A Project Takes Shape
I majored in both English and Art, and in fact was a writer for 10 years and taught at the university level for two or three years. I did three drafts of a novel and then lost it in a flood. During one of the resulting home repair projects I took a break and drew the hammer I had been using. I still have that drawing--it was the moment I realized that I needed art more than writing, and was in fact a better artist than writer (could be the deaf thing at work again). Never did try to rewrite that novel, and cannot for the life of me remember what it was about.
Flash forward about 20 years to the present, where the focus is art, and a large chunk of the art so far involves words, writing, fonts--the presence of language is one of my trademarks, so to speak. I'm always considering ways to take that element to another level.
I was going through our local email network and came across a link to some silly thing or other that involved 50,000 words in a month, and clicked on it because it sounded like some sort of online game. It turned out to be something called the National Novel Writing Month, an actually international yearly event where participants start writing on November 1st with the goal of writing 50,000 words by November 30th. This would be the equivalent of 175 pages, or a short novel. The event grabbed my interest because it is very process-oriented, in spite of the stated 50,000-word goal, very un-precious in attitude. In fact, it felt very much like what I'd like to achieve as a newly full-time artist--regular output without getting hung up on preciousness or quality or saleability. The fact that it involves language in a sort of free-wheeling way appeals to the artist in me as opposed to the former academic.
So I signed up and that is what I'm going to do for the month of November: write a short novel as part of an international marathon, and both the process of writing it and the content are part of the artwork I will do that month. I'd like to see if I can do a sort of interchangeable work. I'm not too worried about whether it is original or even any good. The doing itself seems like an exciting and worthwhile project for me, and I'm curious to see what does come out of the experience.
The NaNoWriMo organizers say that 50,000 words in a month is challenging, but still doable, by someone with a full-time job. They also have regional networks and support groups that look like fun. The founder has a handbook that many recommended to read before and during the event, a sort of how-to-be-a-novelist book, but I have a particular sort of approach in mind and I think I will work intuitively and in the moment. Needless to say, I have no intent of rewriting that long-ago lost novel! How boring!
Flash forward about 20 years to the present, where the focus is art, and a large chunk of the art so far involves words, writing, fonts--the presence of language is one of my trademarks, so to speak. I'm always considering ways to take that element to another level.
I was going through our local email network and came across a link to some silly thing or other that involved 50,000 words in a month, and clicked on it because it sounded like some sort of online game. It turned out to be something called the National Novel Writing Month, an actually international yearly event where participants start writing on November 1st with the goal of writing 50,000 words by November 30th. This would be the equivalent of 175 pages, or a short novel. The event grabbed my interest because it is very process-oriented, in spite of the stated 50,000-word goal, very un-precious in attitude. In fact, it felt very much like what I'd like to achieve as a newly full-time artist--regular output without getting hung up on preciousness or quality or saleability. The fact that it involves language in a sort of free-wheeling way appeals to the artist in me as opposed to the former academic.
So I signed up and that is what I'm going to do for the month of November: write a short novel as part of an international marathon, and both the process of writing it and the content are part of the artwork I will do that month. I'd like to see if I can do a sort of interchangeable work. I'm not too worried about whether it is original or even any good. The doing itself seems like an exciting and worthwhile project for me, and I'm curious to see what does come out of the experience.
The NaNoWriMo organizers say that 50,000 words in a month is challenging, but still doable, by someone with a full-time job. They also have regional networks and support groups that look like fun. The founder has a handbook that many recommended to read before and during the event, a sort of how-to-be-a-novelist book, but I have a particular sort of approach in mind and I think I will work intuitively and in the moment. Needless to say, I have no intent of rewriting that long-ago lost novel! How boring!
posted by meg at 5:29 PM
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