Joni Zander

Deb said, "No one writes unless it's important to them! Does he think
people
everywhere are sitting down to write for no reason? What do people
write
when they have no reason to write, I wonder? That's just silly."


Now wait a minute! <g> I just finished trying to do NaNoWriMo -
trying to write 50,000 words in the month of November, just because.
(I only got to 36934, but I tried - having house guests for more than a
week and a half didn't help!)

Okay, maybe it wasn't for no reason at all - I was trying to get over
my idea that my writing always has to be right - I thought 50,000 words
would cure me of that! Maybe that will come in the next 13,066 words,
or maybe not at all. <BG>

And Deb, I do agree with you that it's silly to expect a kid to write
for no reason. Just trying to find an "in" in the conversation to say
that NaNoWriMo is OVER! Yeah! And congratulations to all the
unschoolers, both young and not so young who participated this year.

Oh, and you asked, "What do people write when they have no reason to
write?" Well, that was probably the most interesting part of the whole
thing. The motto of NaNoWriMo is "No Plot, No Problem" It is amazing
what comes out when you don't know what to write!

Joni Zander
FotoCEO@...

Deb Lewis

***Now wait a minute! <g> I just finished trying to do NaNoWriMo -
trying to write 50,000 words in the month of November, just because. ***

According to my mother "because" is a valid reason for doing a thing. <g>

***(I only got to 36934, but I tried - having house guests for more than
a
week and a half didn't help!)***

Wow! I'm impressed. I wondered how many people from the list would try
it.

***The motto of NaNoWriMo is "No Plot, No Problem" It is amazing
what comes out when you don't know what to write!***

Tease! You're a tease! What *did* you write about? <g>

Maybe somebody should start a list for unschooling writers where folks
could post their curious works. <g> I guess that's what we do here. ; )

Deb L

lgbryk

Wow! I'm impressed. I wondered how many people from the list would try
it.



My daughter challenged me to write this novel -- sadly I wrote about 500 words -- on the other hand my daughter did over 30,000 words. Life did get in the way, but she plans to keep writing until she hits 50,000 words. She has had so much fun doing this.
Linda

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Heidi Here

I must have missed something!! What are you guys taking about , what kind of book writing?
Thanks for letting me know
Heidi
----- Original Message -----
From: lgbryk
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 8:34 PM
Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] Writing for no reason WAS Reassurance and support


Wow! I'm impressed. I wondered how many people from the list would try
it.



My daughter challenged me to write this novel -- sadly I wrote about 500 words -- on the other hand my daughter did over 30,000 words. Life did get in the way, but she plans to keep writing until she hits 50,000 words. She has had so much fun doing this.
Linda

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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Elizabeth Roberts

I tried last year and got about halfway through before
it was just too much to keep up with. I think it would
work better if it was a month without a major
drop-everything sort of holiday.

Elizabeth

--- Deb Lewis <ddzimlew@...> wrote:

> ***Now wait a minute! <g> I just finished trying
> to do NaNoWriMo -
> trying to write 50,000 words in the month of
> November, just because. ***
>
> According to my mother "because" is a valid reason
> for doing a thing. <g>
>
> ***(I only got to 36934, but I tried - having house
> guests for more than
> a
> week and a half didn't help!)***
>
> Wow! I'm impressed. I wondered how many people from
> the list would try
> it.
>
> ***The motto of NaNoWriMo is "No Plot, No Problem"
> It is amazing
> what comes out when you don't know what to write!***
>
> Tease! You're a tease! What *did* you write about?
> <g>
>
> Maybe somebody should start a list for unschooling
> writers where folks
> could post their curious works. <g> I guess that's
> what we do here. ; )
>
> Deb L
>


=====
Elizabeth
Http://rainbowacademy.blogspot.com



__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
All your favorites on one personal page � Try My Yahoo!
http://my.yahoo.com

Holly Furgason

I did it for three years but decided not to this year since I have
a "real" writing project I have to get done. I was surprised to find
bits and pieces in my NaNoWriMo writings that were actually good even
though I'm not a fiction writer. I cut and pasted them into a file I
call "Snippets" and will probably use them some time in other
things. I even got an unfinished short story out of one.

I went a couple of weeks ago see the guy who started it. I can't
remember his name but just a wrote a book called No Plot? No
Problem! He did say that he was still writing everyday despite being
on tour. I think it works better in Nov. for people without kids. :-)

Holly
2 COOL 4 SCHOOL
Save $12 when you spend $50 or more!
Enter the coupon code HOLBUY6 when checking out.
This coupon expires December 8, 2004... so hurry!
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--- In [email protected], Elizabeth Roberts
<ladyeliza_r@y...> wrote:
> I tried last year and got about halfway through before
> it was just too much to keep up with. I think it would
> work better if it was a month without a major
> drop-everything sort of holiday.
>
> Elizabeth

Fetteroll

on 12/1/04 9:39 PM, Heidi Here at kleincrew@... wrote:

> I must have missed something!! What are you guys taking about , what kind of
> book writing?
> Thanks for letting me know

November is National Novel Writers Month. There's an organization called
NaNoWriMo.org that challenges everyone who has ever thought about writing to
write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days -- between Nov 1 and midnight Nov 30.

