savannah storytelling

Chappas conquers her quest to produce a novel in a month

To quote Savannah’s favorite son, the late, great John Herndon Mercer, “Hooray and Hallelujah.”

On Nov. 28, two days before the deadline, I completed 50,243 words for the National Novel Writing Month Project, NaNoWriMo. If you think because I finished early and with a few words to spare that it was easy, you’d be wrong. There was much teeth grinding, hand wringing, head banging and un-lady like language along with the many, many hours at the computer.

Close to the end of the month of November, I was literally empty of words; I was “wrote out.” My purpose was to have a rough draft of a memoir about my mother, and, although I had written everything I knew about her early life and everything I remembered from the time I was old enough to be aware of her as my mother, I still didn’t have enough words.

I didn’t want to give up. I couldn’t give up. It would have been embarrassing since I had elected to share my project with the readers of Closeup.

I went back over the manuscript and added details, embellished the stories of Mama’s life, but it was still not enough.

I reached out to family, my brother and my three children, to send me stories of what they remembered about my mother.

My brother, Pete, and my number one daughter, Dori, came through with memories of their relationship with Mama. I got nothing from my other two offsprings.

What I received from Dori and Pete helped. I added their memories, in my own words of course, but it still wasn’t enough. On Thanksgiving Day, I was approximately 3,000 words short.

That evening, I sat at the computer and dug deep. Yes, I had recorded the facts, but where was the emotion? What did I feel about this woman who was my mother?

I wrote until late in the night. The next morning, I still needed 983 words. I took my mug of coffee to the computer and sat there and wrote until I was done.

According to the NaNoWriMo Web site, the total count of words collected this year is 2,427,190,537. There were 167,150 participants. From that number, 32,173 writers met the required 50,000 words or more and were deemed winners.

I am curious to know how many other Savannah writers participated, but I don’t have that information. I did read in the “stats” that Atlanta was one of the areas with a high number of participants.

Also, it was announced that $651,159 in donations has been sent in from participants. NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization.

What did I gain from this experience? I gained a sense of accomplishment that I could finish a difficult writing task. I have a manuscript, albeit very disorganized, that may be a book someday.

At the very least, there is now a written record of my mother’s life that my children and grandchildren can enjoy and pass on to future generations.

Will I work on the manuscript any time soon? No. I put the manuscript in a manila envelope, all 140 double spaced pages, and placed it on a shelf in my closet.

I don’t want to look at it for a long time.

Do I want to sign up for NaNoWriMo again? No way! But then, one should never say never.

Original article can be found here.

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Savannah writer continues her quest to produce a novel in a month

It’s Nov. 20 and I am two-thirds of the way to the finish line, writing a novel for the National Novel Writing Program, aka NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who didn’t read my article in the Closeup on Nov. 18, I should explain that I am attempting to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. It will be a rough draft only. In order to reach the target amount of words, I have to produce at least 1,667 words each day.

What will I gain if I do this? The personal satisfaction of completing a difficult project, 50,000 words toward a memoir that I want to write and, oh yes, NaNoWriMo will send me a certificate.

The last 10 days have been easier than the first 10 days. There was more time to write, as I wasn’t as busy and there was no computer crisis. I did have a cold last week. Even though it was uncomfortable for a few days, it worked to my advantage because I didn’t leave the house for a couple of days, therefore, I spent more time writing. Because of this, I made up the 542 words I was behind and have 1,600 words more than my target number for Nov. 20.

I’ve even had time to read the e-mails from other NaNoWriMo writers, giving advice and support. The e-mails were interesting, but not a lot of help. I found the one by Lynda Barry, who is a writer and artist, rather curious. She advises writing the novel by hand. She says that there is a kind of story that comes from writing by hand that makes the experience more lifelike.

She claims that the physical activity of writing by hand involves many parts of the brain which are used in story making, such as time, place, action, characters and relationships. She also advised not to read over what has been written for a few days; a week is best.

Here’s my problem with her advice: In writing by hand, the writer would have to eventually type the manuscript to send it to NaNoWriMo to be counted so that would take additional time, and time is of the essence with this project.

As for the second piece of advice, yes it is good to set your work aside and look at it again after a couple of days, but again, in this project, time is very important and quantity is more important than quality.

Lynda, your advice is good but not suitable for this project.

The book I hope to eventually write will be a memoir about my mother, Theodora Turner, who died last year at the age of 98. She was one of the thousands of strong and courageous women who left their families behind in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s and followed their husbands to America to start a new life. Many of these women never saw their families again because of World War II. They didn’t know the language and most were not well educated, but they worked to give their children more opportunities and a better standard of life.

I want to honor her, and the many like her, by telling her story. The problems she faced and how she adapted to the American way of life will be the theme of the book.

I have one concern about the next 10 days. I’ve been writing so fast since the first of November, that I find I have finished my story. Many times, in my hurry to produce the required number of words, I’ve written only the bare facts. Now, I have to go back to elaborate and put in details that were left out.

In the next 10 days, I need approximately 14,000 words to reach the 50,000 required amount. Will I be able to do it? We’ll find out together.

