NaNoWriMo Day 26: Winning and TGIO

2013-Winner-Facebook-Cover

With four days left in the month of November, I am super excited to report that this year’s attempt at NaNoWriMo resulted in a win! I have never won early, so this year when I reached the 50,000 word goal on November 21st, I surprised even myself! (Isn’t that what writing is supposed to do?) Congratulations to everyone else who has already won (many of you long before I did) and KEEP GOING to those of you who are almost there!

The question of what to do when you’ve reached your goal/finished your story/ won can be difficult to answer, so here a some of the ways I like to celebrate/recover.

1. Eat something healthy. (This includes chocolate!)

Nothing like replenishing your body of all the nourishment it’s been starved of, but it doesn’t hurt to satisfy a sweet tooth as well! You’ve earned it!

2. Sleep. 

This is a big one. Just do it. For a long, long time.

3. Drink some water and try to break yourself of the caffeine addiction you’ve acquired.

I know we all become coffee aficionados as soon as November starts, but don’t let those multiple cups of coffee a day take a higher toll than they need to and keep you awake when you don’t need to be.

4. Read a book. 

This one might be my favorite. It’s so hard to get much reading done during NaNo, so I like to pick a book that I’ve been wanting to read or that is very popular and piques my curiosity at the very beginning of the month and use it to reward myself when I reach 50k. This year my book was Divergent.

5. Reenter the world of socialization.

Your friends and family have missed you! Ease the pain of saying goodbye to your characters by reconnecting with the important flesh and blood people in your life. Go to a party, go on a date, go see Catching Fire. That’s what I did. 🙂

6. If you finish early, set aside a little time to go back and add any scenes you may have skipped.

This might not bump your word count up much higher than it already is, but it will give you the satisfaction of knowing you really did complete a first draft.

7. Thank God It’s Over.

When December does come around, use your regional forum on the NaNoWriMo website to find the TGIO party that’s closest to you! Go commiserate with other Wrimos about how glad you are that it’s over, and how much you want to do it again.

Seven always seems like a good number, so I’ll stop there. If you have any other ways to celebrate finishing or tips for getting over the post-NaNo problems we all face, share them below!

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NaNoWriMo Day 19: Tips for Beating the Thanksgiving Breakdown

NaNoWrIMo 2013Well here we are folks, in the midst of the last week of NaNoWriMo that will be free of cooked birds and cracked family members. Before the festivities launch their full-fledged assault on our word counts and try desperately to keep us from finishing our novels, it’s best to have a counterattack ready. What are your strategies for achieving victory in spite of the holiday lurking at the end of the month? Here are some of my plans and tips for getting through to the finish line – share yours below!

1. Finish your novel before Thanksgiving stuff starts. 

Crazy Level: 5   Achievability: 3

If you are way behind in your word count, this may not be the best option for you. But for everyone else, Thanksgiving Day is so late this year that in order to finish on the Wednesday before, you would need to be only 5,000 words ahead! If you start now, this is totally doable!

2. Write in the car, on the train, in the plane, while snowshoeing toward home.

Crazy Level: 1  Achievability: 5

If you aren’t going to be able to get ahead, at least you can stay on par with your word count by using all of that time you’ll be spending traveling to see your family for your novel’s benefit. Airport terminals and passenger seats can be great writing spaces! (Of course, this is only really helpful if you aren’t the one driving!)

3. Set aside little bits of time for writing during the holidays. 

Crazy Level: 3  Achieveability: 3

This can be a really tough one, but in order to be a NaNoWriMo winner, it is vitally important to stay connected to your story by writing every day. Skipping days will put you so far behind so fast that you won’t know how to catch up! Some of the best ways to be successful with this are to get up a half an hour before the rest of the family, or stay up half an hour later, and use that time to keep your word count on target.

Don’t forget to share your own tips below! We’re gonna need ’em…

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Almost There (Halfway): NaNoWriMo Day 12

Day twelve of November’s month-long torturous noveling endeavor is here, my friends, which means that even though many of us are still slogging through the muck that is Week Two, there are just three short days until the halfway point. Just three days! Come November 15th, it’s all downhill (for your blocks and stresses, that is. Uphill for your novel.) Take heart, Wrimos!

If you’ve fallen behind in your effort to reach 1,667 words per day, or whatever other goal you may have set, don’t give up! There is still more than enough time for you to catch up and win NaNoWriMo! In past years, I was right there with you, always managing to scrape by with a win at the last second! (Well, except for once. We won’t talk about that.) You can do this!

This year, however, I’m not in this boat (yet). Whether it is due to four years of training in the field of English literature and creative writing, the host of great books I have read and learned from since my last attempt, or the simple act of warming up to NaNo by writing every day in October (though NOT 1,667 words), somehow, this year, the story is just flowing. So despite the fact that I’ve had a hot pad on my wrist for much of the past 24 hours due to the crazy 5,000 words I wrote during the NaNoThon on Saturday, I am so excited to be able to say that I have reached 25,000 words!

