You may already know, November is a busy month for frenzied writing if you’re inclined to have it so. I am so inclined. Last year I signed up for National Novel Writing Month [NaNoWriMo] and didn’t get very far into the month before I ran out of steam.

Writing Projects

This year, I re-upped for NaNoWriMo and I think it’s going to be good. So far, the writing is leading me in interesting ways. The characters are developing and populating effortlessly. And feels like it’s okay because it’s early in the month. I say feels like because it’s been a very long time since I sat to write a long story. And I don’t remember ever having had any measure of discipline about the process.

That’s completely not the case with NaNoWriMo. If you’re not familiar with it, this project gives writers 30 days to write 50,000 words. Your manuscript is likely to be crap, but it’s not the goal to write the next great American novel. Your goal is to get the 50,000 words written in 30 days–period. You finish it, upload it for verification, and you win.

Now, if that wasn’t enough activity for the month, I heard about the 2009 November Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge over at Poetic Asides. Writing poems is more my interest since I’ve done that for many years. I’m participating in that project too. And I’m keeping up, though it’s a little strained right now.

Getting it Done

The challenge now is to pick a schedule that accommodates everything. Because, at 1 poem and 1667 words a day, I can do both easily. When I sit down to write, the words come easily right now. I have to try to write during my optimal writing hours. So tomorrow I’ll be waking very early to write, something I stopped doing quite a few years ago.

The Journal

Since the writing is fiction and poetry, I’m logging it over at my other blog, Telling Stories. You can visit there for details and updates. And I’ll be updating the meters here in my sidebar. As for this blog, I may either step up my writing or fall off for a bit. Please be patient with me, as I’m not retiring this site yet.

Connect With Me

If anyone is participating in NaNoWriMo or PAD Chapbook Challenge this year, best of luck to you! You can add me as a NaNo writing buddy by clicking on my participation badge in the sidebar. And of course there are all the other ways you can connect with me.

If you want to drop me a note of encouragement or advice, please feel free to leave a comment. I always want to hear about useful things that might help me or someone else.

The results from Joanna Young’s group writing project are in. I’m a little late posting this; the results came out and I was notified on October 24th. But, I still wanted to list it here. I like to post the results because it helps me to think that I’ve completed the circle.

There’s added incentive to put it here this time, not that I needed any. As always, there are great posts that were submitted. A grand surprise for me, though–I won second place! It was quite exciting to learn that my post garnered some recognition.

It’s been a delight exploring the posts that Joanna Young collected with this group writing project. They are really thought provoking and inspiring. I’ll bet you’ll find something you want to bookmark.

Visit the following sites to see the results:

• Confident Writing – Joanna introduced this project
• Absorbing Writing – You can get more information about the writing retreat as well as the results of the project.
• Group Writing Projects – Has the results of the test; as well as it’s a great resource for writing projects including the upcoming twittering project. I’m new to Twitter so I’m definitely intrigued.

The above picture is one that I shot from the New Orleans Riverwalk Marketplace.

I love traveling. Really. Sometimes, I’ll get to a point when I feel the need to take a trip. A feeling washes over me and I will think It’s time I took a flight out. Without leaving town, I would indulge myself by picking a place away from my house.

When writing is a factor, I need to know where I feel like going. I’ll pick a location that resonates properly in my spirit, as well as a place that facilitates my work.

My Ideal Writing Weekend

When planning my getaways, I take advantage of my ability to create my personal space pretty much wherever I need it. And that is a great help to me when I find that I can’t be alone, or when I don’t want to be. My ideal writing weekend stirs these things into the mix: writing tasks, atmosphere, people, solitude and toys. I really did include toys, because it’s not all writing in my writing weekends. It’s important to remember to play. And, it would have to be 3 days long.

My best writing weekend happened during a visit back home to New Orleans, Louisiana, with my parents. It was quite impromptu. I found myself on my own once I got my parents to the city. And once they were out of the hotel, I decided to pack to go off and work.

What was in my bag?

• Writing tasks: Everything that I needed to accomplish and some extra things in case I was feeling ambitious
• Tools: My dictionary, pens and paper
• Toys: Drawing tablet, pencils, camera

How did I choose my location?

• Atmosphere: It was a long time since I’d visited the riverfront and The New Orleans Riverwalk Marketplace shopping mall with a food court
• People: I like people-watching, imagining their stories. There are times when I just want to be around people, to watch them and hear the hum of life in my solitary work
• Solitude: I was able to keep to myself in the sparsely populated mall, or return to the hotel
• Transportation: Because it was so close to the hotel, it was a nice walk for me on a very clear, kind of cold morning

So, how was it? It was a lot of fun. I didn’t write a lot. I didn’t draw. I walked the length of the mall and took pictures, including the one that opens this post. This was about 12 months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had gone through. I was curious about the city so I stopped and talked with workers about the shops and eateries that hadn’t yet returned.

