Writing in Gnomilieu

Hello, Wrimos! I’m Dawn from the Dayton region and my official NaNoWriMo tag is dmpaul. I also participate in Ohio: Elsewhere and will be hosting a Greene county write-in this year.


I first heard about NaNoWriMo several years ago at a writers’ group in California, but I never thought I would be capable of completing 50,000 words in one month. I let NaNoWriMo drop from my brain - until last year, when my writing buddy, who lives far far away, brought NaNo up in one of our many writerly conversations. I didn’t engage with the idea at first, but as it rolled around in my brain, the idea began to grow until I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

I buckled down, looked myself in the mirror and asked, “What are you afraid of?”  It was a worthy question. It really made me think, and I realized there was nothing to fear. I mean, what would happen if I failed? Nothing. I would be no better and no worse off than where I was in that moment, if I failed. But what if I succeeded? Well… The world.

 So, in 2015, I won. I completed 52,406 words in my “novel.” I have now divided that manuscript into a series of four middle grade fantasy books that I am currently editing and illustrating. In that series, a young gnomeling must complete a mission to become a human guardian – the ultimate gnome job. For NaNoWriMo 2016, I am writing the next series with my main character, Christian Tompta. I am temporarily calling it CT & Zach.

I really love the people you meet through NaNoWriMo. A fun atmosphere has been created by the openness of the writing parameters. Wrimos use words like sprints, word wars, pantster, planner and plantser – which is my writing style label. I learned last year that I need to have a roadmap of where I'm going, but I love the open creativity of no boundaries on how I get there. The fact that it’s an organization helping literacy is pretty cool too. I will also add that this has been the most successful way to “get my butt in the chair” to write consistently and regularly. NaNoWriMo is so many good things that it truly inspires me!

Hope you’re writing fervently!

Dawn

Follow my blog at: https://dmpaul.com/
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