ANYONE who wants to join us, PLEASE DO SO.
If you aren't SURE if you want to join us, but you MIGHT, PLEASE JOIN.
If you know you won't but want to offer immoral support (hey, I set it up--I can ask for whatever kind of support I want) PLEASE JOIN US!
We are under BuNoWriMo at Facebook. (there are 24 members already! If I was supposed to invite you and forgot, FORGIVE ME!--Alex, you weren't forgotten, but I can't find you, are you on FB?) We did it there because we figured no matter WHERE we did it, people would have to join SOMETHING, and people are mostly already THERE. If you DON'T really want a FACEBOOK account, sign on under a pen name and let us know... then you aren't stuck being friends with people you aren't really friends with. The plan is to stay 'invite only' until right before (Maybe Saturday) and give people a chance to voice objections--if no objections, we will go public. See, I'm a kindly, opinion seeking kind of ruler...
So I have no clue yet whether I am getting this cozy gig, so I am writing one thing or another, ne? Well if I write the ONE thing, I am four chapters in already, with some plot loops mapped out (if I can find them *shifty*). If I write the OTHER, I have an IDEA... Oh it's a wonderful, terrible, awful idea... I'm REALLY excited about it...
So last night I drew the 'institution'--oh, before you go getting all impressed with my art skills, I used graph paper and mostly counted squares (four feet per square, what size would this type of room have to be). I am no artiste, but I did always get As in mechanical drawing. I've also written a list of characters (institutional staff and 'residents'), though I have yet to name people... names have always just sort of come to me, but I am feeling a little blocked...
I've got the adrenaline rush going that only a WriMo seems to build. I am antsy with anticipation and excited to get going, and feeling a lot of love for my writer friends... It's a warm squishy sensation. Some of my friends who couldn't do it last time are in, though sadly, a couple who did are out... guess that is the cyclical nature of this thing... I think the real strength of WriMos is that such stamina is needed to finish a book, but stamina with an end in sight is SO MUCH easier than indefinite stamina.
Related... Sort of...
I had a couple friends who were AMAZING yesterday with their blogs... not that that doesn't happen all the time, but seriously... AMAZING.
The first two helped me think about my WRITING PREP (for the above)
Crazy Jane had a post about not getting complacent... making up your mind, and then following through at every level. It was a great reminder.
And then Erica at Chapter by Chapter did this experiment... blindfolded herself for four hours... just to see what her other four senses noticed because she felt like her writing descriptions depended too much on visual cues... COOL, huh? I love it when my writer friends are so smart!
And then finally...
What Have Books Meant to You?
Everything, right? I mean... we're WRITERS, most of us. We would not be called to do what we do, if we didn't love BOOKS. As a young reader, I had little guidance. My mom was only 18 when I was born and frankly, was clueless. We HAD books, and when I was REALLY little, it was fine... and I remember a couple really GREAT books she read to me (Tom Sawyer, Little Women), but she didn't know how to find appropriate chapter books for me AT ALL (and I think assumed they'd help me at school--wrong). So I stumbled around... reading skill slightly lagging my interests... it took until 7th grade when I discovered 'paranormal' before I found things that fit interest and skill. I think I've done far better by my kids, but part of that is that in the meantime, I became a real reader (and lover) of YA... and there is the internet to find recommendations... and my friend Leanne who's read EVERYTHING. But imagine if you didn't have access to books...
My Thursday Twin Natasha has found an organization dedicated to getting books to kids who would otherwise not have them. PLEASE go check out her blog today and pass it on! Books Make a Difference.
This is one of those feel good things that is EASY and HELPS... (love those).