Can I teach you to write?

Let’s hope so.

If you’re reading my other blog, you know that I’m going back to school to get certified to be a high school English teacher. I’ve started my first online teacher-education class, and a little over half of my grade will be based on a three-lesson unit plan. I thought long and hard on what language arts topic I could do that on, and every single thing I thought of was related to writing.

I thought and planned and thought some more, and I’ve decided to use the writing process as the basis for my unit. I plan to teach about the writing process itself, and then focus specifically on prewriting: generating and organizing ideas.

It’s funny, because I was rereading some of my old posts, and I wrote a whole post about how I don’t do very well if I plan ahead too much when I write. Does that make me a hypocrite?

Well, no, I don’t think so. There are certainly types of writing that require a good deal of prewriting and organization, and school essays definitely fall into that category. And some people do find a strict writing process helpful when they write fiction, too.

To tell the truth, I’m not sure that it’s accurate to say that I fail when I organize too much. I think part of it is that I’m kind of lazy about it. I don’t want to organize ahead of time; I just want to dive in and see where it goes.

But even my NaNoWriMo project had a good deal of organizing behind it. I didn’t necessarily write an outline or draw a flow chart or anything, but I had a loose framework in my head of where I wanted that story to go. And it’s the first complete, novel-length project I’ve ever actually finished. And now that it’s done, if I ever get around to it, I need to go back to that organizational stage and do some real planning, and then work that story into a better structure.

So even if I don’t always use the writing process I’m planning to teach in exactly the way I’m going to teach it, I do use the basic parts of it, just in a bit of a different order. And that’s OK. Writing isn’t an exact science, and what works me as a writer isn’t going to work for my students. I need to give them all the basics, and then it will be up to them to figure out when and how to use those steps in the best way for them.

Thank You

The topic of Harry Potter came up on one of the forums I frequent, and a few people mentioned my “Harry Potter: The Lost Chapter” and a few folks who had never read it asked for the link. During the conversation, a few of those people said they were tempted to print out my story and stick it in the back of their books as if it were the real end to the book.

WOW.

Talk about a compliment. I think that might be the best one I’ve ever gotten. To be compared to one of my favorite book series of all time, and be found worthy, as its equal, as better than the actual ending, is truly amazing.

It’s been almost 9 months since I wrote that piece, and I am still stunned by how well it has been received. I wrote it purely for myself, to satisfy my own curiosity and desire for a more fulfilling end to the story of Harry Potter. I shared it because I was proud of it. Not because I expected any kind of praise. I just like it, and thought others might like it. I did not expect that others would love it. I did not expect others would remember it and still talk about it all this time later.

Anytime I end up talking about this piece, I feel like I’m bragging. But I tell you, I’m not trying to brag. I’m just amazed and very grateful.

So to those of you who read my piece and have shared with me how much you liked it, thank you very very much. You have really boosted my confidence in my writing, and I hope that it will translate to my own writing, and not just to fan fiction.

In the meantime, I’ll try not to get a big head about it.

A poet? Probably not.

I used to write a lot of poetry. I really like writing poetry, as I’ve found it to be a great outlet. I won’t claim I’ve ever been a great poet, as I’m fairly certain I’m a terrible poet. It’s been some time since I’ve written any poetry, but this one felt right, so I thought I’d share it, even if it isn’t great.

The Elephant in the Room

Do you see it?
There, in the corner.
It’s the elephant in the room.
It’s dancing, gesturing wildly,
so I can’t pretend it isn’t there.

Every time we meet,
it comes with you.
The air is thick,
and the room is small.
I can’t be me,
can’t tell you what I think,
what I feel.
Not while it sits there
mocking me.

I’ve tried to trick it,
tried writing.
But it’s a skilled surfer.
It rides the e-waves,
and meets you on the other side.

Will it ever go away?

 For all I know,
it could be yours.
Maybe you keep it on a leash,
making sure it’s always there,
So I can’t talk about it.
Maybe you don’t want to hear
what I have to say.

But I’m too afraid of what you’ll say,
so I never say it.

Last time, I thought it was smaller.
The walls didn’t seem so close.
The air was a little easier to breathe.
But maybe that’s just hope.

More on Blogging

Yesterday I had four ideas for blog posts, this one included. Four. Some days, I can’t think of anything that I want to write about, let alone something that anyone else would want to read.

But yesterday I was just brimming with ideas. One entry I’ve already posted in my other blog. This is another one. The other two ideas are also for my other blog, but I’m saving them for other days.

I wish I could be this inspired all the time. Of course, it’d be better if I could find that inspiration for my fiction writing, too, not just my blog. Blogging is a nice outlet, and at least it keeps me writing, but it’s not really writing writing. It’s just writing.

It’s too bad I can’t get paid to blog. Oh, I know people do, but I don’t think I’m quite at that level, nor do I write about the kinds of things people get paid to blog about. But it would be nice.

