Saturday, October 31, 2015

JOIN: Celebrate This Week - Story Exploratory and NaNoWriMo


Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 
with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.



Last week, while the kids were at swimming lessons, splashing away in the pool, I bought a domain name and set up this blog, a sweet place for me to explore my story, share my love of writing, and hopefully inspire others.

So here we are.

And I'm so happy you are here to celebrate with me today!

Thanks to the remarkable Ruth Ayres, Saturdays are reserved for celebration. I've been celebrating with Ruth on my Teach Mentor Texts blog for a long time. It's definitely a highlight of my week and I'm happy to bring celebration to Story Exploratory. 

To be honest, making the choice to start Story Exploratory didn't just happen on a whim at swimming lessons. I've been thinking dreaming about how I might share more of my story as a writer for a long time. Writing makes me feel empowered and maybe it sounds cheesy but I would love if others would get to feel that way too. Sharing my story seems like the best way to start. 

That doesn't mean it wasn't scary. But I decided that when something feels scary, it doesn't mean you should give up. It means you have a chance to be brave.
So here we are (again).

Starting Story Exploratory is enough to celebrate but I'm starting on another crazy adventure tomorrow too.

Tomorrow is November 1st and that means NaNoWriMo! Just typing it makes me wince but I already signed up so I'm not looking back now. The first time I tried NaNoWriMo was in 2011. I so totally did not win NaNoWriMo...at all. 

Of course, that's part of what freaks me out about doing it now BUT I wouldn't have a super polished novel that I'm querying if I hadn't started it four years ago. 

It seems worth it to start a new draft...to get as far as I possibly can...whether I win NaNoWriMo or not. So I signed up. 

Last night I worked on my beat sheet, which is my super-skeletal outline based on Blake Snyder's Save The Cat. If you're thinking of writing a novel, I definitely recommend it. I've been thinking about these characters for a couple of years and finally getting ready to tell their story is exciting. Plus the story is set at a pool so I get to "live" in summer even though it will be November. How fun is that!?
I'm looking forward to having so much more to celebrate here. If you're doing NaNoWriMo too, please let me know! We can suffer the torture have so much fun together.

And if not, *maybe* next year. ;) 

No, seriously, if not, what are you celebrating? I've got (virtual) confetti at the ready! Thanks for stopping in to explore with me!

5 comments:

  1. OK...I have signed up for NaNoWriMo! I am part of the "rebel" group since I'm not writing a novel, but I am working on a nonfiction book. Can we still support each other?!?! I am scared that I'll fail miserably, but I'm LEAPING in...no matter what! Glad to have company! Happy Writing!!!

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  2. I'm doing PiBoIdMo, Jen, & wish you well with NaNoWriMo. Will follow you on FB!

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  3. I love the new website! I am excited for you and for those of us who will benefit from your work. I think I am doing NaNo again this year even though I had already decided I wouldn't. I'm going to be a rebel though and write nonfiction. I think I will mostly be writing short story memoir. I think I will also count other writing I do (like articles for newsletters etc.) in my word count. Anyway, I will be going to write-ins and trying to write every day. I may not win this time, but just hope to get more writing done this month than I would otherwise. ;)

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  4. There is something so fresh and new and exciting about having a shiny new blog space. I love your logo and your creative ideas. I will not be doing Nanowrimo this year. It totally sends me into anxiety and writer's block. November is the worst month for me to write a novel, but I tried the July camp and failed miserably. I just don't need to feel that bad about myself as a writer. But I wish you luck. I'll be following your posts about it all.

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  5. Samesies!!!! Count me in as a co-supporter!

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