Week 1, Day 5

I'm so pleased to see fellow authors responding to each other's questions and comments.  (These can be found at the end of each day's blog).  Our community of writers is growing.  We're here to help each other, and through helping each other, we help ourselves.  If you haven't been reading the comments, why don't you check them out today?  You might learn something new.  You might also realize that others are struggling with their writing projects (which is NORMAL) and you might find comfort in this knowledge.

So, today's topic is "Why Am I Participating in this Contest?"

You have your reasons.  Whatever they are, I'm glad you're participating in NaNoWriMo.  I am delighted to see so many names posted on my classroom whiteboard.  Each day, a flock of students run into my classroom and update their word count.  The number of words written is climbing and the number of words to write is declining.  We are doing it, my friends!

My reason for participating is twofold - I have to write because I'm incomplete if I don't.  You all know me as your tech teacher, but my first love was writing, and the relationship I have with my passion and creative psyche is enduring.  The other reason I am participating is because I have something I want to say. 

My book, "A Place for Pamela", takes place during middle school years.  Middle school can be a difficult phase in the lives of young people.  I remember some aspects of my middle school phase.  My favorite teacher acknowledged my writing ability and told me one day she'd see my work in print.  After high school, when I was a journalist for a magazine, I ran into this teacher at a store.  I happily told her I was a published writer.  She believed in me and I still appreciate it.  Middle school was also the time of my first kiss(!) and I incorporate that moment in my novel "A Place for Pamela".  It was also a bitter time in my life when friends, who said they were friends, were nothing of the sort.  One of my chapters is called "Outside Day".  This chapter is about how one person in my group (whom I called Queen Bee) determined who was "invited" to be the group on any given day.  When you least expected it, you were out.  During "Outside Day", you were no longer part of the group but ate alone, rode the bus alone and wondered the whole time what you had done wrong.  The next day, you were back in and someone else was out.  I include these events, as well as some totally made up, in my book.  My message is "be true to yourself", which is ultimately what I had to do to.

So, why are you writing?  What is the message you hope to convey?  If you are struggling with your novel, take a moment and write down your message.  It will give you the direction you may be struggling to find.

Keep writing...