Reflections on NaNoWriMo

So will I participating in NaNoWriMo next year? I'm not going to pretend that I believe writing 50,000 words in one month is a small achievement; it was huge. I thought it was a daunting task and it was. I think I managed to amaze myself the most. I'm so proud of my little winners' image at the top.

The title of the novel was A Biography of Utopia. The novel is 51,505 words long or about 166 double-spaced 8 1/2 by 11 pages (give or take). The story was set in utopia; the paradisiacal world Earth Mark II. As the story unfolded it showed even in a perfect world, humans will still face the tragedy and absurdism of life. I felt I really liked my story, even if things did completely unravel in the end. I think the idea was original, creatively executed, and could probaly be rewritten in some other form one day.

What have I learned about myself? Well... first thing... is that I hate writing dialogue with a passion. I thought mine always came off as corny and contrived. I think this is a manifestation of my preference for non-fiction writing. So, when my plot really started to become unhinged, I didn't give up, I started writing about architecture. About 25,000 words are just these really long, detailed and rambling descriptions of allsorts of interesting, and sometimes understated, buildings that come up in the story. So I guessed I learned that I really do like writing about architecture - but then - I kind of already new that (according to the name of my blog). I never really felt burdened to have to sit and write; though toward the second half of the month things started to get difficult, and sometimes the right words didn't flow so easily.

So will I be doing this craziness next year? Right now I'm leaning toward no - it's mentally draining and a massive time commitment - but there's no use rushing a decision that is far off. Shout out to Pat, Drew, and Sean.

Need proof? Search for wower.

My NaNoWriMo month by the numbers:

# of pots of tea consumed while writing: 34
# of beers: 19
# of weird looks from people I told I was writing a novel: everyone
# of things blown off: surprisingly few
# of days I didn't write: 4+finishing 3 days early
# of Canadian Chocolates consumed: all of them (that were in the house)
# of new grammatical structures invented: 12
# of new words invented: 3
# of people killed in the story: about 300+1
# of dysfunctional characters: exactly 8
# of quantum computers: 2
# of flashbacks: 2
# of crazy monkeys: 6
# of houses trashed by crazy monkeys: 1
# of pop cultural references: 9
# of outright copyright infringements: 1
# of plot twists (depending on how one counts): either none or one big one
# of goats wearing skirts: 0
# of talking animals: 0
# of incidents triggered by hot tubs at retirement complexes: 1
# of disconnects with reality: 2
# of my disconnects with reality: 0
Grand total of publishing offers thus far: 0

Itunes says that Chad Van Gaalen's Day-Ja-Voo X2, Van Morrison's Gloria, and Keziah Jones's All Along the Watch Tower were the most popular tracks for the month of November. Also, two internet live streams that kept me going were RadioDarvish.com (Persian Traditional Music) and the excellent KEXP live feed out of Seattle.

P.S. And while I don't hate Pat; I strongly dislike him and his 63,350 words. I mean, he passed 50,000 words with demon like speed on Nov. 13th. That's unbelievable.

My Morning

Just wanted to post this picture of my morning before everyone went to bed over in Alberta. I'm so tired; this could make the quiet afternoon coming up at the office drag on and on. It's an absolutely beautiful day here in northern Japan. The air is fresh and warm and you can see the mountians rising up clearly in the distance. Shikaoi is surrounded by mountians on three sides and plains open up to the ocean on the fourth. That's about 100 km away. And while there is snow on the ground, it is very warm outside; I think it feels exactly like a Chinook in Calgary. I went far out of town to an outlying kindergarten, Kita Shikaoi. I was surprised by how many English words they were familar with. Jeff did a god job and the teachers there are very involved in teaching the kids English. We also did a very energizing verion of Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes... all the way through... twice! What great fun!

And the Heavens Opened...

Just reached 50,000 words a couple of minutes ago. The fifty thousandth word was anticlimactically; "the". Summary post upcoming, but right now I want to do something I have been neglecting all month - Read! I have uploaded a selection of happy pictures to express how I feel.

House Keeping Update

I have made some more minor changes to the site. I have cut the number of posts on the main page to help decrease loads times. The archives work great if you wish to look back at the extensive pictures and posts of the last couple of months. I have also fiddled with the frames a bit to optimize the appearance of the site on the maximum amount of computer monitors. Lastly, over the coming days and weeks, you will see more and more titles in Japanese. This is a concession to my increasing Japanese audience, so that everyone can at least have some idea on what I'm posting about. I will let the images of my time here do the rest.

子供大会

I have uploaded pictures of this morning's event. It was really fun. I loved seeing all my students in one place. The two matching pictures above mean alot to me. Even though they are not the best pictures, they show all my kids. The schools are; Kamihoro nai, Sasagawa, Tsumei Sho, Shikaoi Sho, and Shikaoi Yochien. The empty seats are Urimaku Sho's. They are backstage just about to start; I think a caught a good shot moments before the curtain went up (above). The multi-pictures of the same subject is a grade six student from Sasagawa Sho; he gave a very focused and intense solo performance for someone so young. Good Job! The kindergartener's gymnastic preformance was very popular and my appearance on stage was well recived. I'll let the pictures tell the rest. To change gears now - this will really blow your mind. I found out on Wednesday that eggs here are sold in batches of ten, not a dozen. I'll never be the same.

