Tips on Tuesday: I Dare Ya!

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

I wanted to share with you the introduction to a fabulous book: No Plot? No Problem! A Low‑Stress, High‑Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by the originator of the National Novel Writing Month [NaNoWriMo], Chris Baty. Here’s how he explained his “in the beginning” . . .

The era, in retrospect, was very kind to dumb ideas.

The year was 1999, and I was working as a writer in the San Francisco Bay Area, drinking way too much coffee and watching the dot‑com boom rewrite the rules of life around me.

Back then, it seemed entirely feasible — nay, inevitable — that my friends and I would spend three tiring years in the workforce throwing nerf balls at each other and staging madcap office‑chair races. And then we’d cash in our hard‑earned stock options, buy a small island somewhere, and helicopter off into blissful retirement

It was a delicious, surreal moment, and in the middle of it all I decided that what I really needed to do was write a novel in a month. Not because I had a great idea for a book. On the contrary, I had no ideas for a book.

All of this made perfect sense in 1999.

In a more grounded age, my novel‑in‑a‑month concept would have been reality‑checked right out of existence. Instead, the very first National Novel Writing Month set sail two weeks later, with almost everyone I knew in the Bay Area on board.

That the twenty‑one of us who signed up for the escapade were undertalented goofballs who had no business flailing around at the serious endeavor of novel writing was pretty clear. We hadn’t taken any creative writing courses in college, or read any how‑to books on story or craft. And our combined post‑elementary‑school fiction would have fit comfortably on a Post‑it Note.

My only explanation for our cheeky ambition is this: Being surrounded by pet‑supply e‑tailers worth more than IBM has a way of getting your sense of what’s possible all out of whack. The old millennium was dying; a better one was on its way. We were in our mid‑twenties, and we had no idea what we were doing. But we knew we loved books. And so we set out to write them.

I’m here to tell you, what Baty and his cohorts began in 1999 is alive and well. Internationally. On every continent. With thousands upon thousands of participants. Not to mention the school programs NaNoWriMo has instituted: free materials for teachers at both elementary and secondary levels. His organization is mentoring children and teens, and the program continues to grow.

The book, from which part of the intro you read above, is hilarious and inspiring. They now also run Summer Camp programs a couple of months in addition to the regular November effort.

If you want a quick and fun read to find out “how” to do this, go ahead: read No Plot? No Problem? But that’s not why I’m saying all this.

You don’t need to DARE to write a novel. Maybe you want to write a short story, or a poem, or lyrics to a song whose tune won’t leave you alone. Maybe you want to visit all 50 of the states in this great country. Take up knitting. Learn to speak a foreign language. Tour the British Isles and parts of Europe on a mo‑ped! Go ahead! (I did THAT one, way back in the late ’60s.)

What I’m saying, what Baty was saying, is DARE. Dare to be your most authentic self. Dare to make your life what you want it to be. I know all about stability, family, circles of friends, responsible jobs. I get it. Been there, done that. But don’t let all that keep you from being the best, most evolved and satisfied YOU!

What’s your “pipe dream”?

Go ahead and just do it: I DARE YA ! ! !

See you next for Thinkin’ on Thursday!

Thinkin’ on Thursday: “Song Sung Blue” Everybody Knows One

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

I read recently (in The Writer) about an idea for writing: describe the soundtrack for your story. I am a writer who is more “word‑oriented” than “music‑oriented.” I think I married a man (only two years ago) who may be “music‑oriented,” though he also has a fine mind for words. Notice I said “mind,” not “ear.”

He sings along with almost anything that comes on the car radio while we’re driving somewhere. I’m thinking words, while he hums, or sings full-voice and beats rhythms all the time. (He also includes what he calls “chair dancing,” but we won’t go there.) Almost anything will make him remember a lyrical phrase from a song, which he then quotes.

This made me think about the musical background to any story. Do any of my characters play an instrument? Do they sing? What kinds of songs do they sing, know, remember, and think about? Do their songs make them “blue” like the Neil Diamond song? Happy? Do they laugh along, cry along, hum along?

It seems that a touch of music, here and there, could enliven a story. It would also appeal to readers who are more aural than visual “learners.”

Give it a try. Take some story or chapter you’re working on. Add a radio, or a tape recording. Have someone singing in the shower. (Even I do that most days. Well, very quietly.)

If you’re writing for children, all the better! What do they sing along with? What words did they misunderstand? What did they sing instead? It’s like the story of the child who said he was singing about “Gladly, the cross‑eyed bear” at church, when the song was actually “Gladly, the Cross I’d Bear.”

