Ready, Set... Write!

November celebrates its annual Nanowrimo observance, or more intelligibly, National Novel Writing Month.  Described as Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abondon, the Nov 1-30 frenzy began in July of 1999 in the San Francisco Bay Area.  A baker's dozen years later, the phenomenon has become a mainstream holiday tradition for some, along the lines of Christmas cookie baking and tree decorating.  

So just how does one go about this novel business?  Is it really possible to cobble a cohesive 50,000 word story in just 30 days?  To be sure, all writers are different.  Even so, there are a few resources readily available on the net to get you in fighting, writing shape.  Marg McAlister's The Busy Writer's One Hour Plot  is a great weapon in the war against writer's block, and can help kickstart your project and get the creative juices flowing in clear, tangible fashion.  Even the Wired site offers a 5-step how-to wiki on the subject.  

About 3 months ago I unwittingly found myself co-authoring a book.  What began as a light editing project evolved into the composition of more than 70,000 words on my part, more than 80% of the final product.  The writing itself was hastily accomplished in 19 days, with my basic editing taking just about 11 days more.  The formatting was another story.  I chose self-publishing in order to get the project published immediately and I can safely say I shed more blood, sweat and tears over the formatting than the actual writing.

Now a published and (unbelievably) paid author, would I do it all again?  To say 'yes' would be an understatement, since I am already working on the follow-up tome.  The most unexpected part of the speedy process has been the reactions of readers, more accurately, fans!  I have received countless personal messages from new devotees telling me of how my story affected and inspired them.  Frankly, if I'd known this sort of positive fallout was possible, I would've taken up noveling years ago.

We all have a story to tell, a story to share, a story we've lived.  And that goes for you too!  So what are you waiting for?  What you have to offer the literary world may be exactly what some reader out there not only wants, but needs.  

Good luck, and easy writing.

Your path

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ― Joseph Campbell 

Zhangjiajie Sandstone Peak Forest

“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.” ― Joseph Campbell

Healing balm, or in this case, bomb

 
"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." ~Robert Fulghum

A Healthy Pyramid Scheme

Isosceles triangle: the perfect shape for nearly every body type

The Food Pyramid in its initial shape, circa 1974

Now that the sugar rush of Halloween is over, the holiday competitive eating marathons are about to commence around the country.  Hopes of fitting into a little black dress come New Year's Eve may be plummeting as quickly as back accounts on Black Friday.  So what can a fellow do to ensure a swimmer's V body, or for a gal, an hourglass shape?  Why, think triangle, of course.

For twenty years, the US has been advocating nutrition via its Food Pyramid.  And here's how it all started: 

Amid high food prices in 1972, Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare developed the idea of "basic foods" that were both cheap and nutritious, and "supplemental foods" that added nutrition missing from the basic foods. Anna Britt Agnsäter, head of the test kitchen at KF, a consumer co-op that worked with the Board, held a lecture the next year on how to illustrate these food groups. Attendee Fjalar Clemes suggested a triangle displaying basic foods at the base. Agnsäter developed the idea into the first food pyramid, which was introduced to the public in 1974 in KF's Vi magazine. The pyramid was divided into basic foods at the base, including milk, cheese, margarine, bread, cereals and potatoes; a large section of supplemental vegetables and fruit; and an apex of supplemental meat, fish and eggs. The pyramid competed with the National Board's "dietary circle," which KF saw as problematic for resembling a cake divided into seven slices, and for not indicating how much of each food should be eaten. While the Board distanced itself from the pyramid, KF continued to promote it, and food pyramids were developed in other Scandinaviancountries, as well as West Germany, Japan and Sri Lanka. The United States later developed its first food pyramid in 1992. In general terms, the food guide pyramid recommends the following intake of different food groups each day, although exact amounts of calorie intake depends on sex, age, and lifestyle. 

The 1992 US pyramid

The World Health Organization, in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization, published guidelines that can effectively be represented in a food pyramid relating to objectives to prevent obesity, chronic diseases and dental caries based on meta-analysis though they represent it as a table rather than a "pyramid". The structure is similar in some respects to the USDA food pyramid, but there are clear distinctions between types of fats, and a more dramatic distinction where carbohydrates are split on the basis of free sugars versus sugars in their natural form. Some food substances are singled out due to the impact on the target issues the "pyramid" is meant to address, while in a later revision, some recommendations are omitted since they follow automatically from other recommendations while other sub-categories are added. The reports quoted here explain that where there is no stated lower limit in the table below, there is no requirement for that nutrient in the diet. [source: Wikipedia]

Even with the temptations of the holidays, the triangle can stave off the holiday overeating blahs, and make for a very happy new year.