November 15 is the middle. It is the midpoint of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The middle of November is when sports teams begin assessing their players. Mid November is when teachers prepare tests and look at grades. November 15 promises that Oreo cookie fans may customize packages online (you can Google that). So much happens at the middle. Just ask the “middle” child.

The middle always annoys us.

• “Can I call you back? I’m in the middle of something…”
• “I don’t know what happens! I’m only in the middle of the book.”
• “The middle of the race is brutal. Get ready to hit ‘the wall.’ “

We speak of being in the middle of a mess, the middle child, the middle class, the middle mind, middle age, middle school, middle income, and we always meet up in the middle.

That’s why it’s interesting when writers speak about the – with homage to Jim Butcher – the Great Swampy Middle of their novels. The GSM (for short) is where plots get lost, characters wander off course, the bones of dead and confused are left behind and writers almost always give up. And that is the challenge, to make your way through the Great Swampy Middle and do so without losing the point.

Whether it is your life, or your novel, the GSM can be scary. It’s expansive and full of darkness. Lots of potholes and cliffs. Mountains to climb and sharp things to be avoided. And there are a few simple things that get you through it, safely.

1. Focus. Do not deviate from your path. Whether you are in middle age, middle of the book, middle of the race, you must keep your focus. Otherwise you will veer off course and lose your way, like so many before you.
2. Understand. The middle is necessary. Nothing is achieved by starting and finishing without something happening in the middle. Simply accept that this is how things go and don’t fear it. Necessary means ordinary. Make it less scary that way.
3. Believe. In yourself. Don’t make excuses. Don’t look for a way out. The best way is always through, said Robert Frost (shortest too). Know that you will succeed and you will. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you believe you can, obstacles are smaller. And so is that Great Swampy Middle that looked so immense when you initially began your project, your life, your race, your novel.

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo and I’m deep in the GSM. It feels a bit daunting to be here in a new story but I’m making the trek with purpose and having fun along the way. I have moments of self-doubt and then I ask myself, why? I didn’t doubt when I hit middle age. I’ve never flinched in the middle of anything. So why would I in the middle of writing a novel?

One answer explains it all – fear of failure. Racing, writing, reading, working, living. We fear failing.

Want the truth? The only true failure is the quitter. And that’s not you. And it’s not me. So, Keep Pushing on (Thanks REO Speedwagon) and the GSM will become a memory.

To all the middle children out there, I empathize. I’m first born. Failure is not an option. I’m an Aries, I barrel through. I’m a person, I perservere. I’m a writer.

Do I blanche? No! I am fearless.

Be fearless. Welcome to the Middle. Follow me….

Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

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****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story

On the Desk: (next reading): Second Olympus by K.A. Stewart

Off the Desk (book just finished): Rogue by Karen Lynch

Coming Soon:  Book Recs, Thanksgiving Musings, and a new Guest Editorial

November is less than a week away! For over a million folks, that means the start of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). If you are unfamiliar with what NaNoWriMo is then here is what it means in a nutshell: A month dedicated to the completion of 50K words, dedicated to a single novel/project. That’s it. One month of writing goals, chaos, frustration, joy, confusion, late nights, silliness, too much coffee (or soda), with the end result being a boatload of words which, hopefully, will lead to a successful novel in the future.

Now, if you are a regular author/novelist, the first question I get is “why.” The answer is easy for young writers, the unpublished, untrained, and inexperienced. The pupose of NaNo (for short) is to help you find your writing habit, to show you what dedication and commitment to your craft can do for you, how to write without stopping to edit or question yourself, how to trust that you have more words (and something to say) than you imagined. NaNo is commitment, dedicaiton, inspiration, comradierie, and proof. Proof that when you put your mind to it, you can actually finish something.

Finish. Notice I didn’t say “win.” Yes, NaNo says that if you succeed at getting 50K words in one month, then you “win” some prizes or get discounts to prizes. But that’s not really what they mean. The idea is to finish the month by writing every day.

And if you don’t get to 50K, that’s okay. The concept is learning to write every day, to never give up on yourself or your craft and to develop a strong writing habit.

The only losers to the program are the quitters.

But why bother with NaNo if you already write novels and are successful at it? Well, to be honest you probably would do it for the fun, for the companionship of others (we writers do get awfully solitary), and maybe for the challenge.

Of course, I’ve had several authors tell me, “I don’t need NaNo because I write all the time.” Okay, good for you.

Yet there are millions of people who do participate. Who want to believe. Who DO believe. And there are successful, published, best-selling authors who participate (as well as editors and agents).

So I have a list for those of you thinking about Nov 1, and the start of NaNo, or maybe just reading about it.

