Wednesday, October 26, 2022

announcing: NaNoWriMo 2022


My blog posts may come and go, the frequency varying from every few days to missing a month or two. I am still working on finding a new path with this space and it hasn't landed anywhere specific, yet. I'm confident I'll get there.

Soon. I hope.

But one thing you can count on in this space is the announcement for NaNoWriMo!

Here it is. I considered - briefly two or three times - not doing it. The organization has changed since the founder stepped down a few years ago. Some of the organizational changes have not been what I would choose (but no one asked me, right?). The website overhaul a few years ago was a disaster - and that is not just my opinion; it was fairly widely agreed on that they broke it and it's not as cool and helpful as it used to be.

But this idea of joining hundreds of thousands of people around the world in a writing marathon? Yes, please. 

The idea of setting aside anything non-essential in my life for a month and making my writing an absolute priority? Yes, please.

The idea that - for one month - I can strive to write every day and I can set a word goal and I give myself permission to write badly and gush out onto the keyboard whatever comes into my head even as I'm rolling my eyes at the content? Yes, please.

So here it is: NaNoWriMo 2022 is less than one week away. By this time next week I will be writing my Day Two words. I don't know how many words I will have - but there will be some.

In the spirit of me being a self-proclaimed pantser, this year is one of my Ultimate Pantsing Journeys[TM] and the only "planning" I have done is to announce my project on the official website. The first thing it asks is the title of your project, so as to not leave it blank, I present my WIP title: "there will be words."

Fitting. 

I am looking forward to another year of NaNoWriMo. And this year my COVID-pod writer friend and I will reinstate our NaNo coast writing retreat for a few days. It's a sweet spot on the Oregon Coast, off the beaten track with a view for (literally) miles. 

Buckle in writers. NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. In 5 days 5 hours and 2 minutes, NaNoWriMo 2022 will officially begin!

Monday, October 17, 2022

Licking Ice Cubes After They Melt

This is one of my Inktober 2022 favorites and it started as just a few marks on paper. I had no idea where it was going and I let the page and the pen guide me. Step by step. Left that pesky inner critic behind and the imposter syndrome crier in the drawer. Let this being and her words evolve with each stroke of the pen and then, she said, I need a poem.



Smelling the flowers in
mid-October when its
unseasonably warm, is
like licking an ice cube
after it's melted.





Saturday, October 15, 2022

Inktober 2022, a few pieces

 This year I decided - on a whim - to participate in Inktober. I've seen artist friends tag some of their drawings "inktober," but didn't look beyond that. And some of my writer-visual artist friends and acquaintances. But it has not been anything I've considered for myself or had even looked into.

I decided that this year, with the now almost three years of continuous comics workshops I've been doing, and that I published a haiku comics chapbook, maybe this was my year to join. So I did. I decided on day two, so I made two drawings. Day three another drawing. Then I also decided to start doing daily writing because ...tada... November is just around the corner and - yes, I'll be doing that again. It's been a while since I've written every day, so I thought that maybe drawing as a warmup for NaNoWriMo wasn't quite enough.

On about, oh, day five or six, I noticed someone mention an Inktober prompt.

Prompt? There are prompts for Inktober?!

Yes, indeed. An Instagram search - because isn't Inktober kind of made for Instagram - found an "offical Inktober prompts" list, as well as many variations. Some individual prompts, it seemed, some group prompts. Which made me feel better, because I wasn't using prompts, I was just drawing.

Now, I'm still pantsing my Inktober drawings, but of course! But one day I was stuck in the grief mud, so I opened my writing Instagram account, where I saved as a favorite the Inktober prompts story I'd posted, and took that day's prompt from the "official" list and drew. It worked!

Here is a sampling of my Inktober drawings. I've also noticed that I'm starting to add more words into most of my drawings. No surprise. A writer writes, right?

In the heart of the city
there is a soul
still beating out
a
rhythm.
Do you hear her?

Transition: final appointment with my longtime naturopath and acupuncturist,
who is retiring at the end of the month. 

Introducing
Franz, the portable outhouse cleaner, who likes his job because it gives him reason to be a martyr;
 Mavis, a siren of the soliloquies, a gentle soul sent to give a message to Franz;
and The River People, who are in need of a helping hand and not another rando saint.