Verbose

So, I’ve dropped off the blogosphere for a while, and I’m by no means back full tilt, but I am doing some more writing and trying to keep this page updated a bit more. My newest edition is a story I started November 2011 for NaNoWriMo. This year, even though I had the whole month, I didn’t make it to the 50,000 words. I tried reading the story to my students to keep myself motivated, but that didn’t work either. So, here I am, Almost 6 months later, finally taking another crack at it since my students have been begging me to finish it. Can’t leave them hanging forever.

So while NaNo gets my juices flowing, I am learning a bit more about myself, my writing style and habits, and remembering how much I do enjoy putting the words down. Especially when they start writing themselves. I have gotten a little bogged down in the humdrum beat of daily living and forgotten to savor the delicacy that is written language. I am discovering that I really do need to write a rough draft and not be a perfectionist the whole time. I can get the ideas out, appease my students’ appetites, then go back and add the depth that I want. This one is destined to be a book. This is a story that has been writing itself for years. I have been feeling a distinct lack of creative flow as of late, yearning for the times when poetry sprang from my fingertips almost constantly. I haven’t written a real poem in years. Yet many of the poems I wrote long ago, from 6th grade, to Junior High, to refrigerator magnets, to college poetry class, are finding a voice in my story. I find myself wondering what will happen next and where this story, this art, will take me. Come along on the journey with me. You might just learn something.

Today is November 21st. I just discovered the National Novel Writing Month competition. Okay, so it’s not really a competition per se, more like a bunch of nuts getting together to encourage each other to write. The object is to write a fictional novel of at least 50,000 words between November 1st and November 30th. I just found out about it today. And being the nut that I am, and the fact that I have always dreamed of writing a novel, but never gotten myself motivated enough to do so, I’m going to make an attempt. It may not be possible. I have a 4 1/2 month old tyke. I work part-time. I have an apartment to clean, food to cook, a husband to make happy. But it’s also Thanksgiving week, meaning I have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off work. Can it be done? Time will tell. Will I enjoy the challenge? Definitely. So, that said, here’s a link to what I’ve written so far. It may or may not be all of Chapter 1. I would love some feedback. Ask questions, tell me what you think (brutal honesty is just fine), and give me some encouragement. And keep in mind, this is a rough draft – as in, I’m not editing anything (unless that little dotted red line appears under a word – I can’t stand that!). I will try to keep you posted every couple of chapters, so check back often!

My 9 Day Novel

I’m definitely a lover of written language. There’s something about being able to communicate with words on a page. There are so many ways we can combine the written word to express ideas, feelings, experiences, and so much more. Words are also very limited. There is so much that they cannot express – so much that is “lost in translation” between the mind and the page. I am bilingual. I speak English and Spanish, and can think and write in both languages. I plan to add other languages to my list in the future, but for now, I’m limited. Sometimes I feel I can express myself better in “Spanglish”, with a combination of words and ideas from both langauges. Between the two, I feel I can better express the grand ideas I have floating around in my head.

At any rate, this blog has one main purpose: to give me a place to electronically publish things I’ve written. I have a personal blog that includes my ideas on life and experiences I am currently living. However, that blog is more of a journal than a place for seemingly unrelated writings. So, I decided to start this blog to catalogue the stories, essays, poems and other such paraphenalia that I feel the desire to share with those around me. So, while this may look like the only post, it is only a preface. Under the “pages” to the left, you will find my writings, in English and Spanish. There are many more that I have yet to add, both already written as well as those that are yet to be. So, enjoy, and let me know what you think!