The basic idea is that we're each our biggest roadblocks to writing. We want
our writing to be great so we think about it too much and put it off or edit
too much trying to get something perfect. So the challenge is to just write
without concern for quality. It's *quantity* that counts in November, not
quality. :-)

And by not caring about quality people can produce some pretty good writing
:-) I remember reading in a book on writing that several authors basically
do write that way. Their goal is to produce 1000 words a day. And one was
quoted as saying that some days he produces what feels like great stuff and
some days he produces what feels like crap but then when he reads it later
they're both equally good.

My daughter Kathryn (13) and I participated this year. (And completed it!
Yeah! :-) Hers is done. Mine is still going. (50,000 is the minimum for a
published novel.) (I probably couldn't have done it if Kathryn wasn't too
since she was perfectly content to write for several hours a day which gave
me time to also. And also that we didn't have visitors for Thanksgiving!)

And I'd definitely not say writing for NaNoWriMo is "writing for no reason"!
It was writing for fun! :-)

===========Here's a bit of Kathryn's:
[Hers takes place in this world she's developed over many years.]

Bane's Awakening

Story premise recap thing (just so you get the idea of what's going on):

Avn Hisky is a pearly pink cat that can walk upright like a human. She lives
in an enormous gigantic company called Katzah Korp. with her friends, Spot,
Tiger, Pachiki and her little sister Star. And along with about fifty
thousand other cats. Katzah Korp. is owned by the never seen Mr. Katzah who
holds classes where the cats in his company make products. Such as comic
books and comic strips, origami ornaments for all kinds of occasions,
pottery and other things he can sell at a high price. Mostly, the cats enjoy
it in Katzah Korp. but try to get back at Mr. Katzah for various reasons.
Such as, he is an overly powerful rich moron who thinks he's better than
everyone else and likes money. But, Mr. Katzah does like one cat. His name
is Richard Richmond. He has almost as much money as Mr. Katzah does.

Chapter one: The first chapter of many (well, this isn't actually a chapter
so much as it is a devisor between the prologue and the actual story)

Avn woke up to a chilly Autumn morning. She pulled herself out of her bed
and slid into her fuzzy, warm and brown football slippers. She then went
over to her closet and pulled on a leopard patterned winter robe. Once she
was ready, Avn headed down stairs to the enormous Breakfast Hall. (Which was
also the Lunch and Dinner Hall, but anyway).

Avn stared up at the 54 different things that were on the breakfast menu.
Cats would give ideas and then usually the food ideas would go on the menu.
There was a new item on the menu called "Bob and Larry's seafood chili". For
some unknown reason, when new items were added, they were added to all of
the menus. Maybe it was to see for which meal it was usually ordered, then
the menu person (whomever that may be) would put it on that menu.

"What are you going to get?" asked Avn's best friend Spot as he walked into
the Breakfast Hall.

"Not 'Bob and Larry's seafood chili'," Avn replied.

"Same with me. But that narrows the choice of breakfast down to fifty
three," said Spot.

"Exactly. How about Pineapple Fruit Bowl?" asked Avn.

"Huh? Never heard of that one. What is it?" Spot asked in return.

"It's a pineapple cut in half lengthwise with some of the fruit scooped out
to make sort of a bowl. The fruit that was scooped out is then diced and
mixed together with grapes and other diced fruits like melons, apples and
oranges and such and then put inside the pineapple half. It's really good"
replied Avn.

"Sounds yummy! I'll try it!" Said Spot.

They ordered two Pineapple Fruit Bowls and sat down with their breakfasts at
one of the many many gray plastic tables in the Breakfast Hall.

Then, two of Avn and Spot's friends walked into the Breakfast Hall, ordered
breakfast, came over and sat down with Avn and Spot.

"Yo peeps! How ya doin'?" said the tiger striped one, whose name was Tiger.
Tiger believed that martians were going to take over the planet and suck out
everyone's souls and eat them on their toast.

"We're doing good! As long as we don't eat a bowl of Bob and Larry's seafood
chili." Said Avn.

"I hear that!" said Tiger raising his glass of ruby red grapefruit juice.

"Attention! Attention!" Boomed a loud, commanding and all too familiar voice
over the loud speaker. It was the voice of Mr. Katzah. "I have a special
delivery for anyone who can take care of and wants one! Meet me in the Main
Hall as soon as you can. I'll be there or I'll have someone stationed there
all day. That is all."

"I wonder what 'It' could be?" Avn mused.