Not only have I reached those words, but three days early! Even in the years that I won, I never reached this important milestone so early in the month. Plus, achieving 25k officially puts me one full day’s word count past the total count of my failed attempt (the one we’re not talking about), restoring my confidence in myself and my writing, and convincing me once and for all that this year I will win!

Another thing I have never experienced in NaNo before? It’s not the temptation to look back at these 25,000 words and think about how crappy they are, for sure. Yes, I’ve written a lot, and yes, I’ve written it fast – but it’s not any good! So who cares!

I do. Because this year, as this rough, rough first draft is being born, I can see what I want to improve. I know what I’m going to change when I come back to it for a second draft. Sure, this may be a story that is, at the moment, worthy of Anne Lamott’s criticism – but that’s okay. It’s a first draft. And someday, it will be better.

So here’s to 25k! And to crappy first drafts that will someday be great. Don’t give up on them now!

Also, because I’m so happy about reaching 25k, I wanted to go back and remind myself why I am writing this story by reading my favorite part of it (go figure – it’s the first page).

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Ugly Words: NaNoWriMo Day 5

NaNoWrIMo 2013

With National Novel Writing Month now in full swing, it can be tempting to look back on the 8,335 words (or more… or less) you’ve written and see how awful they are, ugly, just-hatched things that have yet to grow the wings and soft feathers that will turn them into majestic and cuddly beauties. It is easy to call it all garbage, to tell yourself that these words have no more value than last night’s dinner does today. Your plot might be fizzling out, your characters might be uncooperative, your fingers might hurt from the furious typing you’ve been putting them through. It’s easy to wonder why on earth you’re doing it all, and wouldn’t it be nice to just take a long nap?

But let’s take a step back.

What did we just say?

8,335 words. In just FIVE DAYS.

A mere six days ago, that number was zero, and you had doubts that you could write even 1,000 words before November 30th! But look at you now! Forget about your ugly, not-yet majestic words. This adventure is no longer about the bystanders, the words that are just happening to be born. It is about you, the hero-writer, and your quest for completion! For authorship! For creativity! Don’t bash those 8,335 words. Turn around and clap yourself on the back for writing them. (In just FIVE DAYS, you awesome writer!) Did you know that tomorrow marks the 20% mark? You’re already 1/5 of the way through your journey! So sit back and enjoy the rest of this crazy, caffeine -induced ride, and in 25 days maybe you will discover that many of the ugly words you wrote are a lot more majestic than you thought.

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Book Review: When We Were On Fire

When We Were On Fire

Remember the 90s? Remember the tidal wave of cool that was flooding our churches, our youth groups, our prayers? Most of us do, in a vague, foggy kind of way. In this beautiful memoir, Addie Zierman writes about this era of Christianity with a candidness and a clarity that not only reminds us of what was going on, but puts into words the questions many have had, in hindsight, about what was really going on.

Starting off each chapter with a piece of “Christianese” (words Christians use that need to be explained to everyone else) and a definition, Zierman talks about things I haven’t thought about in years – things like AWANA, See You At the Pole, Teen Mania, WWJD bracelets. Back then, it seemed like in order to be a good Christian, all you had to do was dress modestly (a Jesus promoting t-shirt for every day of the week), be active at church (short-term mission trips, Bible study, etc.), and pray (fill journals with your girl cursive telling God how great he was and what you were feeling, who you liked, why you wanted God to make you a missionary). To be a super-Christian, you had to be a missionary. You had to be willing to leave it all and go live somewhere else. Because that’s what Jesus did for us, right?

Zierman’s book certainly doesn’t bash missionaries, and neither am I. She simply confesses in an honest and non-judgmental way that the reason she wanted to be a missionary during high school was not because of God, but because of Christianity. I’ve had a feeling about this for a few years now, and I was delighted to read the story of someone who decided not to be a missionary. (She still spent a year in China with her husband, but she was teaching English, not Bible stories, and it was hard, and they came back.)

After painting a picture of how clearly “on fire” for Jesus she was in high school, Zierman describes the experience of going to a small Christian college in a way that shows exactly how it is – for some people (I being one of them). At home she was the Bible study leader, the righteous one. At school, the Christians who had gotten everything right judged her for not having their taste in decorating, listening to non-Christian music, and going on late night walks with a boy. She described this experience not as a backsliding in her relationship with Christ, but as a disillusionment with evangelicalism. It was too stifling, too pigeon-holed, too legalistic.

