My First Time Doing NaNoWriMo

I am terrified.

That's what NaNoWriMo does: strikes terror into my heart. 50,000 words in a month, the goal of writers everywhere for November's dubbed National Novel Writing Month, is a lot. A LOT.

I've had many different relationships with NaNoWriMo. I've made excuses. I've publicly declared disgust for such an arcane practice so I could more easily get away with not doing it. I've used school, I've used work, I've told myself and others that's it's just too much, it's not for me. (And to be honest, if I was still in school, I would never do NaNo; November is an awful month for students. But that's another discussion.)

I've done less ambitious NaNos before. I've written 30,000 words in a month, twice. I've done Camp NaNoWriMo in summer (highly recommend for students). I've written two drafts in the past two years, more than I ever have, and if I happen to finish this current draft this November, I will have written TWO books in ONE year, which I don't think I've ever done. Ever.

I should be ready for this! Why am I not ready for this?

Maybe it's because I look at the month of November, think, 1,677 words a day.... I can't do this. What if I can't do this? I'm already behind! I'm not one of those writers that can write ten thousand words in one sitting! Sometimes I can't even get out five hundred! 

I can't do this.

But then I yell back at that doubting, panicking voice: it doesn't matter. I'm going to try. Self-doubt has plagued me before and has made me not want to write for years. I have a story I like, characters I like, and a great couple of critique partners currently to back me up. And, hopefully, I have you! If I've learned anything the last few years about the solitary activity of writing, is that it SHOULDN'T be solitary. It should be done in community with other like-minded, passionate individuals, interested in creating stories; with people who understand the ups and downs of this type of creative work. If you want to add me as a writing buddy, I'm asherlockwrites, or tweet me and we'll do sprints together or something!
 
Let's do this thing.

(also if you have any experience with NaNo whatsoever, please give me advice or tips, anything, thank you!!)

Review: Whenever You're Ready by Shawn DeSouza-Coelho

I am not a huge theatre nerd. In school I loved watching the musicals that my friends were in, but I never had any desire to get more involved than that one time I volunteered to do stage crew work. Then during the first show I forgot to move a prop off so the cast could do their dance properly, and that was it for my stage career.

However, Whenever You're Ready made me want to immediately move to Stratford, buy a lifetime membership to the Stratford Festival, and start working towards my new career in the theatre.

Whenever You're Ready is a biography of stage manager Nora Polley, who worked for 52 years at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. It's hailed as one of the only stage manager biographies around, and I'm sure people who know way more about Canadian theatre than me would devour it. But I enjoyed it immensely and I hadn't even heard of most of the people mentioned in this book (which I sorely regret now; they all sound like fascinating people).

Whenever You're Ready is a unique biography, in that it's actually written in first person, as if Nora Polley herself wrote it even though the authorship credit is given to Shawn DeSouza-Coelho. If you believe the afterword that everything is true to Nora Polley's experiences, it has the effect of a beautiful, immersive dive into Nora Polley's life, character, and career.

And what a career. Whenever You're Ready covers her first foray into the festival, to what she gets up to after her retirement with an amazing collection of fascinating theatre stories and the trials and tribulations of stage management in between.

While Whenever You're Ready is the biography of a stage manager, and it does contain many stage management anecdotes and things Nora learned along the way, it also profiles many other theatre people; actors, artistic directors, and other people involved in the theatre scene. Nora Polley's character shows through in the way she describes the people she worked with; her admiration for them and their work shines, and makes you wish you knew these people as she did. But you do get a glimpse of these incredibly unique, creative people as you read about her own career. In her first person biography, Nora Polley shines through as someone humble and hardworking, but also someone imperfect, human, and often unsure of her next step.

In any case, Whenever You're Ready paints a fascinating picture of an era in Canadian theatre, one filled with entertaining anecdotes, fascinating people, and one rock of a stage manager there to witness and work through it all. I think anyone who enjoys interesting life stories and has even just a passing interest in theatre should pick this up.

Whenever You're Ready on ECW Press
Whenever You're Ready on Amazon.com
Whenever You're Ready on Amazon.ca
Whenever You're Ready on Goodreads