Pink cloud views from my home office always bring a Moment of Zen.
I enjoy experiencing a good Moment of Zen while I’m working. Especially this month. This is the first year I’m participating in NaNoWriMo and I’m loving it. Have there been some setbacks? You know it. But I like the feeling of community, that we’re all in this together. That I can be writing in the middle of the night and know that some of you out there are doing the exact same thing. Friendly neighbors on Twitter have reassured me that it still counts if I’m only using NaNo to finish a first draft. So yay. It’s a writing party up in here!
One of the best parts about writing? Is turning an actual negative experience into something positive on the page. Yeah, that was me having a full-on rant/meltdown/enraged fit in front of the new Starbucks in the most historic part of the West Village. I moved from that neighborhood over two years ago, so I didn’t know how many mom-and-pop stores on historic Bleecker Street had been shut down and turned into obnoxious strip-mall conglomerates like Starbucks. And don’t even get me started on the 16 Handles.
I might picket outside their windows.
My beloved West Village street was unrecognizable. I was scandalized by the bright new windows where shops that had been there for decades no longer existed. The store that had been at the Starbucks location before was a Village institution. It had been there for 17 years. Thankfully it only moved around the corner – when I saw it I stood in the middle of West 4th Street with my arms in the air for victory.
The day after you might have seen me yelling how the Starbucks was wrong and it didn’t belong there and how could something like that have been allowed, I wrote a fun scene. All that negative energy got turned into a positive part of this first draft I’m working on. Maybe you’ll read it in book two of my City Love trilogy. And if it doesn’t make the cut? Both the experience and the writing were part of the journey. A Moment of Zen realization, NaNo style.
Have a wonderful weekend, friendly neighbors 🙂
This is my 7th year doing NaNo! It’s such a great experience.I’m so glad you’re taking part in it this year! 🙂
Wow, seven years! That’s amazing! Does that mean you’ve written seven novels? Or do you just use it like me to reach a different kind of writing goal?
Seven novels. I write other times than NaNo so I technically have…15 maybe? I have other friends who use NaNo to reach writing goals too. It has to be my favorite thing about November 🙂
I’m doing NaNoWriMo too – it’s my fourth time, after taking a couple of years off. I too am using it to complete a first draft. The novel that just got me an agent started out as my 2010 NaNo, so I think NaNoWriMo has good energy!
Good to hear, Lauren! The energy does feel awesome. By the way, I will be in Chicago for a festival in April and again on tour in May. Would love to see you 🙂