Well everyone, today is Nov 22. It has been an exciting month. I got a late start but decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year with a novel, and I finished it today with 33,333 words including the introduction. It is the second novel in what will hopefully be a trilogy of children’s books. The first book was Donut Novel, and this novel features some of the same imaginary mice characters. It is called Football Novel. It turned out great and I am so excited. The odd thing is that I wrote it quickly and am not doing much revision. It is almost verbatim. That is exciting to me but a little scary to think that I might not be capable of changing stuff I write now. It is kind of cool to be happy with it and get it right the first time, though.
I worked hard but found that the word count that keeps pace with NaNo is very reasonable and often I could do twice as much. But then I did need days off. It also helped to be part of a couple of online Nano support groups. Now I am writing blog posts and working on a personal statement for an application. So I will add that word count to start a new project and try to get to the 50,000 words to win NaNo.
Something fun that I got to do last weekend at interestingly the perfect time was the Madeleine L’Engle Writers Conference and Retreat. It was the first one of its kind, and the speakers and panelists were amazing. I got to meet Katherine Paterson, who wrote Bridge to Teribithia and Jacob Have I Loved. That is just ultimate, and I still can’t believe it. It was so fun to think about the literature from her and Madeleine L’Engle, and all the writers from my childhood and middle school years. I have an interesting “reading biography,” and most of my best reading happened in middle school, before I started having attention span problems and depression and anxiety. I read books for school, like A Wrinkle in Time, and some other great ones like Dollhouse Murders, Castle in the Attic, and more serious ones like Homecoming and Where the Lilies Bloom. I am also remembering Where the Red Fern Grows, and many before that like books by Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. Some of my favorites were from Lois Duncan, who wrote teen crime novels, and William Sleator, who wrote science fiction, including Into the Dream and House of Stairs. Wow, those were awesome books!! I think many wonderful people still have those kinds of reading experiences now, but I don’t. I lost some reading ability so it is all mostly work now.
That is what Katherine Paterson said about writing. She said it was all gift and all work. I agree wholeheartedly about that and other things in life.
Now I am having a nice night in my apartment and collecting my thoughts after a few tough days of feeling trauma feelings from some of my life problems. But I went to therapy yesterday, sadly missing a memorial service for Toni Morrison, who was another author with classics that I loved and have reading memories of that are beyond sacred. What is the word for that exactly? It is not “holy,” and it seems more substantial than “sacred.” Maybe a food vocabulary is what captures it, like when you have a meal that you will always remember, or when something really hits the spot. But it is really is as simple as what it is, which is when you are depressed, or have a slight lost feeling, and you read a book that will always be Beloved.
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