The Writings and Musings of B.A. Matthews

Nanowrimo, Day Twenty – The Pep Talk

Also known as, The Bittersweet Goodbye.

Ah, the Twentieth of November. It’s sort of an important day. In just ten more days, Nanowrimo will be over, done and gone. While I will admit that I look forward to sleep schedules, dreams that don’t involve writing and being able to finish sentences without the use of an aid, I will miss not being in the crazy event of Nanowrimo anymore. To me, Nanowrimo means a time when I can let my house chores, my non-writing life and even to a certain extent, how much I care about my day job go. All I have to concentrate on for an entire month is writing.

 So many other people are writing as well, that its truly inspiring and make me want to write much more. Unfortunately, because I still have to work a day job I can’t. It would be easy to simply ignore the day job completely, but since I still need that job to be there in December I have to keep caring about being able to work for it. As is this month, even though I’ve only written 32,168 words in my manuscript (plus let’s say another 10k for blog posts), my tendinitis is just starting to flare again. It’s still manageable right now, but I know that I’m going to regret it if I let it get worse before December.

 Still, I wouldn’t trade my Nanowrimo for anything. And it will always be a bittersweet good bye when it goes. Squishy brains and being unable to speak coherently aside, I prefer being able to do what I need to for a month… which is writing. It’s my calling and  if you can make it yours, you’ll love yourself for it too, no matter what the cost.

 If you forget this month, and especially in this last ten days, why you love Nanowrimo, Remember these two phrases. They are almost mantras to me at this point, calming and reaffirming me in my goals, almost more than any other phrase does.

 The first is “This Day, WE WRITE!” (Attributed to Robert Dugoni) and the second is “Write to your Joy.” (Attributed to Alastair Stephens and Lani Diane Rich).

 Say these whenever you start questioning yourself and then sit back down and do what you were put here to do… Write.

Posted in Blogs on November 20th, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off

Only a seat at Table #7

My first conference ever and it turned out to be incredible.  I arrived a few days early and got to visit my Mom for a day and then I ran out to visit with a writerly friend of mine.  We sat in and chatted all night and even watched the craft.  She gave me a brilliant little rock light (I’ll see about including a picture in my next blog) and then the next day we headed out and went shopping.   Now, me and her are probably the only girls in the world who can go out shopping, and come home with the oddest things.  I came back with flavoured honeys, a mini cast-iron cauldron (I’ve always wanted some), a gorgeous card and an oracle deck.  Wonderful stuff, but definitely not your usual run of the mill shopping.

After I got to the conference the first thing I did was get my info for the weekend and then register for my hotel.  While waiting to register, I struck up a conversation with the woman in front of me.  She was attending the conference as well.  Nervous, I asked her if it was her first year.  I should have known better… she was a publisher of children’s books and a presenter.  It was all right though.  I made up for it by remembering to ask her what she was working on that excited her.  Really the weekend only went up from there.

The class on Thursday was next to useless though.  It was touted as a revision course, but it was actually just rewriting scenes.  Had I not paid extra for it, I would have left the class and taken a different one.  On the other hand, I met Samantha Herne, a great writer who also podcasts.  She was a really great gal and I loved talking with her.  Friday was great.  The courses were always good and Patrick Taylors course on “How not to write a successful series” was incredible.  Saturday was awesome as well, and I started getting my name out there.  The big incredible thing for me on Saturday was my “Blue Pencil” meeting… a chance to meet with CC Humpreys.  He took a look at my work, we chatted and he complimented my writing.  He said, “No, your work is quite good.  You’ve managed to make it all really creepy without actually saying anything creepy.  That’s how to do it if you’re going to.”  Let me tell you, I was so excited, I was practically bouncing.

At least until Saturday Dinner.  I found Samantha Herne at dinner that night and sat down at her table… only to realize that she also had two authors, an editor and an agent sharing the table.  The other girls at the table were more like me, in various stages of unpublishment (I think I’ve created a new word).  Regardless, they were all awesome, and great to talk to.  Table 7 rocks, does it not ladies?  I was going to go and see the forensics stuff after dinner, but I was invited up for cocktails by the girls… and when an agent and author ask you if you want to join them for cocktails, the universal answer is “Yes”.

Great evening, absolutely incredible.  The keynote speakers for Saturday were amazing (especially since I was sitting with both of them that evening as well)!  Sunday was great as well.  Ivan Coyote asked about “ways to motivate yourself to write” in her class and I suggested my favourite motivator, Nanowrimo.  The last 20 minutes of the class were taken up with talk about Nanowrimo (she takes part) and sharing awesome Nano-related stories.

At the final lunch, it was fun, but sorta sad.  We knew the fun was coming to an end soon.  Robert Dugoni sent us away on the right note though “Today, we WRITE!”  Should I ever get a copy of his speech, I will ask him if I can repost it here.  The best speech ever!  I wish I’d gotten a copy of it.  Also, I even won a prize!  A set of four books from Mira publishing and a reusable book bag followed me home in addition to the books I got there (Eeeek! I got Vlad the Impaler signed by CC Humpreys, who wished me luck on my book and the Skystone signed by Jack Whyte).  Definitely an incredible weekend.  I even got a potted plant from my Mom.  Gorgeous Red and Yellow flowers… I only hope I can keep it alive.

The trip was more than worth it and I really hope that I can make it out for next year.

Also, very quickly, I bought Geist today (a picture will go up next time), The High King of Montival,  and a copy of Warbreaker.  My husband bought me a Nano gift as well… an awesome 15 minute hourglass timer with black sand!  I got myself an awesome Moleskin journal as well… Dark blue with map lines on it.  Just the thing to get my mind thinking and ready to write!

Posted in Blogs on October 27th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 6 Comments »

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