In acknowledgement
Acknowledgement feels good. Whether it be from your partner, your boss, the local barman, or TimeOut we all need to feel recognised every now and again. And I realised this on my delayed tube journey this morning. In what came across as an inaudible muttering about a signal failure at Finchley (never mind that we were heading south from London Bridge), I was comforted by the driver's acknowledgement.No longer were the panic inducing worries of being Bridget Jones-style late to work with a mild case of dry heaves unanswered for and peculiar to me. No, now I was sharing them with a packed Jubilee Line full of Canary Wharf bound suits in polished leather-soled brogues, cuff link requiring starched shirts, and poppy decorated lapels. Not exactly kindred spirits, but atomised souls united briefly by a shared tube driver's acknowledgement.
All of which got me thinking about the blurb in today's Metro highlighting the international writing community phenomenon, NaNoWriMo, or National November Writing Month: "a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."
A novel in thirty days? Now that is worth true acknowledgement. But could it happen to a semi-chronically (not a word but it should be) discontented professional (is a word but it shouldn't be) with an acute blogging addiction and a vague story idea about a homicidal plot on the part of the Google Earth people to provide a roadmap to Al Qaeda so that they find Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush (and maybe even Mrs. Rumsfeld) and murder them? Oh wait, does it say anywhere NaNoWriMo entries can't be non-fiction?
Oh, and for those who prefer the sideline to the frontline, tomorrow is the start of the Chelsea Book Fair.
posted by City Slicker at 11:03 am
23 Comments:
I'm going tomorrow to buy a cricket bat. I'm going to write the words "Crank out fifty thousand words about this, assh*le" on the bat. And I'm going to use it on the skulls and genitals of anyone I can who is going to be a part of this year's National Novel Writing Month's competition.
And if I can't get to every single cretin who needs a beating, I hope they all understand that they are c*nts and therefore deserve a stomping on general principle.
I'm not sure how I made it six years without learning about NaNoWriMo. I honestly think I was in a better, healthier mental and emotional state not knowing such a thing existed. But, because the universe is infinitely entertained by my ranting and raving, frothing at the teeth and typing fingers, today I was told about it. And how I've managed to not go into the streets in a psychotic rage I'll never understand.
woah........so I guess this is not a good time to chime in that I am proud of my 234 words so far?
I would read that murdery mystery anyday. Too bad fiction and non-fiction don't swap over in real life. Yes take Mrs rumsey too!
Hang on just a second angry anonymous - These guys behind NaNoWriMo have invented their own month long holiday that is meant to help all the closet writers of the world actually finish something called a novel. It gets even better! NaNoWriMo.org is taking a portion of profits and sending it help youth groups learning how to tackle literacy. What isn't to love? Take your anger elsewhere!
For those who skipped A-level maths that is....
1,666 words per day
Get typing
Mrs City Slicker,
As long as you finished, you receive a prize: an icon, inclusion on the list of winners, a certificate, and a great feeling!
Any genre, even fanfiction, is allowed, as long as it is 50,000 words or more.
Well, start writing, if you wish! I'm starting tomorrow, curse my lateness....
H x
Going to start my book today
Sounds like a great idea
That first comment was weird ?!
I always like to see the smoke from a woman's angle...you know that.
Shep.........is there an innuendo there?
I will be on the computer quite a bit this month. Mainly in the evenings I am feverishly writing like mad, so that I may make my deadline.
You see a couple of days ago, I was sitting in the kitchen studying, when I was compelled to get up and write. SO I did, until 2:30 that morning. Yesterday I happen to see an article about November being NaNoWriMo, and I was ecstatic. So I sat down last night and started writing something completely different (I wanted it to be fresh and new since it was November 1st)
Being that I had to get up pretty early today, I was only able to write for an hour before going to bed. However, I did write about 4 pages and 956 words. The end goal is 50,000 words. I can do it! I had written 1500 words on the story I was working on the night before.
Thanks City Slicker blog person
That's what I felt when I came across this link, yay! Anway, this will be my first time writing anything this long in a very long time. I have many stories that have been started only I never go back to complete them. This one will be different.
So with that, I bid everyone a warm "Good Luck" and head back to the thinking gallery. I started at lunch and already have several pages that I feel really good about.
See ya later!
first comment scares me
because the world doesn't have enough so-called aspiring writers!
i am not being nasty but what a colossal waste of time to sit down and write 50,000 words just because of some stupid contest
watch X factor instead if yuo are that bored
does anybody else think city slicker should write a book about life in London?
Ella - there you are! Where have you been?
Writing my best selling novel but of course
I have been here every day. It is you that has left me Shep :-((
fun new site
will check back
This NaNoWriMo thing seems silly to me,
A bunch of shlubs trying to do their own 50,000 word novel starting Nov. 1 and ending on Nov 30. That's only (heh! ONLY!) 1,1667 words a day. No revising, no editing. Not until you've got your word count.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
Kinda silly - but maybe kinda motivating.
For me, it's going to translate to 5 handwritten pages on my novel every day including sunday... I hope...
You know I'd not leave you, ella my dear :-) Let's not do this whole missing each other thing again, eh? xx
(And would it kill you to visit my blog? How many coded messages do I have to leave...sheesh...!)
ohhhhh how cool that you were acknowledged!!! I can't imagine writing a novel in 30 days - no thanks!
Congrats on a well-deserved nod. Your erudite musings keep me coming back for more every day.
In the creative arts and scientific literature, an acknowledgment (also spelled acknowledgement) is an expression of gratitude for assistance in creating a literary or artistic work.
Receiving credit by way of acknowledgment rather than authorship indicates that the person or organization did not have a direct hand in producing the work in question, but may have contributed funding, criticism, or encouragement to the author(s). Various schemes exist for classifying acknowledgments; Giles & Councill (2004) give the following six categories:
Material Handling Supplies
trading the market
Beginning in 1911, the Mint began work to replace the Liberty head design, and a new design, which became known as the Buffalo nickel, went into production in February 1913. claw foot faucetreseller dog collar
Post a Comment
<< Home