Still, this means I’ve got creative juices, even if they aren’t following quite the way I’d like them to. I guess I just need to find a way to channel those juices into the projects I’d like to work on.

As a side-note, it’s a bit funny to write a blog post about blogging, and have the blog software’s spell checker keep suggesting bog or log or clog. I suppose it could be worse. The spellchecker we use at work doesn’t even recognize plural words.

On Blogging

I’m not exactly sure when I first hear the term “blogging.” I remember a few college friends having Livejournals, which I viewed as just on-line diaries for the purpose of keeping in touch with old friends and family. I never saw the point, as I didn’t really have anybody I was worried about keeping in touch with. Later on, when I realized that blogs were a much bigger phenomenon, I really didn’t get it. What were people writing about? What were people reading about? Why did anyone care?

So how did I end up here with two blogs?

I got this blog for myself. I wanted to start writing again, and the casual atmosphere of a blog seemed like a good place. And just the act of writing those first few entries got me fired up enough to really start writing again, and it eventually led me to complete my first novel.

And then when I started going to school again, I found that I had a lot of thoughts running around in my head that were just begging to be written down. So I figured I’d just go ahead and set up another blog to track my new venture.

I’ve found that blogging is a fantastic format for me. It’s a great outlet for those little thoughts, and a really good way to see the progress I’m making in my writing and schooling. I love that when I have some random thoughts, I can log on and spew out a few hundred words and have a place to put it.

I’m don’t think I have a huge audience, but I have a few friends who check up on me regularly. And if random people stumble upon my posts and find them interesting, that’s great. But for the most part, I’m blogging for me.

My other blog

I haven’t really talked about it here, but as of a few weeks ago, I’m going back to school to get my teaching degree. I’ll be blogging about it at educated.wordpress.com.

And I’m done. Kind of.

I finished my novel yesterday, unceremoniously, during some extremely dead time at work. Well, if you want to get technical about it, I finished part one of my novel, the contents of which, in my original plan, were only a few chapters. In it’s current form, it is 18 chapters containing 52,915 words.

The story that I intended to tell when I began writing is only just beginning. Which means, I basically have another novel to write. I suppose, in the end, it will all be one novel with two parts, but for the purposing of writing and editing, I am going to consider it a novel and it’s sequel. The stories are quite separate, so I won’t feel at all guilty if I write the “sequel” during NaNoWriMo 2008, which is my plan. I could just keep writing, but I think the second part will be easier to write once I’ve edited and rewritten the first part. There are a lot of theme issues I need to sort out and strengthen before I move on.

So I guess my plan for now is to reread the whole thing, and just make some notes, and then start back at the beginning and edit one chapter at a time. Having never written anything this long (or this finished) before, I’m a bit anxious at the thought of editing the big old thing. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, so I’m just diving in blind and hoping for the best.

The end of NaNo, but not my novel

So I made it to the end. I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days. Actually, I got a bit of a late start and finished two days early. But I didn’t finish telling my story. I estimate that this is actually a halfway point.

I took yesterday off. I didn’t write a single word. I had a lot of real life things to catch up on. And today when I got up, I almost didn’t want to write, even though I was right in the middle of a scene I knew I could finish. I just felt so tired. I accomplished so much. Why do more?

 But I did it anyway. I sat down. I wrote 502 words. It didn’t take long, and it didn’t take much effort. But it was enough for today. As exciting as November has been, I can’t keep up that breakneck pace. My brain, my life, and my aching hands can’t take it.

But I can keep going. I can write 500 words or so a day. I can maybe even just write 100 words a day. Even 10 words a day. It doesn’t matter. It’s still progress. It still means that I’m continuing to write and even if it takes until next November, I’ll finish this story.

I’m a winner

 

I wrote how much?

I wrote 3,718 words yesterday. I haven’t really kept track of my word count each day, just kept a running total, but I know for certain that I have never written that much in one day before. It’s a new record.

To be honest, I expected to fail massively at NaNoWriMo. I thought at most I’m manage 500 words a day. And even that seemed like it would be hard. I expected to run out of steam around 10,000 words. My last novel attempted petered out around 8,000.

But this story seems to be writing itself. I feel like if I had the time, I could write for 8 hours and still have something left to say. I’m close to the NaNo halfway point, but my story is barely beginning. I only intended to write about this character long enough to introduce her daughter and then tell her story, but the first character turned out to be much more interesting. I do still have to tell her daughter’s story in order to complete the main character’s story, but not in the way I originally intended. But this is turning out much better than I ever imagined.

I wish I knew what the magic ingredient is. Is it NaNoWriMo itself? Just the drive to hit 50,000 words? Or have I just found the story that I’m meant to tell?

I don’t know. I hope I figure it out so that I can do it again someday. Of course, I have to finish this one first, so I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.