12 Gifts for the Writer to help them (and you) Survive NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is well underway - the month where writers commit to writing every day in order to bring a novel length book into existence. I'm actually cheating this year with a modified month of writing. The first half was dedicated to a new picture book text which I researched and wrote during the first half of the month (note the break to self allowed for writing this post), while the second half of the month will be dedicated to finishing a novel that is already half-written. See the justification? I am looking forward to finishing it with the same sense of urgency experienced by everyone else by leaving myself with only half of a month to do it, because the first half of the month was dedicated to another project.

Yet, here I am, about to dive in, and already I've thought ahead as to the list of things I will need to survive. Since I am a person whom others depend on for food, I hope you will see that this list stems from a altruistic desire to see others in my family survive as well. Their survival ultimately depends on my survival.

Because I am not all that much of an extra-ordinary kind of human being, I am willing to bet that some of the items on this list will resonate with others, so here goes. If you are a writer yourself, pass this list on to the others you live with. If you interact with a writer who holds special significance in your life, take note!

1. Turkey. Yes. Get the turkey.

If you live in the US of A, guess what? In six days I am willing to bet that your household is counting on a roasted turkey, and with your Writer-in-Residence spending his or her free-time sitting at the computer, pounding on the keys, that Turkey is not going to get itself bought and dressed and roasted by itself.

Plus, time is of the essence, because that turkey is going to need to be thawed before cooking, and it takes a couple days of fridge-time to do it. So, off to the market you go! Turkey.

2. Bubbly, as in drinks that Sparkle and Fizz. Lots of them. A variety.

Why? Because we are at Day 17 in NaNoWriMo, which means that your Writer is probably at the midpoint in their novel. The Muddy Middle. And quite frankly, it may suck.

It's one of those dreaded places where writers can get lost, feel adrift, be left wondering if the end will ever be in sight. So, bubbly is most needed now. And because you love your Writer-Friend-Mother-Father-Brother-Whoever-They-Are in your life, you should help them. Better yet, think of it as helping yourself. Their state-of-mind = your state-of-mind.

I plan on starting my NaNoWriMo task off with something bubbly, since I last left my book when it was approaching the Muddy Middle. And already, because bubbly drinks leave me feeling a slight bit more happy, I am looking forward to it, instead of dreading it. My mindset is altered to the positive, simply because the fizz and the sparkles lend themselves to celebration. So, help your writer celebrate! They are half-way to their destination!

3. Eye protection. You may wonder if I am missing the mark with this one. After all, the writing life hardly seems like any sort of dangerous undertaking. But apparently, staring at a digital screen with its unceasing load of high-energy blue light that streams directly into the Writer's eyeballs--which are basically connected to your Writer's brain--can disrupt sleep patterns. And... because mesmerized eyeballs do not blink as much, Writers connected to computers may be prone to dry eye and eye fatigue.

Plus, if a lack of sleep and irritated, uncomfortable eyeballs isn't enough to get you searching the internet for more information before practicing your purchasing power, too much exposure to blue light can damage the cells on the all-important retina. Vision problems associated with the cornea and lens can be corrected, but not those vision problems associated with the retina. Damage to the retina is nearly impossible to fix.

So, a strong dose of preventative medicine here could be an unnoticed blessing, which you'll know you can be thankful for with each day that passes where you don't need to invest in a Braille keyboard.

4. Popsicle Sticks. What? Well, perhaps I mean finger splints.

I have joints in my fingers that get a little achy with prolonged periods of typing. Plus, I have a broken pinky, that never healed itself after a break about 5 years ago. For a while, I had an unwieldy popsicle-stick-splint on my finger so that I could hit the keys for the letters P and O, along with the punctuation marks on the right side of the keyboard. To this day--5 years later--sometimes hitting those letters still leaves me wincing, and wondering if I can write words that don't need the letters of O and P.

Which is silly. So then I look for a splint. Which I never seem to have on hand.

Because I doubt I am the only person on the planet with this annoying ailment, I suggest popsicle sticks at the ready. Or finger splints, rather, as better educated peeps might attest. And they actually exist.

It's an item that easily can be added to the grocery list under Turkey and Bubbly.

5. Sweets. Again, a variety. So that your Writer-in-Residence is reminded of the variety of life, whose details can be brought into their unfolding story.

Starburst, Skittles, Mints, Chocolate, although personally, I have lost my taste for Chocolate. I don't know why, but I realized as I stopped at the store for headache medicine the other day that I have a new fondness for pastries. Which Definitely is Not a good fondness to develop.

Yet, I decided then and there that with a headache on in full-force, I deserved comfort food in the form of mile-high, ready-made, frosted cinnamon buns. Usually, I am a food snob and walk past such delectables, thinking that really good cinnamon buns must come from a really good bakery. Unfortunately, I discovered that the buns from my local store are pretty darn tasty.

So, with hesitation, I add Sweets, a.k.a, Cinnamon Buns to the list.

6. Hydration. If you refer back to the Bubbly at Item 2, and note that you opted for the alcoholic kind, you'll want to take additional measures to stay hydrated.

I had both legs and both feet cramp up on me at the same time after swimming one day last week because I forgot to drink water during the day--which may explain the headache....  Anyway, I nearly passed out from the agony and had a hard time walking for a bit. It would be a bummer to find your significant Writer-in-Residence passed out from dehydration with their face pressed to the keyboard, effectively filling page after page with strings of non-sensical letters of JKjkkkkkkkkkklklkkklgkgkgkkgkgkgkkkhk.

Therefore, keep your writer's brain sustained with lots of liquid hydration. Born of the planet. H2O. Filtered.

7. Bananas, along with Calcium and Magnesium supplements. See number 6. Feed the muscle in the brain. Keep it happy, keep it relaxed.

