“Where do you get your ideas for your column?” This is a question I frequently hear from readers of this weekly diatribe.
The simple answer is they just pop in my head. I’ve got quite a list of topics compiled, and I’ve barely touched it; most weeks something comes up that seems like a good idea for a column.
I’ve loved writing since third grade. My teacher, Mr. Galvin, had us write a new story every month.
It didn’t take me long to discover that this might be a path I would enjoy in life. As soon as I touched pencil to paper, the ideas and words would flow.
I like to think it was partly a result of all the reading that had been done for me as a youngster and that I had done since I could decipher those letters myself.
As you read this, I will be immersed in my fourth year of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). My goal every November is to write 50,000 words of a story in that month. That’s about 1800-1900 words every day.
I’ve been able to reach my goal every year, usually well before Thanksgiving. On a good day, I’ll whip off 5000-6000 words.
This began as a creative writing project the first year I taught 10th-grade English. The students were understandably hesitant at first, though I set their goals between 10,000-15,000 words.
The result? Some amazing writing, especially by those who hadn’t shown an aptitude for writing in our previous experiences together.
I continued this project for the three years I taught 10th grade, but I don’t have that class this year. I’m going to miss sitting in the computer lab with my students, hammering away on our stories, listening to music, and munching on Nancy Jane’s bakery goodies.
I’ll even miss staring at my computer screen for hours as I read every word that every student wrote for me! Luckily, I have some brave souls in my classes, as well as both my children, who are going to try this with me for the fun of it.
I’m pleased that some of the students who did this when they were forced to are trying it again! Others would like to, but I understand the difficulties of balancing school and extracurriculars without throwing in a massive writing project for the fun of it.
One student commented it was the best month of high school, and I do remember the extraordinary writing she produced that year.
What do we get out of all this writing? For my students, it was knowing that no task is impossible.
Many have said there hasn’t been a single writing assignment come their way since then that intimidated them. They also learned to just write.
Stop worrying about if it is any good until after you’re done. Just write. And in the end, most of what they wrote was pretty good.
I’m still waiting for some of them to finish their stories for me; they reached their word count goal and stopped without wrapping up their plots!
For me, it was initially the satisfaction that I could write a novel-length story. Out of that first year came the story I eventually turned into my first published novel, Heroics 101. (Shameless plug here: it’s available directly from me or on Amazon.com, if you’re interested in getting a copy.)
Each year since, I’ve toiled away at another story and found satisfaction in the process. It’s funny; I don’t think I could tackle this project any other time of the year. The deadline of getting done in November motivates me unlike anything else.
I’ve had my idea for this year’s writing for almost a year already. It will be about a man who arrives home to learn his wife has been killed in a car accident, but he ends up having the winning lottery ticket as well.
How will he balance the grief and the elation and make a new life out of it? Only time will tell, but for now, I’ve got a word count to accumulate!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is obambulate, which means to walk around, such as, “President Obama was seen to obambulate while awaiting the election results.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!