12 Books in 12 Months...Do I Sound Insane Yet??

Yesterday I made a decision. One that will probably effect everyone around me, because I’m going to be the crazy lady that stays in front of her laptop 24/7 and wears her pajamas in the middle of the afternoon…well, that’s already kind of true, but that’s beside the point. I have decided to write a novel for each month of the year starting now. This November NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month- nanowrimo.org) has sparked the artist in me and made me really challenge myself. It goes to show that if you put your mind to something and bust your ass, you can make it happen! Like, really! It can make your frigging day! So, I’m going to write twelve books in twelve months. It sounds insane to me, seeing as to what I’ve been doing within the past month, but I think that I can do it and I want to see where it would get me- if anywhere. This is a discovery project and I don’t expect anything wildly grand to come of it. I just want to see if it is possible. So, I would love to know how many people think I’m psycho for doing this and how many think that it is possible, because when you are as naïve as I’m being, there is nothing ahead and nothing behind. No weights are holding me back and I am making a mad dash for my sanity!

Beginning this month (November) I am running and not turning back. So, here is the first cover I came up with for #1 SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS! Enjoy!

Only Nerds Read at Football Games

I am, apparently, an A class all around nerd. I am, I admit to it and I embrace it. Yes, I do read at football games I really don’t pay attention to which team has the ball or who has just scored. I have friends who care for that and they also point out that only nerds read at football games. BUT, I do have a very good reason- it’s my favorite book. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is my ultimate favorite! Well, besides memoirs and anything that Virginia Woolf has ever written and anything that relates to ancient Egyptian culture or literature. But I do believe that those are in two completely different categories, just so you know, this is an exception. Plus I wanted to re-read everything that relates to my novel so I will be able to make an educated relation when I begin to write query letters for my novel. (Basically, I don’t want to come off as one of those complete pompous idiots that think their work is supreme to all and either they don’t want to relate it to anything or they think theirs is too good. Mine isn’t and I know that; it isn’t supposed to be. I’m young and I’m learning. That’s all part of the process.)

Basically I really don’t know why I’m ranting. I should be working. This entails editing the novel, so it’s somewhat presentable and there is so much that is missing from the first draft. But, as I have previously stated, it’s a learning process. I’m new and I like that. I embrace it. BUT, I will not be trampled on because of it. By this, I mean, be nice and open minded, but don’t let some asshole come and piss on your parade and then call on a hurricane and then constantly smite you. That would be very bad for you and your project. When you’re new you are the only one that can stand up for your work- and you need to if you truly believe in it. You will, eventually, find someone who cares about your work and thinks it’s special and wants to be its aunt or uncle or something.

In saying all of this, to all the nerds: EMBRACE IT! We’re going to be the one’s signing their paychecks! (I got that from a Google image of Urkel from Family Matters that my sister printed off for school.)

After all of this- after I’d gotten home and went outside to work on the chapbook and I had come back inside the house- Mom told me that the game was on television and I was just sitting there, reading away. I think the least I could have done was smile and wave like the little penguins in Madagascar.

So Begin the Chronicles of Young Blood

My mind is beginning to think that I have more than a long way to go. See the problem is that I look down the road and I can see an infinite tapestry of possibilities. But, within the winding road and all of the bright and shining sun, lay all of the obstacles, such as huge rocks, pot holes and shards of glass that want to destroy my front bumper and make my tires blow into a million tiny pieces.  There goes my optimism and pessimism, the yin and yang of my mind at a never ending, till death battle, as the smell of burning rubber fills my nostrils.

It’s not that I am afraid of rejection; I actually accept it and welcome it with open arms. The letters that I may be getting in the near future are testaments to me trying to find a literary agent that believes in my characters as much as I do. All a rejection means is you haven’t found the right agent yet or your piece hasn’t reached its full potential. So, in this case, no, I do not mind receiving a form rejection letter. I actually am pretty excited about them. I think it may be the whole thrill of the chase/adventure/Indiana Jones complex I have though.

With this newfound novel expecting me to bust my ass for its life, resuscitating it and watching its little novel chest rise and fall, then taking care of it like a mother does her baby, I have found how stressful a life of writing can be. But, in the shadow of the stress and pessimism, I have been showered with the confidence to boost me over a wall and land on my feet- something Humpty Dumpty would be envious of. In the back of my mind I still wonder if it’s good enough for anyone and if anyone will ever care about the book I have almost spent a year of my life laboring over. In the end it’s all up to a nice woman or man in an office in a big city with so many other experienced and talented writers and their projects lying on their desks and the desks of all of the other nice agents who are working to push the work of those they believe in.  

So, in my saying all of this crap, I would like to introduce myself- Hello, my name  is Young Blood and I am SO ready to wrangle all of the stress and kick it down. But I know there will be many upon many obstacles and I’ve got my Jedi mind tricks and my Indiana Jones whip ready and my lion heart raised! And I have the advice of the amazingly knowledgeable, talented, nice and graceful Nicky Brown to live by:  “With flexibility and a good attitude you've at least got a fighting chance.”

“And I am a writer, writer of fictions

I am the heart that you call home

And I’ve written pages upon pages

Trying to rid you from my bones

I am a writer, I am all that you have hoped on”

-The Engine Driver, The Decemberists

“This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight”

-Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), Florence and the Machine