{"id":1504,"date":"2009-11-05T09:45:06","date_gmt":"2009-11-05T13:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/?p=1504"},"modified":"2009-11-05T09:45:06","modified_gmt":"2009-11-05T13:45:06","slug":"and-now-a-word-from-our-sponsors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/2009\/11\/and-now-a-word-from-our-sponsors\/","title":{"rendered":"And now a word from our sponsors…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NaNoWriMO<\/a>NaNoWriMo<\/acronym> follows a pretty set pattern for me: the first few days I feel like a complete and utter hack.<\/p>\n

What hubris to think I can write a novel (even though I’ve done it before…three times)! And how dare I think I have anything interesting to say or that my prose might be even vaguely entertaining (when I know for certain that NaNo is supposed to 1) produce a first draft, and 2) everyone’s first draft is kinda shitty).<\/p>\n

The kind folks at the Office of Letters and Light, NaNoWriMo’s parent organization, realize that most authors go through a similar cycle so they line up a pep talk a week for us. It makes me feel a bit better that this year’s week one pep talk is from an author whose work I admire, Jasper Fforde<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nBecause here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thing: Writing is not something you can do or you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not something that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcother people do\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfor smart people only\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or even \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfor people who finished school and went to University\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Nonsense. Anyone can do it. But no-one can do it straight off the bat. Like plastering, brain surgery or assembling truck engines, you have to do a bit of training\u00e2\u20ac\u201dget your hands dirty\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand make some mistakes. Those 22 days of mine were the start, and only the start, of my training. The next four weeks and 50,000 words will be the start of your training, too. <\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to learn, and you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have figured it all in 50,000 words, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be enough for you to know that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know it all, and that it will come, given time. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have written enough to see an improvement, and to start to have an idea over what works and what doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Writing is a subtle art that is reached mostly by self-discovery and experimentation. A manual on knitting can tell you what to do, but you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to make anything until you get your hands on some wool and some needles and put in some finger time. Writing needs to be practiced; there is a limit to how much can be gleaned from a teacher or a manual. The true essence of writing is out there, in the world, and inside, within yourself. To write, you have to give.<\/p>\n

What do you give? Everything. Your reader is human, like you, and human experience in all its richness is something that we all share. Readers are interested in the way a writer sees things; the unique world-view that makes you the person you are, and makes your novel interesting. Ever met an odd person? Sure. Ever had a weird job? Of course. Ever been to a strange place? Definitely. Ever been frightened, sad, happy, or frustrated? You betcha. These are your nuts and bolts, the constructor set of your novel. All you need to learn is how to put it all together. How to wield the spanners.<\/p>\n

And this is why 30 days and 50,000 words is so important. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look at this early stage for every sentence to be perfect\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat will come. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect every description to be spot-on. That will come too. This is an opportunity to experiment. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your giant blotter. An empty slate, ready to be filled. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an opportunity to try out dialogue, to create situations, to describe a summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evening. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll read it back to yourself and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see what works, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see what doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. But this is a building site, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not meant to be pretty, tidy, or even safe. Building sites rarely are. But every great building began as one.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, even though I’m ahead on word count, there’s still 2,000 more words out there for me today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NaNoWriMo follows a pretty set pattern for me: the first few days I feel like a complete and utter hack. What hubris to think I can write a novel (even though I’ve done it before…three times)! And how dare I think I have anything interesting to say or that my prose might be even vaguely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-copywrite","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1508,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions\/1508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}