Hey everyone!
So this is the (almost) yearly reboot of The Hurley Edition. I can only say that I will do my best to not let this go dormant. I’ve got the usual excuses….health, health, and procrastination. However, I do have some interesting news to tell you about. I have made a visual change to the site, which is kickin the black a bit. Put in a new graphic at the header, and a few other things under the hood.
Other news I have, is that I have finally decided to take the plunge and participate in NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is an annual event that takes place online and it is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during the month of November. There is a website (www.nanowrimo.org) and it is a charitable organization. I donate to them because they contribute to reading and writing programs all over the world. I can’t use as a tax deduction, because it only applies if you live in the USA. However, it doesn’t matter to me, it’s the actions behind the organization that count in my book. Get it? My book! Anyhoo – I am entering this year’s challenge with a Novel that I have tentatively titled “Ned Webster”. Of course, that is only a working title as everything is totally first draft in this competition. If you keep checking back here at the site, you will be able to follow my progress as I struggle through this huge undertaking. There is a little widget to the right in the sidebar that will be tracking how many words I write per day, every day during the whole month. So watch as it shows my glaring low word count as I peck away at the keyboard. I hope I can count on you for some encouragement as the month goes on. It’s actually a pretty big deal to write 50,000 word in just 30 days so anything at all will be hugely helpful, especially in the middle part of the month. So help a buddy out…..that would be me. As I already consider myself a writer, I am trying very hard to legitimize myself to the world to say “I am a writer!” Somehow, us writers don’t feel like we’re really writers until we get published, which is a load of crap when you think about it. I mean, the definition of a writer is someone who writes, so that should make me a writer already. But any and all steps that I can take to get me that one step further, I’ll take if it means some sort of recognition as a writer.
But believe me when I say it isn’t the recognition that will be the most satisfying or the most legitimizing, no. It will be the knowledge that I managed to overcome a huge challenge on my own in the glaring light of public scrutiny. That will mean more to me than anything else. As most of you know, I am disabled. I’m not able to run marathons or climb mountains, but this is something that i CAN do. This is MY marathon! So I mean it when I say every little comment of support counts. For anyone who has run a marathon, I’m sure you can agree, some cheering no matter how small can be the biggest boost to getting through the marathon. For it’s won in your head as much as it is in your feet, or your fingers in my case.
So cheer me on and visit the site. They are a great organization! Here’s to my first attempt and hopefully win at writing 50,000 words in a month! GO NANOWRIMO!
The Hurley Edition 