Aaaaah!! Today is WHAT!!

For some reason it just dawned on me what day it is.    Today is October 25, which means that in 6 more days I’ll be starting another National Novel Writing Month.  For those of you who don’t know, National Novel Writing Month, (aka NaNoWriMo) was started about 10 years ago by a guy named Chris Baty who decided that he could write a 50,000 word novel in a month.  Well, not a perfectly written and edited, ready for publication novel, but at least the rough draft.  If you’re interested in the whole story, just click the link to see the official website.

I stumbled upon this annual event when I was trying to get inspiration to write my first novel.  I discovered Baty’s book, No Plot, No Problem, in the summer of 2004 and in that novel he gives tips on how to successfully complete NaNoWriMo.  That November was the first year that I participated and I’ve done it every year since.  However, I have yet, to actually complete the task.  Last year I was the closest having written over 38,500 words.  I think that its because I can always think of a million things that I should be doing for school, and in the past I would use hanging out with my husband as an excuse.  Well, one of those excuses is long gone, so this year I aim to win.

Winning of course is really just for your personal satisfaction.  You don’t get any money, but I think you do get to download a swell certificate and your name added to the list of winners.

I have an idea this year that might be more up my alley than what I’ve done in the past.  In ‘04 and ‘07 I tried to write love stories.  I hate reading them, so I don’t know why I thought I could write one.  My stories for ‘05 and ‘06 were sci-fi.  I hadn’t fully flushed out my idea before Nov. 1 came and so eventually those stories became stagnant.  This year I’ve come up with a soundtrack (I need music for inspiration) and I can “see” the setting of my story with every little effort.  I’ll be sci-fi too, but that’s what I think I’ll be good at since that’s what I like to read and watch, and I understand the underlying tone of sci-fi. 

Good science fiction is always an allegory for our society. (S- am I using that word correctly?)  Good science fiction shows us the problems in our society and is the authors interpretation of what could happen if those problems aren’t fixed or how they could be.  Think about it. . . aren’t we living in a time just begging to be a sci-fi movie.  I think so. 

So, if anyone reading this would like to join me feel free.  LDD has already said that he was going to try this year.  I don’t know if he’s come up with any ideas yet though.  You can sign up at the website or just play along on your own.  If you do though, let me know how you come along.  I’m going to try to post here regularly next month so that I can be accountable to you all for my progress.  I always do better when I know someone’s watching.  That’s why I’m telling everyone that I can, that way I won’t risk having to embarrass myself when they ask how its going.  AND I found a great NaNoWriMo tracking spreadsheet on the internet.  Someone made a tracker just for those event.  You just plug in some information and it automatically lets you know how far you have to go and creates graphs and charts for you to visually see your progress.

So. . . wish me luck!!

A Serendipitous Moment

Last week, I desperately wanted to go shopping for yarn.  I haven’t done that in a while, mainly b/c I haven’t had much money, and this urge was only made stronger by the fact that I had a reason to buy yarn.  The days are counting down to T’s 1st birthday and the arrival of S’s baby boy.  I promised M that I would make T a penguin hat for his 1st birthday and of course, b/c every other new baby has received a handknit gift since I learned, S’s baby must too.

Well I drove to the yarn store even though I knew I couldn’t afford to spend any money there.  It was only 3 days until payday, but I couldn’t wait and I was bored.  (boredom will always get you)  So I drove there anyway.

Upon walking in I was, as usual, greeted by the owner.  She’s awesome and even though I’ve only been there about 4 times she knows my name.  It’s most likely b/c I’m young and Afr-Am and there probably aren’t many of us that shop there.  So we went through the typical casual small talk and then she said “I have $50 of yours”  Of course I was speechless b/c I had no idea why she would.  Then she explained.  I had signed up for a sweater knitting class that was to start in July and paid the $50 registration fee.  When I planned my trip to Atlanta I had forgotten all about the class and didn’t remember until I was already in Atlanta.  The class was to run while I was out of town.  Well, I figured that it was my fault that I had missed the class and that was just $50 wasted.  They ended up not having enough people sign up for it, so the class was cancelled.  She couldn’t refund the money to my card, b/c you have to pay for classes by check or cash, so she just held onto.  She knew that I’d be back eventually so she put a $50 bill in the office with my name on it.  And sure enough, I returned.  It had been about 3 months since she had seen me last, but she waited anyway.  If she hadn’t said anything I never would have known.  It is a rare find, to know someone that honest.

How about that?  Here I am going to a knitting store, knowing I don’t have enough money and it turned out I did have the money.  God is awesome!  And, T and Baby B can have their gifts.