An announcement, or a refresher depending on how long you’ve been reading “Summer Vacation”: In a matter of days I’ll be participating in my 5th National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo 2012. It’s an event held by an organization / writing community that encourages people to write a complete novel in one month, using 50,000 words as the goal. I’m happy to say I’ve reached that benchmark in each of the years I’ve done it, and even have a .500 batting average when it comes to manuscripts that have made it as far as being requested be literary agents (although offers of representation are a different story). To save you the trouble of doing the math, this breaks down to a minimum of 1,667 words written every day of November, which might not sound like a lot until you try doing it. And even though I know how consuming of a task it is, I’m feeling pretty pumped to get started. You see, last night I had the chance to take in a very, very inspirational and vindicating experience when it comes to my attempts at writing.
Justin Cronin’s book “The Twelve” was released earlier this month. It’s the second book in a trilogy that began with “The Passage,” which I wrote about a couple years back here. Cronin has quickly become one of my favorite writers. Not only is he telling an intriguing and engrossing story throughout these books, but he is an incredibly gifted writer. I follow him online and saw he had a speaking engagement / book signing scheduled at a book store not far from here. After enduring a Friday of ups and downs, I finally decided to go and got there in plenty of time to get a great seat. I texted a few people while waiting but spent most of my time reading some more of the copy of “The Twelve” I’d brought with to get signed and tapping out some notes on my phone for the book I’ll be starting soon. Since Cronin was an English professor before becoming a full-fledged millionaire, I figured he’d be proud of my multi-tasking choices.
As the event began, the store manager went through all of the formalities of having a bona fide author present, and as she reviewed his biography for the 150 or so people in attendance, Cronin just wandered up between two aisles and stood there listening, smiling at the crowd and waving to a few people he knew. When the manager announced she would go “collect the author,” he just raised a finger, smiled at her, and said, “Right here!” Being a professor, he was obviously comfortable speaking to a large group. He told a few self-deprecating stories from his tour and past signings, talked about the research he did for the new book, did a short reading from the new book and got quickly into questions. “There’s always an awkward moment when we start the Q & A part for these,” he said, “because nobody wants to be the one to go first. To help us get past that, I promise that the person brave enough to ask that first question will be added to my Christmas card list this year.” And true to his word, he did have a store employee take the address of the woman he called on first.
It was a great presentation. He was funny, engaging, informal, and for me being only days away from beginning the most ambitious project I’ve ever taken on, very inspirational. He brought up two tips “for anyone crazy enough to try writing a novel of their own someday” I had never heard or read before that I’ll definitely be using this time around. As he talked about his process, I’d get a little charge whenever he mentioned something similar to how I write: He writes in his head while exercising and then types out the ideas the first chance he gets? That’s what I do on the treadmill! He fights off writer’s block by NOT writing the story in chronological order? THAT’S EXACTLY HOW I DO IT! He wanders around the house in a bathrobe muttering to himself for six months before he starts? Well, okay, maybe not that one.... But listening to him talk about his process and hearing how he answered questions went a long way in reassuring me that even if I haven’t been published yet, I really do know what I’m doing and I’ve got a lot of it right already. When the presentation ended and I had my turn in the line to get my book signed, I told him I was also a teacher who was trying to be a writer, and my main reason for coming that night was just so I’d have the chance to tell him how blown away I am by his written voice (which I truly am). I figured he’d like the comment after he’d said in the presentation that taking the time to write well was almost a fetish for him, but when I made my comment he looked up from my book mid-signature, looked at me with mild surprise, put his hand out to shake mine and said with genuine appreciation, “Thank you for that, brother.” A pretty great moment. I walked out of the store thinking ohmygodjustincroninjustcalledmebrother and then held the adrenaline buzz so long I took two wrong turns while driving a route home I’ve probably driven a hundred times before.
Which brings us to now, the last weekend before NaNoWriMo 2012 kicks in on Midnight, November 1. Like I said earlier, this is easily the most ambitious thing I’ve ever tried to write, and I think if I pull it off it’s going to push me to a whole new level. I’ve got the overarching story planned out in my head and have taken 12,000 words of notes in preparation. I know how it begins, I know the last sentence, and most of what happens in between. I know each character better than I know some of my students. I don’t want to say much about the story because I’m hoping it will take the people who read it by surprise. But if you are one of the three or so people out there who are honestly curious about anything I write, I’ll offer up three not-too-helpful hints:
1 - It’s primarily a contemporary novel based around an ethical dilemma, with a heavy speculative element that could almost be considered science fiction.
2 - It’s written with a Young Adult (ages 13-18) audience in mind.
3 - I have assembled a list of close to 200 songs for the “soundtrack playlist” I’ll listen to while writing to help maintain the tone I’m going for, including the following artists:
*The Dead Weather
*Filter
*Japandroids
*The Killers
*Linkin Park
*Metric
*Muse
*My Chemical Romance
*Nine Inch Nails
*Radiohead
*Smashing Pumpkins
*Taking Back Sunday
That list will either help you recognize the tone a lot or not at all.
Okay. I’ll try to post updates here along the way in addition to my growing word count on Facebook. You could wish me luck if you wanted to, but after that chunk of inspiration I had last night -- I’m ready. I’ve got this.
