And drinking coffee

NaNoWriMo, Day 9

Day 9 of writing a novel.

A good day today, focused and productive. The last few days, not so much. I had big plans to get all caught up over the week, and instead found even keeping up with the daily word count to be difficult. I imagine this is something like how it feels to get behind on your credit card payments. At the first payment you think, “oh, no problem, I’ll just pay the minimum plus a little extra today and for the next few payments.” But the minimum is just a little too high and the card keeps getting used, so instead of chipping away at the debt, it piles up. Luckily my word-debt only inflicts guilt, no long-term financial harm. And I’m still feeling positive about it. I’ve got some big chunks of the weekend already devoted to getting words on the page. I actually do think I work best under some pressure, and being a little bit behind is prodding me to invest more heavily in the project.

I’ve got all the main story lines started at this point, and for the most part they are heading in a direction I’m happy with. It’s not completely clear how they will all tie together yet, but I’m sure as I get to know the characters better things will sort themselves out.

I’ve been writing a journal/flow every morning when I wake up to kind of get my brain going, and I think that has helped allow me to achieve the same state later in the day after my brain has hardened a little bit. I also made a conscious effort to start reading more, which has reinforced the thoughts I’ve been having about narrative and description. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m remembering the 10,000 hour rule and imagining myself chipping away at an enormous block of time, getting my reps in and slowly, excruciatingly slowly, getting a little better at writing.

And drinking coffee

NaNoWriMo, Day 6

Day 6 of writing a novel.

Whew! Things are starting to get rolling. I got a bit behind over the weekend by taking a climbing trip to Oregon, but I’m almost back to my word count target. At about 9k, was hoping to be around 10k-12k. I’ll have another full day for it tomorrow, which will help. I’m not sure I’d be able to keep up with this if I was working full time. People do it, though, so it would probably mean a lot more focused writing effort, greater drop-off of other activities, and more late nights.

I’m getting more and more involved with the story. It’s starting to creep into my mind at all times of the day and night. The ideas are flowing easily even when the actual words are not, and I have a feeling the whole thing will not be fully told in 50,000 words. That’s OK, I can make it longer if I need to. I definitely fall in and out of the flow of writing, and it can be hard to keep the words coming without getting distracted. Watching the election results certainly does not help. And it turns out there are some really diverting things on the internet. I’ll probably have to start writing more in my room where the internet can’t get me. But still feeling good about it! I’m definitely feeling the need to disconnect myself from any thoughts about whether anybody would like it. That’s a really fast way to get discouraged and second-guess everything I’m putting down. It’ll be week 2 soon, which is when the NaNoWriMo people say things start to get really difficult. Planning to just power through.

And drinking coffee

NaNoWriMo, Day 2

Day 2 of writing a novel.

So far so good! Wrote about 1,700 words yesterday and 2,400 today. It is feeling great to get into a flow and just kind of let the story create itself. So far it is very obviously based on pieces of my life and people I know well. I’m really enjoying the possibility of where things can go, and I’m curious to see how it transforms over time. I’ve been keeping notes about the characters and situations I’ve created, as it quickly became clear that I’m going to have trouble keeping everything straight in my mind. Hoping that some of the weird humor comes through and makes it somewhat enjoyable to read. It’s really hard to tell with my own writing and so early on, but I’ve been trying to edit as little as possible and save the dissection for later.

I’m going on a rock climbing trip this weekend, which will make it very difficult to write. I’m hoping to do some in the car, but even charging my computer will be a trick. I’m pretty sure I can catch up quickly on the days I don’t work, but this is definitely going to consume my effort for the next month. I’m happy to let it. I can already tell the adventure is going to be worth it. Knowing that I can write a couple thousand words a day is empowering, and being able to do that consistently for a period of time will really add up. And with enough practice, it’s bound to be good eventually.

Which reminds me of this quote: “Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” Some kind of Chinese proverb, applicable to all sorts of areas of my life right now.

And drinking coffee

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

In addition to mustache appreciation month (yes, I am in), November is National Novel Writing Month. So I’m going to do it. Write a novel. I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s going to be terrific and hard and all sorts of things I can’t predict. You can learn more about the event here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

My approach: haven’t made one yet. I’m going to write about 2,000 words a day, and see what happens. No editing until December. I’m sure an outline will come as I start pulling ideas together. Let’s be honest, it will probably mostly be about my life. It’s what I know best.

