It's Really Over

Well, NaNoWriMo is done again for the year. For the last week and a half, I've been wandering around the house, dazed at how much time I have when I'm not glued to the monitor. The house is once again clean, the Christmas tree is up and decorated, and I've been working on purging the not-so-good food out of my system.

So now what?

Many of my Wrimo friends are still writing, and I say, "Kudos to them!" I, however, do not ever want to look at my novel again, just like last year. After so much anger at the word count, I do believe that I've transferred that anger to the entirety of the work. Oops. I've read a couple books, The Hunger Games and The Other Boleyn Girl. That seems to have satisfied my literary cravings for the time being.

Guess it'll be Christmas knitting right up to the end of the line. I can live with that!

Pass Not Judgment

So I've been thinking a lot about how readily our culture makes sport of judging other people. With all the reality shows and websites that have cropped up, it's really become second nature to ridicule those around us. Peopleofwalmart.com is a prime example, because it is so damn easy to laugh. SO DAMN EASY. And here's where the challenge comes in, especially for all you people doing NaNoWriMo this year. Every time you're out in public or watching tv or surfing the internet, become aware of how you judge people based on their looks or actions. Is it a super skinny girl in revealing clothing? A large family of non-white origin speaking in their native tongue? An old woman with her lipstick astray and her pants hiked up to her navel? A guy with a muscle tee in a jacked-up truck? Become aware. Why do you look down on them? What right have you to assume they are ignorant or crazy or a redneck? As you create characters for NaNo, think of how their childhoods and life experiences shaped them, and then turn around and apply that in reverse to the world around you. That overweight woman in the lime green leopard spandex was once a little girl with dreams. Maybe she wanted to be an astronaut, but her family and her teachers and her classmates told her she was too fat and too dumb, and eventually, she believed it. As the Doctor once put it, "Be the best of humanity." I challenge you not to pity, but to try and understand. The more you can show compassion without bias, the happier you will be, and the more beautiful the world will become.

APiaDaMo

While pinning around on pinterest, I came across an interesting concept that I'd seen before, but never connected to NaNoWriMo (which we all know is National Novel Writing Month and occurs in November.) Basically, the idea is to draw a picture every day for a month. So I thought to myself, "why not make this a precursor to NaNo?" And then we did. For every day in October, a few of us have decided to draw every day based off a list that we've created. Feel free to tag along as we scribble our way toward inspiration.

Day 1: a plant

Day 2: a main character

Day 3: some weather

Day 4: a room

Day 5: something beautiful

Day 6: something ugly

Day 7: a weapon

Day 8: a constellation

Day 9: an npc (non-main character) or a vendor

Day 10: an animal

Day 11: a piece of technology

Day 12: a piece of furniture

Day 13: a gift

Day 14: a map

Day 15: the contents of a bag or pocket

Day 16: an accessory

Day 17: a villain

Day 18: a mode of transport

Day 19: something of monetary value

Day 20: a piece of clothing or an outfit

Day 21: a tool

Day 22: a sidekick

Day 23: a meal

Day 24: a toy

Day 25: a religious item or relic

Day 26: a temporary shelter

Day 27: a trap

Day 28: the view out a window

Day 29: a tattoo or a scar

Day 30: a building

Day 31: the front cover!

Remember that this is intended to inspire your upcoming story, and that we simply tried to think of things that would fit many stories, but not all. If you really want to draw something that's not on this list, go for it! You may not even end up using a single picture out of this project either, but if you do, just think about how many words you can use by describing any one of your pieces. I for one could probably fill up at least a chapter describing just one villain.

A sketchbook is one of the most obvious portable ideas for this draw-a-thon, but creativity knows no bounds. A pad of jumbo sticky notes, a keyring of flash cards, a collage out of magazines, anything goes. 

Lastly, I will be posting these a day in advance with a daily reminder of the current topic on twitter. Click here to follow me. 

P.S. APiaDaMo stands for A Picture a Day Month. Aren't I just clever.