Already this is a strange post for those of you who know me well. NaNoWriMo? Sure, you knew it was coming and shouldn't be surprised at all. Well, maybe a little bit surprised about my doing it with a one month old and nearly three year old toddler, but then you'd also realize that the crazier it seems, the more likely I'd be attempting it.
No, the part that has you boggled is the coffee. "But," you might begin to ask, "you don't drink coffee?" And that, my friends, is completely true (except, apparently during intense exam marking trapped in a little room in June for 6 straight hours, then I will down all of the ice caps! "But, that's not exactly coffee either," you might say, and you'd be completely right, it's pretty much a chilled melted down Coffee Crisp, which, oddly enough, I don't like eating either, not that I really enjoy the ice cap, it's more of a survival necessity that at that point...
But I digress... This post is intended to be celebratory, encouraging, and a little bit pathetic. So let's begin with celebratory!
CELEBRATORY:
I am 4 days into NaNoWriMo and have fought my way to being 2 full days ahead of the expected word count! Much rejoicing! Secondly, do you remember any of my mentioning on pretty much every media platform that I wanted to put together a parent-writer write-in where there was on-site childcare? Well, it is done. I have a venue, and I have a few willing participants. Every Monday for November I will be taking up my post, ready to greet other writers who struggle to attend regular writing events. This is a huge achievement for me; I threw an idea out into the world and I made the world respond!
ENCOURAGING:
You might also be aware that I performed a pretty sudden social media disappearing act this past year. I had a surge of writerly spirit lift me into a variety of writing support groups, and then I noticed that my writing dried up, and then so did my participation. So this is where you come in. Writing is a very isolating activity. And outside of NaNoWriMo, it can feel like a fool's errand - and let's face it, NaNoWriMo is already a pretty big fool's errand. I've got two kids to juggle, a husband facing a career crisis, and I'm am going to have to make some pretty important decisions about the future of my own career going forward. I don't want to drop the writing ball again. I want to bring you more stories. I want to get out with the other writers. I want to meet my readers.
I am going to need help to keep this going. I am going to need your help. I need your help already. I need just a couple of people to take enough interest to ask me how the projects are going. I need just a couple of people to remind me about the parts of my books and stories that you liked; please, gush away and often!
As you've probably guessed, we've already transitioned into the PATHETIC:
Now, before I continue, I need to emphasis that IT IS NOT pathetic to ask for help, but the truth is that it somehow always feels like it is, at least for those of us who would rather trudge though Hell alone than bother anyone with our problems. It's a very vulnerable place, asking people to help you feel that you matter. It's a very vulnerable place asking people to help you get through your day. I hate it. But I hate the silence more.
This is where the Coffee comes in. I have recently signed-up for a page on Ko-Fi, a site that allows creators to be vulnerable and ask for small contributions to help us get through the day or the week, and so it is framed as a cup of coffee. The idea of supporting an artist can seem daunting when you yourself are not as financially secure as you would like to be, but one genius behind this website figured out that when you change the frame, you change minds. I have already given a few coffees anonymously to people I don't know well, but who I've encountered on or offline on a couple of occasions. I personally found it easier to justify, despite my own current lack of income, that I could still afford to buy a good person one cup of coffee. And so I am putting an idea out into the world again and hoping to make the world respond - one cup of coffee at a time.
So I will ask, if you can spare it, for that one cup of coffee, even just one to take with me to my Monday write-in's this month. That's only 4 days. 4 cups of coffee.
And if you need that occasional cup of coffee, send me your Ko-Fi address. Send everyone your Ko-Fi address. We can all spare one cup of coffee.
No, the part that has you boggled is the coffee. "But," you might begin to ask, "you don't drink coffee?" And that, my friends, is completely true (except, apparently during intense exam marking trapped in a little room in June for 6 straight hours, then I will down all of the ice caps! "But, that's not exactly coffee either," you might say, and you'd be completely right, it's pretty much a chilled melted down Coffee Crisp, which, oddly enough, I don't like eating either, not that I really enjoy the ice cap, it's more of a survival necessity that at that point...
But I digress... This post is intended to be celebratory, encouraging, and a little bit pathetic. So let's begin with celebratory!
CELEBRATORY:
I am 4 days into NaNoWriMo and have fought my way to being 2 full days ahead of the expected word count! Much rejoicing! Secondly, do you remember any of my mentioning on pretty much every media platform that I wanted to put together a parent-writer write-in where there was on-site childcare? Well, it is done. I have a venue, and I have a few willing participants. Every Monday for November I will be taking up my post, ready to greet other writers who struggle to attend regular writing events. This is a huge achievement for me; I threw an idea out into the world and I made the world respond!
ENCOURAGING:
You might also be aware that I performed a pretty sudden social media disappearing act this past year. I had a surge of writerly spirit lift me into a variety of writing support groups, and then I noticed that my writing dried up, and then so did my participation. So this is where you come in. Writing is a very isolating activity. And outside of NaNoWriMo, it can feel like a fool's errand - and let's face it, NaNoWriMo is already a pretty big fool's errand. I've got two kids to juggle, a husband facing a career crisis, and I'm am going to have to make some pretty important decisions about the future of my own career going forward. I don't want to drop the writing ball again. I want to bring you more stories. I want to get out with the other writers. I want to meet my readers.
I am going to need help to keep this going. I am going to need your help. I need your help already. I need just a couple of people to take enough interest to ask me how the projects are going. I need just a couple of people to remind me about the parts of my books and stories that you liked; please, gush away and often!
As you've probably guessed, we've already transitioned into the PATHETIC:
Now, before I continue, I need to emphasis that IT IS NOT pathetic to ask for help, but the truth is that it somehow always feels like it is, at least for those of us who would rather trudge though Hell alone than bother anyone with our problems. It's a very vulnerable place, asking people to help you feel that you matter. It's a very vulnerable place asking people to help you get through your day. I hate it. But I hate the silence more.
This is where the Coffee comes in. I have recently signed-up for a page on Ko-Fi, a site that allows creators to be vulnerable and ask for small contributions to help us get through the day or the week, and so it is framed as a cup of coffee. The idea of supporting an artist can seem daunting when you yourself are not as financially secure as you would like to be, but one genius behind this website figured out that when you change the frame, you change minds. I have already given a few coffees anonymously to people I don't know well, but who I've encountered on or offline on a couple of occasions. I personally found it easier to justify, despite my own current lack of income, that I could still afford to buy a good person one cup of coffee. And so I am putting an idea out into the world again and hoping to make the world respond - one cup of coffee at a time.
So I will ask, if you can spare it, for that one cup of coffee, even just one to take with me to my Monday write-in's this month. That's only 4 days. 4 cups of coffee.
And if you need that occasional cup of coffee, send me your Ko-Fi address. Send everyone your Ko-Fi address. We can all spare one cup of coffee.
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