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First emails
Nov. 3rd, 2009 07:38 amToday, in my email inbox, was the first pep-talk from the Colorado Springs NaNo mods. For the fiftieth time since moving away from there two years ago, I miss that group. I don't know if you've ever done NaNo in "real time" before or if you've only ever done it with online people but I have to say that having a group of living, breathing people writing on their laptops and notebooks in the same room as you is an experience I miss.
I come from a family of creative people but the other talents lie in very different realms than mine. I was very much alone in my writing for so many years that I started to feel as if I was odd. Have you been there? It's a very lonely place. Even in college, where I met so many people like me in other ways, I never really met another writer.
And then came the fateful day in 2003 when I joined NaNo for the first time. I wasn't alone! But surely everyone else must be these paragons of knowledge that I couldn't compete with in any way. The first year I participated in the forums but not much else because I was scared. The second year, I took a deep breath and walked into a NaNo meeting... and found home. These people were JUST LIKE ME. They were normal... in an abnormal sort of way. They led lives of quiet desperation, waiting for the moment they would find the inspiration to write. They acted out scenes from their upcoming pages in their head.
For the next three years, I looked forward to November because it meant that I could be "normal" once again. I knew these people by online names as well as real names. I knew what they liked to order from Panera and the different coffee shops we frequented.
And then the fateful year of 2007 when my world collapsed and I moved home. I signed up for NaNo and wrote steadfastly for 8 days before traveling home and realizing that I had no motivation. I had come to depend on this group of writers for at least part of my motivation. There was no group in Idaho like it. Okay, maybe in Boise (3 hours away) or Moscow (8 hours, I think). Now, instead of being part of the "Colorado: Colorado Springs" group I'm part of the "Idaho: Elsewhere" group. We make up the REST of the state that isn't taken up by the three main cities. It's depressing even when it's thrilling to meet people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. There is no more room full of writers all working toward a goal. No more speed writing with the tapping of keys reminding me every second what exactly it is that I'm doing.
I miss you, Colorado: Colorado Springs.
This year, I do feel more connected. I have Twitter and Facebook and the forums. I've found so many more of you that are doing it than I've had in the past and that gives me hope. You all aren't in the same room with me but I know that I'm not alone. I'm not odd... well, that's debatable.
If you have a writing group in your area, I suggest you check it out at least once this November. No matter what it's like, you'll at least come away knowing you're part of something much larger than yourself. It's a heady feeling. One that fills you with power because if others are doing, what you're attempting is not that strange, no matter what your non-NaNo friends might think.
Man, I sure wish I could count this post toward my word goal today... *grins*
I come from a family of creative people but the other talents lie in very different realms than mine. I was very much alone in my writing for so many years that I started to feel as if I was odd. Have you been there? It's a very lonely place. Even in college, where I met so many people like me in other ways, I never really met another writer.
And then came the fateful day in 2003 when I joined NaNo for the first time. I wasn't alone! But surely everyone else must be these paragons of knowledge that I couldn't compete with in any way. The first year I participated in the forums but not much else because I was scared. The second year, I took a deep breath and walked into a NaNo meeting... and found home. These people were JUST LIKE ME. They were normal... in an abnormal sort of way. They led lives of quiet desperation, waiting for the moment they would find the inspiration to write. They acted out scenes from their upcoming pages in their head.
For the next three years, I looked forward to November because it meant that I could be "normal" once again. I knew these people by online names as well as real names. I knew what they liked to order from Panera and the different coffee shops we frequented.
And then the fateful year of 2007 when my world collapsed and I moved home. I signed up for NaNo and wrote steadfastly for 8 days before traveling home and realizing that I had no motivation. I had come to depend on this group of writers for at least part of my motivation. There was no group in Idaho like it. Okay, maybe in Boise (3 hours away) or Moscow (8 hours, I think). Now, instead of being part of the "Colorado: Colorado Springs" group I'm part of the "Idaho: Elsewhere" group. We make up the REST of the state that isn't taken up by the three main cities. It's depressing even when it's thrilling to meet people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. There is no more room full of writers all working toward a goal. No more speed writing with the tapping of keys reminding me every second what exactly it is that I'm doing.
I miss you, Colorado: Colorado Springs.
This year, I do feel more connected. I have Twitter and Facebook and the forums. I've found so many more of you that are doing it than I've had in the past and that gives me hope. You all aren't in the same room with me but I know that I'm not alone. I'm not odd... well, that's debatable.
If you have a writing group in your area, I suggest you check it out at least once this November. No matter what it's like, you'll at least come away knowing you're part of something much larger than yourself. It's a heady feeling. One that fills you with power because if others are doing, what you're attempting is not that strange, no matter what your non-NaNo friends might think.
Man, I sure wish I could count this post toward my word goal today... *grins*