Generally speaking, children love music. When my daughter was very tiny, we would hear her singing in her crib very early in the morning. Most of it was nonsense, but that didn’t stop her. She sang anyway. Later, she learned actual songs, “real” lyrics. Why wouldn’t your child character, or an adult character for that matter, include music and singing in his or her life?

When and where are your characters singing? Listening to music? Thumping out a rhythm?

See you next for Spellbinder Saturday!

Thinkin’ on Thursday: Women’s Wise Words by the (Baker’s) Dozen

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

I’m thinkin’ about women: women of power—women writers, women movers and shakers, women artists of all types. I’m thinkin’ about women I’d like to emulate, follow, know, and have a sit‑down lunch with. Women whose wise words have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, made me think. Made me take action. Here are a few of the best of them:

A woman whose books touched me in so many ways: “[My mother] said that I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understand of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. ~ Maya Angelou

A woman whose songs touched me, and a whole nation, a whole world: “It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. They words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page. ~ Joan Baez

A woman whose voice and twinkle of the eye I still miss: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.'” ~ Erma Bombeck

A woman whose legend inspired me: “It is necessary to try to pass one’s self always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.” ~ Queen Christina of Sweden

A woman who made herself what she needed to be to flourish in her own lifetime: “It always seemed to me a sort of clever stupidity only to have one sort of talent—like a carrier pigeon.” ~ George Eliot

A woman who only became more beautiful as she aged: “I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they’re good—or there because they’re lucky.” ~ Katherine Hepburn

A woman whose strength grew over time into a towering figure: “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” ~ Helen Keller

A woman who inspires me to keep writing: “If you’re going to write, don’t pretend to write down. It’s going to be the best you can do, and it’s the fact that it’s the best you can do that kills you.” ~ Dorothy Parker

A woman whose words I loved even before I could read: “Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” ~ Beatrix Potter

A much admired woman whose life matched her words: “You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

A woman whose soaring voice made my soul soar as well: “There is a growing strength in women; but it’s in the forehead, not in the forearm.” ~ Beverly Sills

A woman whose strength encompassed a nation: “One only gets to the top rung on the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of abilities which you thought NEVER belonged to you—suddenly become within your own possibility and you think, ‘Well, I’ll have a go, too.'” ~ Margaret Thatcher

And finally, an unnamed woman who offers hope in times of stress: “Fear gives intelligence even to fools.” ~ Anonymous

See you next on Saturday’s Spellbinder!

These quotes came from a Treasury of Women’s Quotations, by Carolyn Warner, Prentice Hall, 1992, in 1998, through the hand of a strong woman whose friendship and laughter I still treasure: Connie Burrup.

Thursday’s 13: 13 Books (and more) to Help You Survive Thanksgiving

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

First things first: how to get the children out from under foot while you prepare the Thanksgiving Feast: keep their hands busy with crafts, their voices with singing, their noses buried in a book, and/or their eyes on a DVD. Here are some suggestions—and there are hundreds more at your local library.

So in honor of the talented and dear Barbara Park who just passed away, we dedicate time to reading, first, this ONE of her many Junie B. Jones, First Grader books:

1. Junie B. Jones, First Grader : Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff) by Barbara Park

2. A Thanksgiving Drawing Feast! by Jennifer M. Besel

3. Creating Thanksgiving Crafts by Dana Meachen Rau

4. Giving Thanks: Poems, Prayers, and Praise Songs of Thanksgiving edited and with reflections by Katherine Paterson

5. Grace’s Thanksgiving by Lisa Bullard

6. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving by Charles M. Schulz

7. Corny Thanksgiving Jokes to Tickle Your Funny Bone by Linda Bozzo.

8. What was the First Thanksgiving? by Joan Holub

9. The Mayflower and the First Thanksgiving [DVD]

10. Turkey Trouble on the National Mall by Ron Roy

Now for the adults: want to try a new recipe? You tired of the same ol’, same ol’ ?

11. Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well by Sam Sifton

Or do you just need to escape for a little while?

12. Drizzled with Death by Jessie Crockett

Or maybe this whole “thankful” thing is just too much!

13. Thankless in Death by J. D. Robb

One way, or another, this should keep you sane until the Thanksgiving Season is over. Yikes: here comes Christmas!

See you day‑ after‑ tomorrow for Saturday’s Softcover!