Anyone who knows me knows that I like:
to talk, to read, and, to write.
I have words burning in my bones. I always have. I don't know why. It' s just the way that God made me. I'm trying to get better about using those words in a productive way. I love to write. Far too often, as in almost every time I wander toward my computer to write, I let my internal editor and self-doubt get in the way. Do you know what that leads to? Not writing.
to talk, to read, and, to write.
I have words burning in my bones. I always have. I don't know why. It' s just the way that God made me. I'm trying to get better about using those words in a productive way. I love to write. Far too often, as in almost every time I wander toward my computer to write, I let my internal editor and self-doubt get in the way. Do you know what that leads to? Not writing.
Instead of letting myself disengage to enjoy the process, savor the rush of words, disappear into the possibilities I let my brain nitpick, question, criticize, and pressure. I don't have a lot of left-brain, but the part that I do have is a bully! Turning off that editor is a lot of work all by itself, but it's totally necessary. There is a "movement" called National Novel Writing Month where you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. The beauty of this system is in the mess that it makes. You can't self-edit and write a novel in a month and so you give yourself the freedom to just let it all hang out and throw random scenes around when you need to. It's classic quantity over quality and it works. Their catch phrase is "30 Days and Nights of Literary Abandon" and frankly, even saying that makes me feel tingly all over.
I have used NaNoWriMo (that's the fabulous abbreviation) to write 3 of my 4 novels. I used the book
for one, and then the actual month for two others. The first novel I wrote slowly over a few years in high school. I was hoping to write my next novel in November of this past year and totally failed at that, then I was hoping that I'd just borrow their method and bang one out this month and totally failed at that. So I now haven't written a book since 2005 before Peanut was born, which sucks and I find miserable and depressing.
for one, and then the actual month for two others. The first novel I wrote slowly over a few years in high school. I was hoping to write my next novel in November of this past year and totally failed at that, then I was hoping that I'd just borrow their method and bang one out this month and totally failed at that. So I now haven't written a book since 2005 before Peanut was born, which sucks and I find miserable and depressing.
But, wait! All is not lost!
On July 10 I took this idea that I had and was planning on doing for Boohoo and I twisted the idea and then sat down and I wrote 3/4 of a children's book. Since then I sat down twice more and finished writing it. It turns out to be waaaaay quicker than writing a novel.
I'm actually planning on looking into getting it published or potentially self-published. I have zero idea what the children's book market is like because I've never really planned on writing a children's book and especially not one for the preschool demographic, but that's exactly what I've done now.
The story is told from the first person perspective of a preschool aged little girl who was adopted from Ethiopia along with her younger brother. The story starts in Ethiopia and talks about their family and their adoption and then moves into their new family and adjustment to life in the United States. It uses positive adoption language and talks honestly, but age appropriately about adoption.
The idea for this story came about as I started telling Boohoo her own story and trying to weave together her beginnings in Ethiopia, time spent in an orphanage, how she arrived here with us, and talking about the things that she was feeling and doing as she adjusted/is adjusting. It's complicated to tie that all together in a way that acknowledges her feelings, the truth, and still shines through with the positive aspects of adoption. I wished that there was a story that I could use as a low-key way to talk about these things as well as give her a character/story from a book that she could relate to thoroughly.
I'm actually rather happy with it. :) I'm going to go back through and do an edit myself and then a few of you can expect to be tapped as editors and second-opinion-givers.
So, there you have it! Goal number 4.
Check!
