298,000. That’s a pretty big number. That’s the approximate amount of words that my 8th grade Honors English class wrote during November for National Novel Writing Month. There were 23 of us writing, so that’s pretty impressive!
The goal of NaNoWriMo is to just write. Don’t worry about all the mistakes one makes in a first draft. Just write. We spent about a week and a half preparing for this, working on developing characters, settings, and a plot. And on November 1, we all sat down during class every day and pushed ahead on our stories. When students would get stuck in their writing, we had “Writer Emergency” cards and a Dare Machine on the website we used.
I’m very proud of my students for their efforts last month. I wrote along with them, and finished a story that was a little over 30,000 words. Two of my students even matched me in word count! And now I’m working my way through reading all 298,000 words, finding joy in reading stories that really aren’t as bad as the kids think they are! The idea behind NaNoWriMo is to worry about cleaning up your writing later; if you just get your ideas on paper, you can do great things with them.
And in my years of doing this project, I have discovered fantastic writing! I’ve enjoyed the stories I’ve read so far, though it will likely take me most of this month to finish them all. If students can believe in themselves, they can do great things. I saw the looks of triumph as each kid would paste a star on our noveling chart every time he or she finished off another 10% of the 10,000 word goal.
The fact that two of them matched me word for word is astounding – they wrote an average of 1000 words a day! And this reminded me of the conversations we have about writing. Students always ask me how I can write so much so fast. But after taking part in NaNoWriMo, some of them unlock the power to perform this skill at a high level. Nothing will intimidate them again when it comes to writing!
Modeling is such an important part of teaching, which is one reason I write with my students. For other writing projects, I’ll provide an example of a finished product at times. I love writing; God has blessed me with an ability to sit down at a computer and just fire off my thoughts or ideas without a lot of effort. It typically takes me 20-30 minutes to write my first draft of this column each week.
Is my writing any good? That’s debatable, but I do know that the process is easy for me. And it’s good for all of us to discover where our talents lie. For some of my students, they discover that writing isn’t really as difficult as they make it out to be sometimes. Perhaps some of them will go on to make it a part of their career someday.
We all have talents; hopefully, you have uncovered yours and put it to good use. We’re always in awe of those who can do things well that we cannot. I’ve always thought it’s a mixture of ability that we’re given and how hard we work to make that ability really jump out and become great. Basketball players like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Carlie Wagner all started with abilities beyond those of us who are mortal men or women. And they all worked extremely hard to take those God-given talents and make something of them.
Peyton Manning, Walter Payton, and Dakota Tracy were all tremendous football players, and they all started with more ability than the average person, but worked until they achieved high levels among their peers. Nolan Ryan, Kirby Puckett, and Jeff Reese are all people who’ve done that on a baseball diamond. And the list goes on and on.
Many of us wish we could be high-level athletes like that, but most people will never even play at a collegiate level. People who do have a little something extra. But maybe your talent is elsewhere. You might be that person who can open the hood of a car and figure out any problem and how to fix it. You’ve worked hard to understand the inner workings of vehicles, but you also probably started with some natural ability to have that understanding. You could be the person who looks at complex mathematical equations, and the process to solve them stands out easily. Again, you continue to work with that ability, but you have an ability to work from.
We all have talents, whether it is job related or not. Your skill at baking or cooking might provide comfort and refreshment for your family, friends, and those who attend the church potluck. Your ability to decorate and make the walls of your home shine with artwork and crafts makes your house a home. Your talent to embrace the goodness in young children and help keep them safe and loved during the day makes your daycare a wonderful haven for kids.
Find your talent. Embrace your talent. Work at your talent. Share it with the world or just the people close to you, but let your light shine out and be proud. God gave you that gift, and bringing it to its best is rewarding.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is gastronome, which means someone who appreciates good food, as in, “The gastronome used his ability to differentiate between quality foods to be a top-rated restaurant critic.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!