#NaNoWriMo 2015

OHMYGOSH! OHMYGOSH! OHMYGOSH! I'm a #NaNoWinner2015! I actually wrote 50,000 words in a month... I can't believe it.

What is more amazing, is that my story isn't done yet. A month ago I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it stretch to 50,000 words, and then, as the month went on I found myself wondering how I was going to condense it to 50,000. And then I figured: you know what? I'm just going to write, and not worry about the word count so much. I have been having SO much fun writing - I'd forgotten how much I love writing, and being creative.

Of course, I think my story is very average - possibly quite boring. But that's not the point. I had fun writing it. I AM having fun writing it. I might be rubbish at writing, but now that I'm 40 (oh dear God, help me!) I don't feel the need to succumb to the pressure that I have to be good at something to enjoy doing it.

So who knows... maybe I will start serialising my book here for you to read. If you like it, good for you. If not, I don't care. (Well, I do, just a little.)

And, naturally, it no doubt needs a lot of editing. So maybe I'll ask my English teacher friend who got me into this whole malarkey in the first place to be my editor.... PUNISHMENT! (Good thing she likes Fantasy books!)

But I am on such a high at the moment that I just had to gush and share it with anyone who cares, and several who don't.

Swallowed whole by words

This year I am taking the plunge and going to attempt to write a 50 000 word novel in a month, with NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is ostensibly an American institution - National Novel Writing Month - but there are thousands of non-USA folk who join in.

I used to write - poetry, songs, short stories... this blog! - quite a lot, but then, somehow, I stopped. About 2 or 3 weeks ago though, I woke up with a dream still vividly present in my imagination. When it stayed vivid through-out that day, and the next, I decided to commit it to paper... and before I knew what had hit me, I was 4 chapters in! Given that I knew about NaNoWriMo, and that it was so close to November (the month in which NaNo takes place) I decided to give it a bash.

I'm scared nearly witless by this challenge - 50 000 words is 1 667 per day - which is a HECK of a lot of words! And although I have a part of the story mapped out in my head, the majority is still a complete blank for me. I anticipate the beginning will be easy, but I'm nervous about whether I can stick with this... will life get in the way? Will inspiration desert me? Will what I write be any good?

This month holds a lot for me - my birthday, my daughter's birthday, end of year exam marking, planning for 2016, training staff on being a Google Apps school, and now NaNo. Am I completely insane?!? A sucker?!? Given that this year is a big birthday, maybe this is the mid-life crisis everyone talks about?

Whatever it is, if you don't hear from me this month, it's because my energies are being channeled into writing. I am about to be swallowed whole by words - and I think I'm going to love it! I have added a widget here though, to keep track of my words, so you can see how I'm doing. All encouragement will be gladly accepted!

Gratitude day #23

This will probably sound a bit weird, but I am grateful for a small piece of sky. I know, I know. How can I, as an African, be grateful for a small piece of sky? After all, isn't the attraction of Africa supposed to be the massive, wide open sky? But you see, this is not just any small piece of sky. This is the small piece of sky that is bounded by the walls of the quad outside my office.

I haven't taken a photo of it, because I know that no photo could ever convey the emotion it evokes in me. That small piece of sky, free of any horizon, often seems to hold the most incredible cloud formations, or be the most incredible shade of blue. Sometimes it has birds flying across it.

I love that small piece of sky. I love it because it is just so beautiful. The beauty it constrains often takes my breath away.

But I also love it because it is so surprising. I mean, I'm a country girl at heart - wide open vistas of mountains, rivers, oceans, fields are what appeal to me. Yet here I am, in the midst of a busy, noisy city, appreciating a small piece of sky.

I love it because it makes me look up. It often stops me in my tracks with its beauty. Whatever it is that I am so frenetically busy with falls away for a few moments as I gaze up and appreciate the small rectangle of sky. For those few moments I could be anywhere - miles away in the country. For those few moments, whatever was eating away at me stops. I love it because when I look up, I look at freedom. I feel freedom. I live freedom. I breathe freedom.

And often, that is enough to restore my soul and give me strength for the next few hours.

And so I am grateful for that small piece of sky.

Gratitude day #9

Part of me has always longed to be a farm girl, live on a farm miles away from a city, or to at least live I a more rural setting. There is something about being closer to nature that calls to me. I relax most when I can look around me and see bush, or mountains, or a beach without seeing urbanisation adjacent to it.

There is something in creation that feeds my soul, that restores me. Yesterday I went for a bike ride along a farm road, and came across the most beautiful vista. Although I coils not linger long -  it was getting on towards supper time - just the few moments spent drinking in that vista did so much for my soul. 

Today, working on our photograph album, I was looking at photos of flowers that both #1 and I have taken in the last 2 years. Even just seeing those photos, and remembering the peace I felt at the time of taking them, being in those environments,  brought me a measure of joy and peace.

Earlier today we went to 'Birds Paradise' on the R60, in Robertson. On the one hand it was soul-destroying to see all these caged birds... I find zoos of any sort distressing.... On the other hand, I was amazed at the variety that existed just in the parrot/parakeet family. Birds from every continent were represented, and though so similar in form, the colour and size variations were astounding. I could not help but be amazed at creation.

I am so grateful for the natural world - for the infinite variety, even of a seemingly static view like a mountainside; for the sense of wonder it inspires; for the joy and peace it gives me. Don't get me wrong - I am a townie and I like my town comforts. Every now and again though  I am grateful for the opportunity to step out of the fast-paced, noisy, technology driven world and stop to appreciate the things that we cannot recreate. 

I am grateful for the mud splashed up my legs and back from my bike ride on a farm road. I am grateful for the river water that is slightly brown from fynbos tannins. I am grateful for the folds in the mountains around us, reminding me of the forces at work beneath my feet, over which no human has control. I am grateful for the mist that shrouds everything in the morning, hiding the world from view, evidence of winter's approach. I am grateful for the frogs croaking in the bog near the house, and their night-time lullaby. I am even, oddly, grateful for the ticks I must daily remove from my dogs, the kids and myself. They remind me of my place in the natural order, and they are a sign that we are miles from civilisation. (I do have a fascination with parasites, I confess, although they are pretty gross.) I am grateful for the heat of the midday sun that bakes, and the opportunity to doze in the sun after lunch. I am grateful for the chill wind that makes having a fire in the evenings so cozy. I am grateful for the foreign bird calls, that remind me we are not in a town.

There is so much in the natural world that I appreciate. I could possibly do a truck load of blog posts on that alone!