NaNoWriMo 2013

Ha!
Wow, that was incredibly successful.
So here it is two years and ten months later.  Did I get published in 2011?  No.  2012?  No.  2013?  Not yet.  Have I tried to get published in 2013?  No.  Am I therefore going to get published in 2013?  No.
Well done, Stanton.
So what am I even doing here?
Well, see, there's the story.
I wanted to start a writing blog.  Again.  I wanted to start a writing blog again.  Like I did here, 34 months ago.  But it's just about NaNoWriMo time, and I thought I might go ahead and get serious about my writing.  First step (I thought), a blog.
I wanted to use WordPress, but at the beginning of last school year I set up a wordpress site for my teaching that the students could subscribe to and get updates on ... and since I want to be a serious writer who can say cuss words and write sex scenes and stuff, I can't use that address -- and that is the address with my name in the address. 
My, that was confusing.
Anyhow, I thought about which other blogging software there was. I have a LiveJournal that I've kept for about thirteen years, but I didn't want to use that address and I didn't want to start a new LiveJournal. I don't think anybody uses LiveJournal anymore. So I thought I'd try out Blogger, which I've used before for college and which I totally forgot I had.  So when I got here, it signed me in automatically, and here I am, ready to try again.

I was going to skip NaNoWriMo this year. I tried last year and added on 20,000 words to my previously started novel and then got to a point where I didn't know how it was going to end. I don't think there is an end to this novel, not one that doesn't end in an arrest. And that's not how this novel is supposed to end. I don't think I did NaNoWriMo the year before; maybe I did. I can't remember. I know I didn't win – I have not yet finished a NaNoWriMo.

So I was going to quit, or at least take a break this year from it. I don't have a writing class; in fact, I don't have an honors level English classes. I'm teaching remedial reading, and it's not as if I'm going to inspire any of those children to write a 50,000-word novel. They could, if they wanted to. But they won't put forth the effort. Maybe I'm negative about this, but I think I know my population pretty well.

And then a new teacher to the school – the new yearbook teacher – put out an email to the school about NaNoWriMo.  I sent her an email back expressing my surprise that we had never met as we were obviously both writers. We talked on email back and forth a bit (I can't get to her classroom because she's upstairs) and we decided that she would promote NaNoWriMo in her classes and that I would hold support sessions on Friday after school. I think the chance to sit down with other writers going through this experience might help those who are trying to write their novels. So I'm going to invite people after school on Fridays for about an hour to talk about what's going on, to get some encouragement and support, and hear what other people are going through so that we know we are not alone. I've actually tried this before the past, but I've never had more than three people at any one time. We'll see what happens.

As for myself, I have a new program called Dragon dictation that I got for my birthday that lets me talk instead of type. I am a very good talker. Much better than I am a typer – my fingers get cramped and tired. So the plan is, either before Diana gets home or after she had gone to bed, I'm going to try to talk 2000 words a day into my computer. We'll see how that goes.