I had a really good time, because I did what I wanted in those 3 days. The freedom to just go with whatever came to me was exhilarating. I had the tools for work and play and the space to choose what I would do.

What did I take from this group writing project?

It’s time to go further. I had several different places I’d visit to write back home in New Orleans.  And now that I’ve really focused on it again, I think I need to plan an ideal writing weekend in another city I adore, Boston, Massachusetts, writing, walking and taking pictures along the Charles River. Thank you to Joanna Young’s My Ideal Writing Weekend competition for breathing new life into that idea.

The deadline to post your entry is midnight on September 1. And the results will come shortly after that. So link over to Absorbing Writing and get the details, because I’m sure that the responses will be very interesting.  When it comes out, I’ll add a link at the end of this post for you to see what others wrote.

Related post:
Nice, To Me

Since I do much of my writing on the weekends, I’ve been thinking up ways to make the time most productive and pleasurable. So, participating in this just seems like good fun and useful too: It’s a group writing project over at Joanna Young’s blog, Confident Writing. This one is about your ideal writing weekend.

I first saw it some time ago but I ran out of time. A couple of weeks ago, Joanna shared some of her writing weekend essentials and the rules, and she extended the project’s deadline to September 1, 2008. I thought I would pass it along.

In March this year, I participated in Joanna’s 4×4 sources of writing inspiration project, and that was fun and thought-provoking. The results post on April 3rd was an excellent resource. These projects offer keen insights and novel perspectives.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this is actually a competitive group writing project. You can visit the link above or go directly to the Absorbing Writing website to get the details.

10.24.2008 My entry for the project, my ideal writing weekend has actually won second prize.

10.30.2008 RESULTS: The results of this project are in! For more details, visit this post to see where it’s posted.

I read regularly Joanna Young’s blog, Confident Writing. On March 14th, she posted a group writing project that appealed to me. The guidelines are simple: write four sets of four things that inspire me to write, due March 28th. I thought it would be fun.

The same day I read the post, I wrote my first draft. Then yesterday I rewrote my list. It was interesting to note that everything from the first didn’t show on the second draft. The changes of course offer fodder for another musing day.

I know there are many things more than on this list that inspire me. What I’ve included are things that open my creative pathways to my idea palette. They provide me spirited time away, out of my workspace, which helps me to write more. I return with ideas spilling out of my head and I am challenged then to capture them as fully and quickly as I can.

4 x 4 Writing Inspirations

Here’s my list of things that get me writing. It’s not definitive, but certainly a great representation of my sources that continue to pour into my writing wellspring.

Nature: When I have time to sit and take it in, it infuses me.

1. The majesty and awesome fullness of weather: a good rain or a shimmering sunny day
2. The profound serenity of trees
3. Birds swarming, swimming, dust bathing, visiting flowers
4. Plants that I can grow

‘Other’ activities: These next activities made the list because their writing mojo is in the distraction and exertion they deliver.

1. Stretching
2. Playing
3. Cooking
4. Drawing

Permission to mess up: When I know it’s okay to write badly, then I can get beyond the voice that says Don’t even try.

1. When it’s only a first draft and there’s time to revise
2. Writing in my journal knowing no one will ever see it
3. When I can’t think of anything productive to write and I have to begin the action of writing
4. When I’m taking notes collecting information, my thoughts and ideas

Photography: I’m inspired by pictures that speak to me, both mine and other photographers’ work.

1. Magazine and blog photos
2. My photographs that return me to where I shot them: The picture that adorns this blog’s header section is one example; it takes me back to Boston, Massachusetts where I took shot it
3. People, candid shots: Below is my brother Kemic and his baby daughter



4. Taking pictures: I immerse myself in getting the right composition and perspective to capture the story inside the shot, and I revel in the fact that it often boils down to luck

I can turn to these activities, or sit with a picture, and it takes me out of place, giving me room to breathe deeply and regroup. They each give me a break from the work of writing, which is the only way that I can do my best. As writer, Dr. Kirk Byron Jones says, “No sitting, no soaring.”

This 4 x 4 Sources of Writing Inspiration: Group Writing Project really was a lot of fun to do. Thanks again to Joanna Young for sharing the activity. It’s always good to know how to spark your inspiration—for times when you just can’t sit and wait for it.

If you’ve not yet done so, think about it and let me know what you do to fuel your writing fires.