8, 9, and 10. Music, Photos, Namaste. Enough said.
Feed the Writer soul.
Stay connected to the wider world.
I'm at a time limit here, so it's back to work for me.

NaNoWriMo, and carry on!

4 Reasons Why Fall is a Great Time for Writers and 5 Quotes for Inspiration

Fall is a great time for writers. Here are three reasons why this season recharges my soul.

1. Step outside and the senses are sharpened.  Sight, Touch, Taste, Smell, Sounds - those key tools in a writer's toolbox are quickly awakened. 

With the rush of cool air across the skin or into the lungs, with the bright colors changing across the landscape from morning to night, with both new and familiar smells of foods offered up at regional harvest festivals, there is an invigorating sense of a larger world around us and our connections to it.

2. Along with this seasonal realigning of the senses also comes a sense of urgency in both tackling new projects or wrapping up old ones as the holidays bob on the horizon.  Writers and illustrators have 2 different community challenges available to participate in during the fall season: Inktober and NaNoWriMo. 

I've loved watching the sketches done by my illustrator friends show up in my social media feeds during Inktober. Getting a glimpse of their talent from day to day is another kind of inspiration for the creative spirit.

3. The swift transitions in weather and temperature can offer unexpected surprises - both good and bad. Experiencing them reminds me of getting beyond the climax of a good book and on the way to a satisfying ending.

Brisk mornings that unwind into pleasant, warm afternoons remind us to take hold of opportunity when it presents itself because soon the warmer temperatures will lead to cooler ones at night. Although cooler nighttime temperatures can offer their own rewards - a warm fire in the hearth, a cozy blanket on the sofa, a cup of hot tea or cider steaming beneath our lips.

4. As the year's end approaches, the Fall season offers a final opportunity to readjust and establish goals. I write both picture books and middle grade novels, and this November I plan on jumping into NaNoWriMo to spur myself on to finishing a novel that I've already started. I've got a bit of a head start, so call me a cheater, but I prefer to think of it as having my course already scouted and mapped. The big trick will be sitting down daily to reach the final destination. But I am already beginning to get tingled with the anticipation of working through it.


Here are some great quotes from writers that I like to believe were inspired by interactions with nature.

"The bluebird carries the sky on its back." - Henry David Thoreau

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars." - Walt Whitman

"Never lose an opportunity to see anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all." - Emily Dickinson

"If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden." - Frances Hodgson Burnett


Happy writing!

#NANOWRIMO - Consider your setting

By now, if you are a writer going through November, you are well into the midst of it -- writing that new novel, or rewriting that old one, or writing out gobs of nonsense in-between the bursts of word-smithing genius. It is, after all, National Novel Writing Month. NANOWRIMO

In order to get to this point that you are at, it's quite probable that you put a bit of time into getting your writing environment ready. Perhaps you cleared the clutter from your desk, sharpened the pencils, adjusted the lighting, or burned some incense.... All to prepare yourself for the process of sitting down to spend the next 30 days with a set of characters that will take life on the page. Characters with wants and needs. Characters with thoughts and challenges. Characters whose decisions help shape the plot driving through the heart of your novel.

However, there is one other character that may be standing on the sidelines, waving its figurative arms as you blaze through the literary forest, all the while slamming the text madly across the page. This is a character that can add depth and persona to the story you are wanting to tell. This is a character that can definitively engage your readers and lead them to turn the pages on a deeper, more intimate level. This character happens to be your setting. And as clearly as your main character asks for chai latte to go with that buttered ham-and-cheese croissant en route to meeting whatever imminent fate awaits around the next corner, your setting has a voice that ought to be heard. Perhaps not as equally as your main character who tosses that cardboard cup, still half-full, into the trash can on her way out the door, but definitely as noticeable as the damp chill that lashes at her face as she steps on to the sidewalk, causing her to pull her jacket more tightly closed before looking left, then right, then left again.

California coast

Masterful writers engage the setting as a powerful character, whose role in the novel can add substance through subtle warnings, hints, reprimands, or rewards.

In Kim Fay's novel, The Map of Lost Memories, the setting seems like a character of its own, both mingling with and driving the emotions of the main characters.

----The night seemed to shift, as if Shanghai were settling down into its foundation. A fitful cool struggled to press in from the distant East China Sea. Irene heard propellers thrashing against the black Whangpoo River. And she wondered what in hell had just happened, while below in the dark a melon had been split, its sweetness clinging to the humid air.

Matthew Kirby introduces the strong hold of the setting that the characters must deal with in the opening lines of Icefall.

---- The fjord is freezing over. I watch it from the edge of the cliff near our hall, and each day the ice claims more of the narrow winding ocean. It squeezes out the waves and the blue-black water, while it squeezes us in. Just as Father intended it to Winter is here to wall us up, to bury us in snow, and keep us safe.

And lastly, the characters in The Underneath by Kathi Appelt are deeply connected to and affected by their environment. This connection occurs, quite literally, from in the opening lines of the story.

--- There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a little while, and then abandoned on the side of the road. A small calico cat. Her family, the one she had lived with, has left her in this old and forgotten forest, this forest where the rain is soaking into her soft fur. 
--- How long has she been walking? Hours? Days? She wasn't even sure how she got here, so far from the town where she grew up. Something about a car, something about a long drive. And now here she is. Here in this old forest where the rain slipped between the branches and settled into her fur. 

It's effective, this use of setting by a writer. It helps the story make sense. It offers a sense of perspective. It also can help establish familiarity, even in places that are new to your reader. Thus, during the quieter moments of November, take the opportunity to consider your setting. How is it faring? Are you treating it with some attention? Does it need you to look toward it with patient eyes?  Perhaps doing so will help put your novel on course for a deeper dimension.