First I apologize to all my readers for skipping out last week. To be quite honest, last week was NOT a good week: too much chaos, not enough quiet.
On the NaNoWriMo front -- November means NaNo -- things aren't looking good there. Because of last week, my count is waaaaay down. I am hoping by forcing myself to more than double my 1700 daily word count, I will be caught back up in a week. It really shouldn't be too difficult. When a writer is creating a new piece, s/he must mentally get the image or thought clearly before putting it to words. For me this is an easy thing since much of it is already imprinted there from my youth. I'm not saying this is a real story but there are truths being woven into the fiction. As such, very little imagination usage. This year the parts that make me stop and think are the Amish aspects. I remember a lot of the civil rights issues, Vietnam War and I most certainly remember my high school days. BUT, how does an Amish person cope with the realities of high school. A friend said just to write it and don't sweat the Amish aspect too much. Huh? Exactly how many Amish boys have you seen running around in white t-shirts and shorts for phys-ed, not to mention a jock strap? That was a slow down point. And God forbid... shirts and no-shirts football.
Yes, I remember the Civil Rights of the early 60s but having attended and living in a rural all-white area, it was a distant issue. Not until 1965 when I joined the military did I actually get into and see the pulse of the movement.
Do you remember the language of the period? What was a slang of 1961? Everybody remembers the 60s as the era of the hippies BUT they really didn't come into the spotlight until the latter half of the 60s. Everyone remembers "Laugh-In" with Rowan and Martin but they forget that wasn't until the very late 60s. The early 60s -- 1961 through 1965 -- were the quieter, less hippified years. There was some turmoil but it was played down. Even the Beatles didn't really hit the scene until 1963 and in 1964 they made their Ed Sullivan debut. Until then, rock was very sublime with Ray Orbison's "Only the Lonely" (1960) and "Pretty Woman" (1964). OK, we still had the renegade Elvis in the early 60s but by then we were pretty much jaded by the hip shaking. In fact, the kids were doing all sorts of strange dances like The Twist. The 1965 calm ended with The Righteous Brothers singing "Unchained Melody" which was in major contrast to "What's New Pussycat" by Tom Jones which I heard for the first time while in boot camp getting my 'summer' haircut. Thank God they made me wear a hat when outside or I'd have burned straight down to the brain. (And yes, the verdict is still out on that!)
Anyway, it is amazing how some things are blurred and remembered. An intriguing aspect is how we seem to romanticize our memories. I was forced into mess hall duty for 3 whole months. It was the pits and I wanted to just crawl away and hide I was so miserable. Today, a few years later (about 40+) it all seems to quaint and I remember the fun things about it. Of course, at the moment I was experiencing that 'fun' it really didn't seem such. Even bad moments in a life can get a little bling or silver lining added.
So, if you're doing NaNoWriMo, how are you hanging in there? According to my calendar, today is Tuesday, November 15 and right off hand I'd say that is obviously the half-way mark so you should have at least 25k, or if using my cheat-sheet I offered, 25.5k, before midnight tonight.
I am still working on interviewing. I have a couple of authors and one publisher lined up. Just need to get the interview done. My fault if anyone is into finger pointing.
For the readers in my group -- my book (yes, the feely-touchy kind) is available at Amazon now. Go buy your copy of "Three Steps: The Journeys of Ayrold" ... and while you're out there, check out "Shadow Street" and "The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Novels: Vol 1" which were also released in book form in the last week to 10 days.
Until next I blog...
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