NaNo is done! But wait, I don’t want it to be done. . . I’m not ready to let go. . .

Ah yes, the calendar says it’s December 1 which means it’s all over. I am proud to say that for my first NaNo, I kicked a little butt. My 50,000 word mark was hit on Thanksgiving AND there is still more to tell which means (at least to me) that I’m on the right path with a good story. If there is one thing I can take away from NaNo it’s that I finally found that road to write on. Just write. Find the time. Shh. No questions. No complaints. Everyone is watching you. Just write.

And this month included my normal Friday Flash participations, winning a writing contest, setting up a book called the 12 Days of Christmas (www.12days2009.wordpress.com) and writing some new music for a new project called 1 Album 1 Month (www.1album1month.wordpress.com) all while keeping current on my writing blog (www.writersnwriters.blogspot.com). To me November was a success and it also opened more doors than I had ever expected.

Because of NaNo I took a break from reading novels and bought a few short story anthologies including Just After Sunset by Stephen King. A couple of those stories in there REALLY changed my outlook on my writing and what I hope to accomplish. What does this mean? Well, that whole plan I had at the beginning (one of my first posts here). . . well. . . that is changing.

I asked myself a question that I don’t ask myself enough: WHAT DO I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH WITH MY WRITING?

Do I want to explore the hearts of people who are in a forbidden love? Those who cheat? Murder? Steal? Do I want to write something that becomes so big that my characters are featured on the wrappers of Whoppers at Burger King?

It sounds simple, but it’s not – at least for me. Until my NaNo novel started moving along and telling me things about myself. . . telling me what I should do.

My goal with writing is to take you somewhere. I want you to experience something new, something different. I don’t necessarily want to teach you values, morals, or life lessons, but rather take you away from your bad day at work or the pile of bills sitting on the counter drooling with sharp fangs looking for your bank account. I want to suck you into a world that you could only experience in my writing. . . now, I’m not talking about fantasy or science fiction but just a time or life or place that you cannot be.

And that is the exact reason why I read my favorite authors. When I pick up a Dean Koontz book, I know he is going to make everyone and everything disappear. When I’m reading Odd Thomas, I’m there is Pico Mundo while he’s flipping pancakes thinking about Stormy and wishing Elvis would just cross over. . . or when I read Frankenstein, I’m in New Orleans watching Dr. Helios create monsters.

For the past few months I’ve had this itch in me. Something brewing. A story. But I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t pull it out. . . until now. So instead of going back to my half finished novel (which my wife loved) I’m going to switch trains and try something else. I’ve seen the real world, I’m in it. If I want to read about red lights, traffic, and guys and girls fighting over who loves who, I could just go downstairs and look out the window or watch some cheesy shows. . .

And to just give a tiny hint about this new project. . . I bought three books on mind reading and mind control to understand how brain waves work and started reading some psychology and philosophy books. . . so yes, this is going to be a big project for me – one that I’m taking seriously and one that I hope will open the doors for me in many ways.

 I may not necessarily write the next “BIG ONE” and have my characters on number two pencils being used by ten year old girls who ohh’ed and ahh’ed when my character takes his shirt off in the cheesy movie version, but it would be nice to maybe see the book on bookshelves! That’s what I’m shooting for.

 And to all those who participated in NaNo – CONGRATS! Whether you hit the 50k word count mark or not, you’re still a winner to me. Anyone and mean ANYONE who writes and explores their own mind deserves a pat on the back. . . remember, before television there was radio and before radio there was books and before books there was words. . . our history as humans is built off of story telling. . . so keep thinking and keep writing! Let’s have NaNoWriMoDec and NaNoWriMoJan and NaNoWriMoFeb. . . well, you get the idea. . .  Jim