In the midst of NanoWriMo, a little gem...

Some of you know that at this point I'm neck deep in a little project I've given myself for the month of February called NanoWriMo.  I've set out on a crazy journey to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month.  And guess what?!  I'm doing it!  As I sit here typing today I'm at almost 38,000 words.  "Holy shit", you're undoubtedly thinking.  I know, I'm thinking that too!  I'm not going to lie...on day 2, I literally thought to myself "This is stupid.  I can't do this."  The first couple days felt constricting and more like work than fun.  But I got into a little groove and soon, although I dreaded that all my free time would be eaten up by writing, I found the hours flying by without my even noticing.  I've gotten a little nervous along the way that each time my "ideas" run out that I'll be just be sitting staring at a blank screen for my allotted hours of "writing time" each day.  That's where my 55 minutes at the gym every morning comes in.  When I know I'm at a standstill I do my best to use that time on the elliptical machine to think.  Think about what should logically come next.  Or sometimes ideas come to me during the day when I'm doing every day type of things.  I was at a friend's house recently and she told me that her stepmother brings her stuff when she comes to visit for the day...things like paper towels and toilet paper.  I thought that was kind of quirky and it stuck in my head.  Later I was mulling it over and thought, "Huh, a woman that brings her daughter things like paper towels.  I'd love to meet someone like that!  What would she be like?  Why does she do it?  Maybe I can use that!!" and that is how characters can be born.

Enough about the actual writing process though.  All I can say is that I'm pleased with my story so far.  I think it SO very basic and silly and maybe even a little juvenile but it's there on paper and I did it all myself and I'm proud of that!  But what I really wanted to write about is how halfway through the month I stumbled upon this article in the Boston Globe.  We only get the Sunday edition because it's all I can keep up with and every week I read these two women columnists and more than once I've snidely commented to Eric, "How the hell did they get this job!"  I'll admit sometimes the content leaves a bit to be desired but I read it every week and I'm jealous all the same.  I'd kill to have a job like that.  You can write to your hearts content about anything and everything.  They have no rhyme or reason or continuity from one week to the next, they just say what they're feeling.  Well it just so happens that the February 12th column by Beverly Beckham struck a chord.  It was like I was literally reading about me!  The link to the article is below but it's basically saying how she got her start in writing and how it took some inspirational words in a magazine in a doctor's office to spur the start of her writing career.  She was young.  She had three kids too.  She asked questions like How do I begin?  and Where do I find the time?  "I don't know", I thought.  "I don't know!"  Ah, my heart was singing, someone with the same problems.

Beverly Beckham: What did you do with your talents?

So next I did something that usually I wouldn't do but I felt I had to.  I used that "Beverly Beckham can be reached at" email address and I wrote to her.  I told her all about how I felt like I was her just 30 years later and I was wondering the same things.  How the heck do I go from being a mother of three and start writing so someone notices?  I told her all about the novel writing I was doing this month and how her article was particularly timely for me.  I asked her for advice.  And bless her heart, she wrote back!  She wrote, "Wow.  You are writing a 50,000 word novel in a month???  I don't even know you and I'm proud of you!"  She went on to give a little background about how she got started and told me to "just write and keep on writing".  She even offered to give me a call!  I haven't taken her up on that but I thought it was sweet of her to offer.  To take the time to write back and say hooray for you!  I second that, "Hooray for me!"