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National Novel Writing Month prompts Savannah writer to try her hand

Can I write a novel in one month? This is what I’m attempting by registering on NaNoWriMo, the acronym for National Novel Writing Month. I heard about the program from a friend and checked out the Web site.

The rules are simple. I only have to write 1,667 words every day during the month of November. By midnight, Nov. 30, I should have 50,000 words. It has to be original work; no previously written work can be included.

NaNoWriMo was started as a fun project in 1999 by Chris Baty, together with group of 20 other writers in the San Francisco Bay area. In the second year when a Web site was built, 140 people participated. It has continued to grow each year. Last year 120,000 people registered. Out of that number, 20,000 writers finished with 50,000 words.

This is a by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to writing. Quantity, not quality, is what matters. No, it won’t be good, but it will be a rough draft of a novel. Rewriting, refining and correcting can come later.

Motivational messages are sent by e-mail three times a week from staff or published authors. I haven’t had time to read those. Participants can contact others in the program to see how they are coming along or for support. I haven’t had time to do that, either. But I do sign into the program each evening to put in my total word count in a little box next to my user name.

The first day of November fell on a Sunday. Since I didn’t have any plans for the afternoon and evening, I wrote 3,129 words on that day. I haven’t been able to duplicate this number on another single day, because the first two weeks of November were very busy for me. I had already contracted with Live Oak Public Library to visit six schools to publicize their Children’s Book Festival held on Nov. 14. I had two previously scheduled doctor appointments, and my column for Coastal Senior was due.

To confirm Murphy’s Law, which says if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, my desktop computer crashed and I have had to use a laptop, which I dislike. The keyboard is different and the prompts are all in the wrong place. It really slows me down.

Then, the sunroof on my car got stuck in the open position, and I had to take precious writing time to have it repaired. Of course, the everyday chores – like going to the market, washing clothes, paying bills and cleaning house – had to be done.

But I don’t recommend a white glove test on my furniture right now.

It’s now Nov. 10, and I am one-third into the program. I have written on my novel every day except the first Thursday of the month. That was the day my computer fizzled, and I had two school visitations. I should have 16,666 words; however, I am 542 words short. I believe that I can catch up because the rest of the month will not be as busy.

Even if I don’t, what do I have to lose? If I have only 25,000 words toward my novel at the end of November, it will be 25,000 more than I had before I started.

After Nov. 20, I will report on my progress during the second third of the NaNoWriMo Program. Wish me luck.

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Bess in the city

I’ve always loved New York City, its energy, its frenetic pace, and its arrogance.  I love to watch New Yorkers hurrying down the sidewalks, careful not to make eye contact, the shoppers with bags from trendy stores I have only read about. The streets are filled with the color yellow as cabs fly up and down the avenues and skid around street corners.  I love to look at the theater marquees, the ads on the buildings at Times Square, and gawk with all the other tourists at the street performers such as the Naked Cowboy and Spider Man.

            There was a time in my teen years when I imagined living in New York City.  I would be twenty something, live in a loft in the Village, and work for a publisher or a newspaper.  I would have a group of Bohemian friends that would wear only black and sit in coffee houses at night reading poetry.  I would meet and fall in love with a handsome, brooding artist.  Oh well, that didn’t happen.

             I did go to New York recently to visit my cousin, Della, who lives in Northport, Long Island. We went to ‘the city’ and saw the play “ 9-5” at the Marquis Theater.  Our seats were on the front row and we could see the actors close and personal as they sang and emoted.  The play was much funnier than the movie.  We had lunch at a French restaurant, La Rivage, on restaurant row between 8^th and 9^th Avenue.  It was a Wednesday when the theaters have matinee performances and the streets were especially crowded.  From above, I imagined that we looked like a bunch of insects, scampering here and there as we fought our way back to Pennsylvania Station to take the train back to Long Island. Read full article »

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Mr. Bell’s Invention

Alexander Graham Bell was awarded a patent for the telephone in 1876.  Somewhere deep in his genius mind, he must have wondered if the telephone was a mistake, because according to Wikipedia.com, he later considered his famous invention an intrusion and refused to have a telephone in his study.  I wonder what he would think of his little invention today.

Remember the party line telephone, when we shared a line with someone else?  It worked fine; no one received many calls back then.  An operator answered the telephone and we would give her the number we wanted.  We finally got a private line, and then came the black rotary telephone.  Most families had only one instrument and it sat in the hall on a little doily covered table. Now, I live in five rooms and have five telephones, plus my cell.

Next came the push button phone with cordless and cell phones coming close behind.  With the advent of the cell, personal communication exploded.  Now, there is no end to what can be done with a phone.  We can send e-mail, listen to music, watch DVD, record our voice, take pictures, play games, and text. At least half a dozen new ways to use a phone are probably being developed as I write this article.

The important question is this?  Has the telephone improved our quality of life? Of course it has.  I only have to think of how much safer I feel having my cell phone when I am out at night by myself.  However, it has brought some frustrations.  Maybe we can’t blame it on the telephone itself, but on the people who design telephone systems.

If you’ve ever made a doctor’s appointment or conducted business over the phone, you will identify with the following scenarios: Read full article »

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