Building Excitement! High Tension!

Lots to be excited about this week. Just thought I'd write about it here to spread it around. Having something to look forward to can make the days longer and hours move slowly. First off, I ordered my new digital SLR camera (Nikon D70s), and I will be picking it up on Saturday. Surprisingly - or perhaps not so - there is a digital camera store in Obihiro that specializes in - what else - everything digital camera. I found my camera there for over $100 cheaper than the place I was going to get it from and about $200 cheaper than I can get one in Canada. That made my day. Secondly, tomorrow there is a children's festival in Chomin Hall where I work. I have a small speaking role - but the big news is only partly about me. Every single one of the my students from all my different schools will be attending (and some will also be performing). This event takes performances from the various school cultural festivals and lumps the best into one big event for all the area's students. Should be a great morning. Alas, I won't have my new camera for the event, but I will post pictures after. Are you excited now?!

Tuseday Night Becomes Friday Night

I remember asking on of the grade four teachers last month: how they did? how they taught such energnic kids day in and day out? He reply, with a smiling on his month, "we drink".

Every month the teachers make it a point to go out for dinner and then drinks in Shikaoi. In Japanese culture you are more likely to go out with your co-workers than your good friends. Your life, in many ways, revolves are work. An excuse is needed - the smaller the better - so this month it was the After Happyokia Party. Sixteen teachers came for dinner at Tori Sei, and quite a spread was put before us. A fun was of assigning seats was devised that bears mention; through rolling a special dice is was decided where everyone was seated. This was to make sure everyone mingled I guess, but there was no one I minded. Dinner was great, just laughted and laughted. There was also a second party that I was dragged too. Really!

I decided to write this post because during dinner I just had a Wow moment. I felt like should pitch myself. I couldn't believe I was in Japan doing what I was doing. Perhaps it was a strange thought to have during dinner. But I really felt so welcomed in that school; I was happy, then and there, with my choice to come to Shikaoi.

The Long Road to Tsumei Sho

Got a taste of how the roads will be for most of Dec. Jan. and Feb. this morning on my long solo drive out to Tsumei Sho Gakko. I had noticed before I went to bed last night that it was snowing. It looks like it kept snowing all night. There was a lot of snow when I got up. The road in front of my house was an even layer of white. Another thing that really factors into road conditions here - once you get out on to the country roads - is the winter wind. It must really drift in the winter, but today, because of the lack of traffic on the back roads, it simply iced over. I left extra early and got to the school on time; but quite white knuckled and my life expendency drasticly shorter. Between the wind and the ice I wonder if its possible to be blown off an icy road? It is easy to see the difference of roads in Albertan that are sanded and salted. Anyway, the snow is not quite gone as I am back at the office writing this, but it is much warmer in the sun, and the wind doesn't blow so hard in town.

Today at Tsumei Sho, we pretty much had the whole morning for an extended English class. We also made Halloween cookies, even though I will admit the season has passed. I'm glad we did because the kids loved it. I always like standing back and watching them be totally engaged and engrossed by such simple things. The kids were very creative, making varieties Japanese cartoon characters, kind of like our Simpson's and Family Guy. We also had alphabet cookie cutters and made each of the kids names, I helped the two grade one'ers because they don't quite know all the romaji letters yet. It took forever to cook the things because of the oven we had. It's not like any sort of oven we have in Alberta, indeed, it's hard to call it an often at all (in my opinion); it's a kind of tiny table top convection oven/microwave that I really can't comprehend (or operate). I have included an image of the school nurse/secretary/lunch lady carefully watching the cookies like a hawk (the cookies were all radically different sizes, so they all cooked at very different speeds).

Tomorrow, it's off to Obihiro for shopping before the roads become impassable and I am forced into hibernation. Iced coffee is good.



Update: Today, when I saw my two classes of grade fours outside, I was immediately pelted by snowballs. It seemed like hundreds, but that was probably only the first volley. Feel free to leave comments; should I consider this a sign of things to come? Even hiding behind the teacher offered no protection. Too bad I was wearing my inside clothes and had no mitts else I really would have given it to them.

Kids 1 Blair 0

Who am I kidding? They're great!

NaNoWriMo - Update

I'm starting to view the whole motivation behind writing a novel in the space of one month as a slightly masochistic exercise. It's a lot of work. I just reached 35,189 words on Sunday night, which translates into 70.37% done. Being sick on Saturday with a cold, I was able to add just over 9000 words over the weekend. That's pretty good. With only nine days left I see no point in stopping now. My evenings are fairly free, my only commitment this week is an After Happyokai Party with the teachers from the elementary school. It's going to be a blast because the day after, a Wednesday, is a holiday. Oh, and this week is very odd because there's a holiday on Wednesday - just stuck there. I'm assume something will probably come up last minute on one of the other nights, but over all, I think things are very under control. If I can finish by next Sunday I will be very pleased. I feel I've been neglecting my books, my Japanese language studies, and my friends (or so they say), everything else was not impacted.