"Probably the world's largest Jolly Rancher. Or a living ball of fluffy pink
and/or blue cotton candy! Ah, heaven..." sighed Tiger.

"Uh, yeah. But, knowing Mr. Katzah, it might just be. Who knows?" said
Pachiki sipping her Fruit Soup.

"What's in that stuff anyway? I've thought about trying it. Is it good?" Avn
asked Pachiki, pointing at her Fruit Soup.

"Fruit juices and the syrup stuff that's in the cans of fruit for the broth,
and chopped up fruit and chopped up canned fruit. It's sweet, but very
good," replied Pachiki.

"Well, once I'm done with my Ham and Cheese Scone, I'm going to go see what
'It' is! Anyone want to join me?" asked Tiger.

"Sure! I'll be done with my breakfast soon too," said Spot.

========= And a bit of my fantasy titled "Flight":

"I will rip his eyeballs out and impale them on a spit and roast them until
they burst. I will rip his nose off and season it with fire pepper and feed
it to Tagira. I will rip his lips off andŠ" dark haired Magla chanted into
the warm wind rushing into her as the massive orange tiger beneath her
bounded over ragged rocks and scrubby scrouse bushes.

Kaya rode near Magla on the back of a jewel blue dragon, its powerful wings
thrusting rider and mount just a few hand breadths above the ground. This
was going downward in more ways than one, Kaya thought and tuned out her
clanmate. Not that Kaya didn't agree with the sentiment. She just didn't
need to hear it graphically spelled out.

Tagira the tiger, carrying her small, spewing rider, leapt over the
outcropping and dropped down to the dusty rocky path that led around the
side of the mountain. Chengdo, Kaya's dragon, banked gracefully to follow
Tagira, then abruptly plummeted down the side of the mountain.

"Cheeennngggdooooo!" Kaya screamed pulling at the emerald green reins
attached to the ruby red halter. But the dragon was oblivious to external
commands for spilling out of a split in the side of the mountain was a tam
bush, laden with fat purple berries. A sinuous twist to face upward and the
dragon slammed into the rocky cliff, golden claws splayed feeling for tiny
cracks and miniscule crevices. And her dragon began to feed on the one food
dragons could never resist. Kaya clung to the neck of the dragon, settling
her bottom on the backrest of the tooled leather dragon saddle, specially
designed for this inevitable occurrence. She buried her face in the soft
blue feathery scales of the dragon's neck and prepared to wait.

"Kaaaayaaaa!" Magla called from above.

"Down here!" called Kaya. "Chengdo spotted tam berries." She didn't need to
say more. Magla's deep sigh drifted down to her. "Go on without me."

"No, I can't. This is an insult to both of us. We must confront the beast of
a monk together."

Which was true. Her fist thudded against the dragon's neck in frustration
but the dragon paid no heed to her. She could feel the muscles beneath the
scales working as the dragon stripped the berries from the bush and worked
them rhythmically into a pulp with his tongue. Chengdo's breath rumbled
deeply in his chest like the purring of a contented cat.

Kaya breathed deeply as she'd been taught, letting go of the air and the
tension and the desire to control what was uncontrollable. After 50 deep
slow breaths she felt the dragon's grip relax. Chengdo pushed himself away
from the craggy cliff. He thrust out his leathery wings catching huge scoops
of the late spring air to twist acrobatically around until the two of them
were hovering above Magla and Tagira.

A gentle nudge from Magla and Tagira twisted as gracefully as Chengdo as
though the two were adversaries in some fall athletic competition. Tagira
bounded up the mountain, catching purchase where no earthbound creature
should be able to go. Chengdo followed easily, now a complementary partner
in their powerful dance across the mountainous terrain.

The two pairs of riders and mounts reached the peak and paused to look down
at the rock carved monastery and village of the herding people. The tiger
stood proudly atop the stone perch as the dragon settled next to him.

After a few moments of deep admiration for the patch of emerald green
nestled in a rocky bowl of the mountain range, Kaya called, "Find Xan." The
tiger's ears flicked back as it caught the familiar name. Then the tiger and
dragon locked in a contest to be the first to spot the monk.

The tiger won by an eye blink and bounded down the mountain. The dragon
launched outward twisting and stretching into a banking circle high over the
curving patch of vegetation, its golden eyes locked onto the one the friends
sought. With a gathering of wings, Chengdo dropped like hawk after a rabbit.
This would be no contest for the dragon could drop through the air faster
than the tiger could bound down the cliff.

Joyce

Kelly Lenhart

--- In [email protected], "lgbryk" <lgbryk@e...>
wrote:
> Wow! I'm impressed. I wondered how many people from the list
would try
> it.


I did it. And I finidhed, too. Worked on a story idea I've had since
high school, which has gone through many forms.

I actually set this list and many others to no mail to get it done.

Kelly