Well wishes and enthusiasm are welcome, especially around week 2, which is apparently the toughest. I won’t have time to manage skepticism, so save that until I’m done.

I plan to post updates fairly regularly. Looking forward to it!

Self-Help and Mentoring

About four years ago I was traveling through Italy, biking, farming, and just generally exploring life. I didn’t have a lot of direction other than south, but life felt good. As I started seeing more hamlets and monasteries on the tops of cliffs and mountains, I realized something: I needed a mentor. I felt that my life could go all sorts of wild places, and that it would be valuable to have a wise soul to guide me through the process.

This is actually Greece, but you get the idea. Same trip, at least. The Meteora.

I made a note of this in my journal and promptly forgot about it for several years. I never sought out any person or community that I thought would be able to guide me through my explorations, and nothing materialized on its own. I didn’t think about a mentor in a serious way until a few weeks ago. Instead of renewing my resolve to find a guide, however, I realized that I have already been seeking the advice and lessons from numerous mentors.

“Self-help” has a terrible ring to it. It is full of negative connotation, an admission that one isn’t able or competent enough to deal with the difficulties of life. It doesn’t even make sense – it isn’t self-help if someone else is telling you how to do it. And a lot of it is probably garbage, especially considering the number of shelves dedicated to it at the bookstore. Luckily for me, none of the sources I was using called themselves “self-help”, so I snuck in without realizing where I had gone.

Over the last year or so, I’ve been drawing from a number of sources, gradually improving my life and state of mind. I feel that I’m now reaching a new stage of contentment and freedom in my self, and I am excited to see where things lead from here. The other day I was describing to a friend that the daily vocal training I’m doing was creating all sorts of new openness and range in my voice. I realized that this was in fact true of my whole life.

So what have I been doing? I’m tackling some of the skills I’ve wanted to have for a long time, but never really practiced, and I’m being open to good advice where I find it. Some of the people I’ve drawn the most from are:

Jason Crandell for yoga. I do yoga almost everyday on my own, listening to his podcast. Little things like folding your palms in front of your chest and lifting the skin over your sternum make a huge difference in the practice. When I got these they were free, but it looks like you might have to pay for them now.

Ken Perlman for guitar. I came upon his Fingerstyle Guitar book by chance, and have followed it with his advanced book. I’m playing guitar in ways I couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. Also, what a mustache.

Betty Edwards for drawing and perception. I’ve written about Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain before (here and here), and it has allowed huge leaps in my perception and ability to recreate that on a page.

Steve Pavlina for consciousness and inspiration. This guy might be a wacko, or he might be full of wisdom (or probably somewhere in between), but either way his ideas have inspired me. His blog posts often sound hokey, but they have definitely got me thinking and actively pursuing life.

Timothy Ferriss for fitness, confidence, and life/time management. This is the 4-Hour Workweek and 4-Hour Body guy. Not everything in those books makes sense for every person, but some of his suggestions are spot on, and his workouts are surprisingly effective.

Brett Manning for singing. I just started his speech-level singing course about 5 weeks ago. He’s super cheesy in an L.A./Hollywood way, but like I said, all sorts of new openness and range. Very expensive, unless you can borrow it from a friend.

This week I also started working through Julia Cameron‘s The Artist’s Way. It’s a spiritual approach to nurturing creativity. I’m excited about it – even reading the introduction made me want to sit down and paint all day.

The fear with seeking advice and guidance from strangers is that their thinking will take over your life and you’ll end up joining a cult or something. This is more true of the life-coach type sources than the skill-specific ones. I think the key here is to take it all with a grain of salt and to draw from multiple sources simultaneously. Doing so makes it a lot easier to distinguish the good ideas from the fluff without necessarily buying into an entire lifestyle. The fact that they are mostly free (or available at a library) helps. I definitely don’t have plans to pay for this kind of advice any time soon. Again, specific skills are a bit different.

While I would still be open to having some kind of personal mentor, I feel that I’ve found a workable alternative through these various sources, and I’m sure there are plenty more I haven’t found yet (and I welcome suggestions – especially on writing, painting, and song-writing). I’m continuing to cobble together a kind of personal philosophy, and I expect to be doing so my whole life. It’s exciting and fulfilling. Still, I’d rather not call it “self-help.”