News to Me

Well, I got a new assignment at work today that will involve doing some Excel VBA programming. I stopped by Barnes & Noble to see what they had to offer me. There was a pretty cool book for $10 that seemed pretty helpful but not deep enough for what I will need. The only other book was $50, and that was just way too expensive to spend on one book right now. Maybe I'll check at Micro-Center tomorrow. I was also looking for a magazine that doesn't appear to be around anymore. While I was wandering around, they made some announcement about some guy who would be talking in a few minutes, and they mentioned a book signing, which immediately told me that it was somebody I did not need to listen to it. I don't really follow any authors that are alive, at least none that would be making an appearance at Barnes & Noble.

Well, the setup for the book signing and lecture was right next to the computer books, and if you remember from the previous paragraph I went into the store to get a computer book. So the guy starts his lecture while I'm thumbing through the Excel books, and I'm only paying half attention to what he's saying because I'm trying to see if the book will be of any use to me. And then he makes some statement about writing a novel in 30 days. My curiosity is piqued because I'm interested in writing a novel. At this point I've just discovered the $50 book and decide instead to listen to the lecture.

As I'm listening to him speak and telling us the benefits of attempting to write a novel in 30 days, I become intrigued. You see, I have been having ideas for many novels running through my head for years, but I just can't seem to get started on any one of them. And for the past few months, say three or four, well really since I turned 40--and even six months before then--as I've been trying to figure out what is the point of my life (since it pretty much seems to be a waste so far), I keep coming back to a still small voice that tells me that writing will be my salvation, so to speak. And tonight was just like a major wake-up call. I must write because I can no longer not write.

Anyway, the program is National Novel Writing Month, and the website is www.nanowrimo.org. The speaker for the evening was Chris Baty, pretty much the founder of NaNoWriMo, as it is affectionately called. So, as he was talking I was trying to figure out how I would get started in December. I figured that would give me almost two weeks to get ready. Then I realize that the national month is November, not December. Next year, I'll be expecting this and can devote the entire month of November to writing the requisite number of words per day (1667) to reach the 50,000 word novel size. For now though, I've committed to writing 2000 words a day beginning Nov. 19th until the end of November. If I am so inspired I might continue on until I hit the 50,000 word mark. But even if I don't complete this, the joy will be in actually writing something, something I haven't been able to do except here in these blogs, preparing my Sunday school lesson, and the bit of writing I do at work (being a technical writer forces me to do some writing, but the purpose and focus is completely different).

I already know the beginning of my novel: "Daisies." I know, I know, what in the world can write about daisies? Trust me, with my stream of consciousness mind, I think I can come up with something. We'll see what turns up.