National Novel Writers Month Is Taking Over the Green Leaf Offices!

Those of you who have been reading GLR for the past year may have picked up on the fact that I love to write. In fact so much so that I host another blog and publish articles online as well. What many of you may not know is that I have long dreamed of being a novelist but could never seem to fit it into my already jam packed life.

As you may have guessed, the real issue here was my fear of just going for it with reckless abandon. Generally speaking it was because most of us writers have that sneaky inner editor that eventually shows up to convince us that what we have written is crap; sadly I have listened to it all these years.

But no more!

NaNoWriMo is an event, which takes place in November every year, that allows writers to lock away their editor and throw out the key until December. The way to win NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel (minimum) in just 30 days. Woo hoo!

I have a few fantastic characters who have been trapped inside unfinished 8,000 word stories for far too long now and the lucky one who has come out to play is a pretty cool gal named Sarah. The novel is a chick-lit style where she and her friends (not to mention an overbearing mom) live their life on a day to day basis and we readers get to share in 50,000 words of it.

Some basic outline and a few plot twists and turns have been put to paper already but for the most part this is going to be the first time ever that I have:
A. written something this long
B. mostly developed my cast on the fly
C. been encouraged to write 1667 words of fiction per day
D. done something this insane in my writing career
E. been so jazzed to see the end result

Because the month is going to be a blur of characters, I will potentially be posting a little less in the way of reviews. As of now I have done a big push to front load a whole bunch of posts that are scheduled to go up automatically through about the middle of the month, and I am allowing myself up to five days off from the book so I plan to jam in a whole bunch of reviews during that time too. You may see a post or two from Melissa during this month as well, who knows!

As a little teaser I will tell everyone that one of the characters in the story is very eco-centric and has made a fortune on a Green line of products.

I hope everyone has a great month and I do intend to report back on my overall progress either here or over at Random Lunacy sporadically during November.

If you would like to track my progress on the novel feel free to visit my author page!

Sharing Is Caring

Yesterday I was desperately trying to contribute to the novel I am currently working on and I must have opened it fifteen times but could not conceive of a single sentence that would add to it so I closed it just as many times. It frustrated me that there was nothing inspired coming to mind with regard to the story or character development so instead of typing I picked up my journal and pen. This is one of my favorite exercises as it tends to free the blockage because I am just frantically writing whatever comes to mind no matter how insane it may read later.

At one point while scribbling away I happened to sprawl out lengthwise on my sofa and glanced out the window at the treetops that are visible out back. I stared at them for quite some time and was instantly inspired by their naked beauty so I threw down a little bit of prose.

Generally when I write poetry it is about me, dreams I have had, feelings I need to purge and for the most part I tend to use words that no one but me understands the true meaning of, although many people can relate to the feeling or tone. Prose in my world tends not to be literal and never about nature but for some reason yesterday was different. I posted this over at my personal blog but got to thinking about it this morning and wanted to share my view of yesterday’s nature with all of you as well. Hope you enjoy it.

Just Outside
The wind blows through the branches
And they sway effortlessly,
Elegantly
Against a backdrop of cloudy sky.
A tree can bow in the
Strongest storm
As long as the trunk is sturdy
And the roots are deep.
A shaft of light bursts through
Illuminating the brown bark
Creating shadows for birds
To hide from my eyes.
The light begins to fade
But the tiny tips of the branches
Protrude proudly.
The wind picks up
Branches thrash wildly,
Waving at me inside my home
As if to say ‘pick me for the team’.
Trees do not show emotion
All they do is hold firm.
Years go by,
Centuries.
They see everything
But remember nothing
Except how to flower in the spring.
The monochromatic brown
Suddenly turns to green
Still a singular color palate
Nothing more than the same waving tree,
The same swaying limbs,
Now against a blue sky.
But the branches are hidden
And the leaves show the spirit
That swelled up from deep within the trunk.
The trees may not know how to show joy
But I do.