. We all woke up around 5 a.m., took the shuttle to the airport, got our boarding passes, and got through security before saying goodbye and heading to our separate terminals for our flights to Portland, Maine; Spokane, Washington; and Ottawa, Ontario. When I met Jonathan in Portland, we went to a few places, and then ate lunch at The Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro before driving back to Brunswick. I dozed off during the drive home and staggered into bed as soon as we arrived at the house in the mid-afternoon. I slept off and on for the rest of the evening and night, probably about 15 hours in total. No time for any writing in that haze of a day.

Saturday, November 3 went much the same way, writing-wise. Went to church and met my brother, Tyler, his girlfriend, Amanda, and her sister there. Ty's been visiting in Maine while the rest of my family has been hanging out in the south. The give of us hung out for the rest of the day, going for a hike after potluck, then coming back to the house for a small snack (that turned into a bigger snack as Jonathan and I kept finding more food to share with our visitors). Then we drove up to Amanda's grandparents' house for a game night and had a great time and lots more yummy food. Jonathan and I left at 11 p.m. and got back at 11:45. We headed right for bed after a quick stop to take out contacts (me) and brush our teeth.

So today is four days into this month-long writing challenge and here I am, sitting at my desk and staring out at the bare trees that were covered with leaves when I left Maine about a week and a half ago. And I still don't have anything more of a plot for the couple of story ideas that have been bouncing around in my head for several years. Not even a single word written down. Guess today's the day to actually get started. Here I go...

Taking the plunge

For several years I have written on this blog and my creative writing blog that I'd like to join in with National Novel Writing Month. Every November writers around the world type their hearts out as they create a 50,000+ novel in a month. It's always sounded so intriguing to me, but I've always had more pressing things to accomplish (like cuddling orphans in Tanzania or teaching English in Korea). But this fall I haven't been doing too much of anything. Well, I've managed to keep myself busy, but let's just say I haven't been doing too much of anything truly important. I'm living in Maine, but not actually allowed to work in the U.S. yet. So I've done some work online for my dad's company, helped my mum out with some projects. But I'm not really what you'd call busy. So this year it is. I will take the plunge. I've calculated it out and to accomplish this goal I'd need to write an average of 1,666.66 words each day in November. That is totally doable and a much easier goal to accomplish than 50,000 words in 30 days. (One semester at Southern I was supposed to write a 1,000-word journal entry each week. I would inevitably leave it to the last minute and then rush into the library an hour before class and crank out 1,000-1,200 words before dashing off to class.) So with all this extra time I have lying around, all these days with no purpose and nothing much to complete except for busy work, I will write my first novel. It might not be very good (it might, in fact, be quite awful). It might actually turn into a short novel, and several short stories. But that's OK. Because I've committed myself to writing at least 50,000 fresh and new words starting on November 1*. Wish me luck because I'm sure I'm going to need it.

*I sure hope I can start on November 1. I'm leaving in about half an hour to drive down to Tennessee for Southern's alumni weekend where Jonathan, my sister Bryn, and I will be playing in the alumni orchestra concert on Saturday night. I'll be visiting with my parents, my sister, my brother and his family, and several members of Jonathan's extended family. Then my parents, Bryn, and I will be headed down to Florida to see my older sister and my good friend from Tanzania and her adorable baby boy. I won't get back to Maine to start writing in earnest until the afternoon of November 2. Here's to hoping I start writing something worthwhile starting November 1 or at least go crazy with writing a bunch of short stories that will equal 50,000 words.