11 reasons you can use to Not to Participate, Give Up On or Quit NaNo (use as needed):

1. You like to chat about writing a novel. You feel the excitement of it when you do, you’ve even tried writing about it in your journal or made some notes. You do it every year. You’re still talking about it. Stop talking about it. We know at this point you won’t do it. Just accept it and we’ll move on.
2. You have children. They have things to do. They have schoolwork. You have to drive them. You need to supervise homework. You don’t have time for writing when you have to do math.
3. Soccor, ballet, football, school programs, choir, band, karate, volunteer work, cheer squad, gymnastics. You are never home.
4. If you don’t clean the house it won’t get done. Who has time when the toilets are calling. And laundry? Oh we won’t even talk about how you have to supervise the washer and dryer.
5. You have a blog to keep up, facebook post, twitter to update, LinkedIn to add, Goodreads book reviews to give and sale (of your old books) to check on Amazon and Smashwords.
6. You feel headachy and tired. Who can write when the body says it’s tired?
7. Who wants to actually read what you write? No one cares about this stuff!
8. And worse, what happens afterwards when no one likes it? Why did I bother?
9. There will be other projects, other NaNo years.
10. You have a real job. You can’t be expected to do both especially when one isn’t paying the bills.
11. Your spouse/sig other/best friend isn’t involved and just can’t relate.

There. I hope those help you successfully rationalize yourself out of NaNoWriMo.

However, if you know that all of those are bunk, if you know that you must write and it doesn’t matter about what, if you know that you aren’t writing for others and you are writing for yourself, if you know that at the end of the day the day isn’t done until you do write, if you believe that words matter no matter how few, if you know that support will come from other writers despite those closest to you not “getting” you, then NaNo is exactly for you (no matter the word count).

Because you know that the writing must happen. Like breathing. Sick or well. Kids or job. The writing is important to you and must get done, will get done, because you make it important enough.

Because it’s a Nike (just do it) feeling.

If you know these things, then I’ll see you there (nanowrimo.org) on November 1. Because how could we not?

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Am being interviewed tonight!!  Tune in to the Ron Shaw Show at 8pm EDT to listen live! Or come back tomorrow (or later) to listen to the recording in the archive. I’m excited and nervous. We’ll be talking about my books By Light Betrayed – Poetry of the Vampires and Midnight Assassin: A Tale of Lust and Revenge.

Bring your wine and popcorn and a friend! And let me know what you think, ok?

Wish me Good Luck!

Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)

On the Desk: (next reading): Some Like It Witchy (#5) by Heather Blake

Off the Desk (book just finished): The Goodbye Witch (#4) by Heather Blake

Coming Soon:  What I love and hate about NaNoWriMo/More interviews/Holiday Chaos

It’s hard to believe October is here. I love this time of year, with the snap-chill in the air, the skitter of drying leaves, the lengthening shadows as days surrender more to night. I’m an autumnal junkie, I guess. And it begins with pumpkins and scary things.

I don’t know how it happened but October means ghosts and pumpkin pie, hot chocolate and candy apples. Fall Harvest was a big event at my elementary school and there were scarecrows and hay bails, apple cider, and homemade fudge. My friends and I would gather together over Girl Scout campfires or over flashlights at slumber parties and tell the most frightening tales we could imagine. Thus, the writer, the storyteller began her early career.

That’s how I discovered Ray Bradbury. Ray wrote The Halloween Tree and I fell in love with it the moment I read it back in 1972. The story traces the history of Halloween and Samhain. A short synopsis:

A group of eight boys set out to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, only to discover that a ninth friend, Pipkin, has been whisked away on a journey that could determine whether he lives or dies. Through the help of a mysterious character named Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, they pursue their friend across time and space through Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, and Roman cultures, Celtic Druidism, Notre Dame Cathedral in Medieval Paris, and The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Along the way, they learn the origins of the holiday that they celebrate, and the role that the fear of death, spooks, and the haunts has played in shaping civilization. The Halloween Tree itself, with its many branches laden with jack-o’-lanterns, serves as a metaphor for the historical confluence of these traditions.

Though it was a “teaching” story, there was tremendous suspense and foreshadowing within the tale, a sense of dread that “we” (I identified with the friends) might not save Pipkin and the mysterious and somewhat evil Moundshroud would keep him forever.  When the story appeared on television in 1993, the sense of dread was made real with animation and music and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Moundshroud (what a voice, what a laugh).

I learned the value of a good, scary story. How pacing and playing on emotions can help you draw a reader in. I learned that a tale that includes the reader can suspend reality and be fantastical if the reader connects and feels an emotional investment in the outcome.

And that’s what I want you to get from October. I want you to watch scary movies for fun, of course. But I want you to pay attention to when your heart beats faster, when you lean a little bit forward, when you hold your breath. I want you wrap yourself in the seasonal senses and know this holiday and the Autumn harvest surrounding it. Read short stories about things that go bump. About crimes and ghosts and dreams. You don’t have to celebrate Halloween to appreciate a good story, a delicious fright or believe in vampires to shiver at shadows. You don’t even have to be scared at all to dance in the moonlight or stare in wonder at the shifting stars in the heavens.

But this is a great time of year to hone your writing skills. There are tastes and sights, sounds and feelings galore. ‘Tis the season for fantasy, magic, hobgoblins and dreams. Let the writer in you begin to celebrate October — with pumpkins!

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Tell me what you are reading? What celebrates this season for you?

I highly recommend The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. Though the book is considered fantasy for ages 8-12 yrs, it is most definitely not written in a childish way. Adults will appreciate it.

Yours Between the Lines,

Sherry

****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)

On the Desk: (next reading): Halfway Hexed by Kimberly Frost (book 3)

Off the Desk (book just finished): Barely Bewitched by Kimberly Frost

Coming Soon:  Guest Author: Margie Miklas!