From there, she describes the loneliness she felt, even after her marriage, as for many years she was unable to find within evangelicalism the community and deep understanding and friendship that she craved. She slid into depression, mild alcoholism, and emotional adultery. It took a long time and a lot of counseling to make it back – a lot of forgiveness directed toward things that happened back when she was on fire. But she did make it, and this book is her beautiful story.

There were very few things in this book I disagreed with. Usually I take this as a warning sign, that maybe I am not thinking about the book critically enough. But it’s a memoir! It’s hard to disagree with someone’s life. What I did feel was an astounding sense of recognition. That Zieman’s story is not just hers. That it belongs to a generation that was duped into believing they were holy if they wore enough Jesus t-shirts, sang enough songs, met every dilemma with WWJD? Anyone can learn from this book. Everyone can respond to it, whether you grew up in, were consumed by, or are struggling to recover from the Christian subculture that led everyone to believe that fires could never go out.

In short – YOU should read this book. (But you should read this first.)

Addie’s website and author bio, and you can read a sample chapter here.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

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NaNoWriMo Cometh

NaNoWrIMo 2013

 

It’s that time of year again!

No, I don’t mean the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays or finals week crunch times that are slowly creeping up on us from out of nowhere. I mean those 30 days of literary abandon that are National Novel Writing Month.

I suppose in my case NaNo hasn’t actually come around for the past few years. What was so easy in high school seems so much harder in college, when there are major assignments, big job responsibilities, tons of fun stuff to do with friends, and a solid amount of sleep at night seems a lot more important than it did just a few years ago.

Attempting NaNoWriMo while in college is a big undertaking, but this year I am determined! I will overcome the obstacles and write a November Novel worthy of being extensively edited into something I can be proud of! I will manage to do this while graduating college, finishing up wedding plans, and getting (nearly) enough sleep!

It’s gonna be a hard, long, road. (30 days to be exact.) And I don’t want to do it alone! If you like writing at all, or like doing crazy things, join me! The Patriot Newspaper (I write for them, and you can read all of this semesters issues here) at The University of the Cumberlands is graciously sponsoring a Kick-Off party for anyone interested – for details look up the group UC NaNoWriMo on Facebook! Remember, the world needs your novel.

It CAN be done!

Jolina Petersheim

This past weekend was Homecoming at University of the Cumberlands, and I had the opportunity to meet Jolina Peterson, a UC graduate and author of The Outcast. Although I am not myself a fan of the Amish style fiction that seems to pervade the women’s fiction section in today’s Christian bookstores, I read The Outcast in order to review it for The Patriot Newspaper, and found myself surprised and delighted!

The Outcast is not a typical Amish novel. In it there is no budding romantic courtship, no countryside horse and buggy day trips, no women chattering along as they bake or keep house.  There are no goody-two-shoes characters, only characters who pretend to be so.  Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and a story her parents told of an affair between a man and his wife’s sister who lived within an Old Order Mennonite community, Jolina set her story in a contemporary Mennonite society in the mountains of Tennessee. Although it is obvious that these two stories started the book off, there are Biblical themes throughout it that only came with Jolina’s own touch. The two sisters’ names are Rachel and Leah, a biblical reference that fits beautifully into the story and even makes it more believable.  There are other name games going on as well, comparing characters to biblical pairs of the same kind, but I don’t want to give everything away – read the book!

When I was able to meet Jolina and interview her for The Patriot, one thing about her became very evident: she is a woman who loves what she is doing, loves the people who support her in it, and feels that God has a purpose for the opportunities she has been given. The Outcast was published this year by Tyndale Publishers – one of the biggest names in Christian publishing today, despite the fact that Jolina has never published a book before and has only one degree – in English from the same university from which I will receive my English degree in January. And the book is good!

Jolina’s success itself has been a huge encouragement to me. A lot of people aspire to become published authors, but few of them really feel that they have what it takes to get there. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I’ve ever really thought that I have what it takes myself. But if someone else can be as successful as Jolina with the same degree that I am going to get myself, maybe there is hope for me, too! Not saying that I could make it as big as she has, but that maybe, just maybe, I can see my name on a cover someday, too.

Thanks for your encouragement Jolina, and for reminding me that the things we hope and aspire for in life really can be done!

Go West Young Ones: Rocky Mountain National Park

This summer as part of my internship, I got to go on what was likely a once-in-a-lifetime road trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. It was an amazing experience, and we have hundreds of beautiful photos – none of which do justice to the surreal, majestic feeling of being there for real. In spite of this, however, I want to share a handful of photos from the trip and say a few words about them. =)

It’s always surreal to come back from a trip like this, but looking back at these photos, I just feel blessed to have had this opportunity. Spiritual experiences somehow always feel stronger on a mountain top, and these mountaintops were about as high up as you can get in the US. These places are so beautiful in photographs that I want to go back and remind myself how much more lovely they were for real. It is hard  to face the reality that this extra loveliness will live on only in my memory, but reassuring to be reminded that the spiritual experiences of the mountaintop are accessible everyday.

