Writing has always been a passion of mine - rivaled only by theatre. I've been writing since grade school, and graduated college with a creative writing minor. But I found that after college without regular classes or workshops or deadlines my writing habits declined, and my word output dwindled to, well, zero. What I needed was a kick start to keep my pen in hand.

That kick start came four years ago, when a friend introduced me to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) What on earth is that you ask? Well, it's a non profit organization that challenges writers of all skill levels and genera to simply write. It can be as competitive (or not) as you like, with the end goal putting 50,000 words - roughly 1,667 a day - into your word processor or on paper. 50,000 words is the average length of a novel. With persistence, a little luck and a bit of skill, by December 1st you'll have the first draft of your very own novel. (It's worth noting for theatre folk, the same group also have a script writing challenge in the spring - 100 pages of script during the month of April, called Script Frenzy.)

This November, I'm embarking on my 4th year of NaNoWriMo.

Now, for the record, I've had mixed success with my November writing abandon... the first year I didn't come near to finishing. The 2nd year on the other hand, I wrote what is a pretty decent, near to complete novel - and although needs a good editing is something I'm pretty proud of. Year 3 started with a good premise but went nowhere... mostly because my topic needed a lot of research I simply didn't have time to do in a month as well as get the words on paper.

What makes year 4 so different (and why I'm putting it in my blog) is that I have broken one of my own cardinal writing rules... namely, my subject is theatre.

I remember very clearly standing in the middle of sound experience. In undergrad, I was a teaching assistant for an into to sound class. I knew more than everyone in the class, but not nearly as much as the instructor, and in that spot, I became key into "decoding" the information presented - because the information wasn't yet second to breathing to me - I could remember what it was like to not know. But I also was keenly aware that I couldn't be in that position forever - and found myself all the more challenged every year after that I assisted or taught my own class - stretching to communicate information, skills, and terminology effectively without treating my students like they were stupid.

Somewhere in the midst of that, I decided that writing about theatre - well - writing FICTION about theatre, would be like a brain surgeon writing fiction about an operating room. In other words, if I write fiction that involves my profession, I'm going to include lots of jargon peppered with techie speak without noticing - which would make what I wrote hardly intelligible much less interesting to anyone who hadn't at least taken drama at some point in their lives.

This year, I broke that rule, based on a suggestion from one friend, and a reminder from another. The first was simply a material idea to get through November - in that I've seen and lived through a lot of theatre, and there are certainly tons of events I can write about. By itself, not necessarily the best motivation. But the second reminder, was from a fellow writer. "Write what you know." Part of why my Year 3 work failed because I attempted to write about something I knew about, but didn't know. But I DO know theatre, and I absolutely believe that on some level, you do have to write what you know.

So the dye was cast, and my own cardinal rule broken.

Now I'm 5 days in, and finding myself exactly where I expected - trying to find ways to describe details that to me are as familiar as a car steering wheel or a porch step, but for the average person are as foreign as a moon rock or New Jersey.

As this is a first draft, it doesn't have to be perfect, but I'm finding much to my surprise that I'm enjoying the challenge of description without over simplicity, of detail without excess technical jargon. After all, in a community setting, how often do I have to look for words to describe in layman's terms what I and my fellow theatre artists do?

I have no idea if at the end of the month I'll like what I have, or, if I'll even make my word cound as there's a little show called Christmas Carol waiting for me in the next few weeks. Perhaps - if nothing else this is the ultimate exercise in reminding myself what it was like to BE a theatre layman.

Until next time cats and kittens!

Cheers!

~R

P.S. It's election day... voting is a RIGHT not a privilege. VOTE!