IWSG: NaNoWriMo

Visit other writers participating in IWSG at Alex Cavanaugh's blog.

NaNoWriMo.  This will be my fifth year participating, and I have yet to write 50,000 words in one month.  This year, I debated whether I actually wanted to try again for months.  Why bother trying to spew out all those words when they probably won't be any good and I most likely won't make my goal anyway?

But when November 1st arrived, there was no question in my mind.  I changed my Facebook cover photo to a NaNo participant graphic and instantly started planning what I would write this year.

I have realized that it doesn't really matter if I achieve the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days.  It doesn't matter if I complete a manuscript or not.  It doesn't really even matter if what I write is good or bad.  That's not the value of NaNo for me.

For me, NaNoWriMo is all about getting into the habit of writing daily.  Every November I begin a practice of writing every day.  Somewhere around summer break, I lose the habit and I have a really hard time getting back into my groove.  Then November rolls around, I join NaNo, and all of a sudden I am writing again.  That is why I love NaNoWriMo.

Are you participating in NaNo this year?  What do you love or hate about the project?

WOTW: Mandala

Mandala:  from the Sanskrit word meaning disk or circle, mandalas are a form of spiritual artwork that use a circular shape as their overall structure.

I have found recently that drawing mandalas can be very relaxing.  It has been a great stress-relieving activity.  I even found an app on my Ipad that allows me to draw pretty mandalas :)

WOTW: Dross

Dross:  noun, something regarded as worthless; rubbish

What I'm Reading Wednesday: Insurgent and Horns

barnesandnoble.com

I just finished reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth.  I liked the book.  It was an easy read and had some exciting moments, but I am not as impressed with this series as I am with other YA books that I have read.  That being said, I am still interested in reading the next installment in the story.

barnesandnoble.com

Tomorrow I will be starting Horns by Joe Hill.  This book was recommended by a friend.  He is Stephen King's son, so I have pretty high expectations for his writing.  I wonder if writing skill runs in families?

What are you reading?  Have you read either of these books?  What did you think?

WOTW: Alienist

Alienist:  noun, a former term for a psychiatrist; a psychiatrist who assesses the competence of a defendant in a court of law.

IWSG: Advice from Tom Clancy

Check out other writers on Alex Cavanaugh's blog.

From an NPR story remembering Tom Clancy:

Clancy didn't mince words when he talked to would-be writers. "If your objective is to write a book, get a computer and write the damn book," he told members of the military at a 2004 writing workshop. "Yes, you can do this if you try hard enough. It's a lot easier than you realize it is."

Source:  http://www.npr.org/2013/10/02/228485169/tom-clancy-dies-left-indelible-mark-on-thriller-genre

Seems like good advice to me.  I already have the computer.  Now I just need to "write the damn book."

RIP Tom Clancy.

WOTW: Chloroform

Chloroform:  (noun) a colorless, volatile, sweet-smelling liquid used as a solvent and formerly as a general anesthetic.

I am currently reading The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum.  According to the author, for fifty years after chloroform was discovered, "every drugstore stocked it.......It was mixed into cough syrups and liniments; it was dispensed as a sedative, a sleep aid, a painkiller, a treatment for alcoholic DTs, for hiccupping, seasickness, colic, vomiting, and diarrhea.  No one was entirely sure how it worked, just that it appeared to slow the body down and sedate the brain, sliding a patient into a much-desired stupor."

I am fascinated by the idea that doctors used to prescribe substances for so many ailments when they had no idea what the effect would be.  I guess it is a good reminder of how much we have learned about science and medicine.