The Beginning of the End

Last fall, as I drove from Williamsburg, Kentucky to Annapolis, Maryland for the last summer vacation of my college career, the last spring road trip home, it struck me that these were Last Things, and that the entire previous semester had been a Last Thing, and almost everything that I did in Williamsburg from then on out would also be a Last Thing. Last check-in, last dorm room, last Welcome Week, last Homecoming, last Patriot games, last Williamsburg hiking trips, last finals week. Not gonna lie, I teared up a little thinking about this during that drive home. As I passed each of the half-dozen colleges I drive by on the interstate during that trip, I realized that I could have gone to any one of them and had a very different experience, but instead I went to Cumberlands, and experienced the things that I was now thinking about leaving behind.

Now, an entire summer later, August has come with a great continuation of Last Things. For the last time, I made that long drive back to UC with visions of an exciting new semester ahead. One last dorm room to decorate, one last class schedule to write out, one last RA staff to get to know and work with.

One last.

And I realized – this is the beginning of the end. And as much as I will feel grown, accomplished, and ready for the next step upon graduation, I know that I will also be sad to leave this place and these people and this time of my life behind. I have never been  a huge fan of endings, and this one seems especially definite. So as this ending begins, I am looking back on the past three years and being thankful I am not quite at the end of it yet – not for another 125 days.

Gillespie Staff 2013

Build Each Other Up

 

Before I share the conclusion I have come to on a subject that has been on my mind for a while, let me tell you that the first person who needs to read this is myself. But I think it is something people tend to brush aside as unimportant, myself included, when really they just don’t want to face the truth. And here it is:

 

Picking on someone out of “love” is not a love that exists in the Bible. It is not a love that God has for us or that we have for God. Can you imagine someone standing up in church and saying, “Well, I only pick on God because I like him”? I don’t think anyone would quite know how to respond to this. We, as human beings, like to tease. We like to laugh, and we like to enjoy each other’s quirks and how they make us happy. But how do we communicate that? I have heard so many people say, “I only pick on people I really like.”

 

In fact, this is something we are instructed not to do. Peter throws “unkind speech” right into the mix of other evil behaviors: “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation,” (1 Peter 2:1-2). This implies that until we get rid of unkind speech, we will not be able to grow into a “full experience of salvation.” That sends a pretty clear message that this isn’t something God wants in our lives.

 

In which case, if God is love, is it even possible to pick on someone out of  love?

 

Paul didn’t seem to think so. Like Peter, he equated “harsh words” with things like stealing. Ephesians 4:26-32 makes it pretty clear that our speech is of importance to God.

Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own,guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Get rid of harsh words. Let everything you say be an encouragement to others. Be tenderhearted.
This seems to have been a natural occurrence for the early church. When Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica, he instructs them only to continue what they have begun in this area: “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing” (1 Thesalonians 5:9-11).

 

So why is it that so many of us do not do this? I would like to contest the statement I have heard over and over again. I think the more correct statement would be “I only pick on people I am comfortable enough with that I know they will pick back, and not be offended.” However, I have to wonder, is there a chance that when you pick on someone who falls into this category, while they may not  by outwardly offended,  you may have offended their spirit? Is it fair to say that when someone is offended or hurt by something that you say “in jest” after you have put them in the category of people whom you are comfortable picking on, that they are just too “sensitive”? I have also heard people say, “Well, I tell them I love them. They know I love them, so it shouldn’t matter if I pick on them. They are just being sensitive.”  I contest this statement as well. Harsh words are sometimes expected from those who we do not know, have little chance of seeing again, and do not value above any other person in our hearts. But for these words to come from someone in whom we have placed value, trust, and godly love… Is it any surprise that they should come as a shock? In James 3:5-10, James explains that it is not healthy for a blessing and a curse to come from the same mouth:

In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

 

Therefore, this argument of love balancing out the teasing is invalid.

 

Now, I’m not saying that I think all teasing is bad,or that there isn’t a time and place. Some things may cut deeper than others. But I think people – yes, even Christians – have a tendency to overlook the gravity of their speech. Words are powerful, as the verse above testifies, and I have a lot to learn about this myself. People’s feelings, should they be hurt, should not be dismissed in a moment by labeling the person as sensitive, in a bad mood, or unable to take a joke. This isn’t fair to the immortal soul within them. Consider this quote from C. S. Lewis’ book, The Weight of Glory:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal …  it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

 

I don’t know about you, but this makes me think of people just a little bit differently. With any luck, it will help me to think twice the next time I am tempted to cut someone down before the words get out.