The Music Teacher

One of the reasons I decided to write a NaNoWriMo novel this year is because I received a review copy of a small novel about a "failed" violinist (she didn't become a classical star) who teaches at a more-folky-than-classical music store in California. Having worked at a small violin shop myself, it sounded appealing, and the promise that one of her students was going to change her life was intriguing. I figured if someone else could write a music-related novel about a music shop (or musical ensemble), so could I.

It started out good, but as I continued to read, I felt more and more that The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall actually was her NaNoWriMo novel and needed a bit of editing and rethinking. From the interesting perspective of a music teacher's relationship with her talented, but needy, student, the novel drifts off into the more mundane world of "which of the shop's eligible men will the protagonist sleep with?"

But, before it got to that point, I was heartened to see that someone would dare to set a novel in a small violin shop, a world I understand--except there were no affairs going on in our shop--that I knew of , at least!

It's a pleasant little book, at best, but not earth-shattering. The musical tale seems to get lost in the relationships tale, but perhaps that is real life. There is some discussion of the playing of the violin, and though the author is a guitar-player, not a violinist, it sounds good.

The publication date on this book is February 10, 2009.

NaNoWriMo, Again

I have officially signed up to write a novel (50,000 words) this month as part of National Novel Writing Month. I did this last year by writing 2,000 words a day, every day, and, when I finished 50,000 words on November 25, I stopped writing, even though the novel was not finished and still needed plenty of work. Still, it was satisfying and, I think, improved my ability to write something.

I started off this year, on November 1, by writing 2,000 words. Now, on November 6, I have about 4,400 words. I am way behind, but there is still plenty of time to catch up, especially after my mid-month concert. Last year I had a very clear idea of my plot; this year it is less clear and my concept may not even be novel-worthy, but it is of interest to me. It is about clutter, things, stuff in the lives of various people with tangential relationships. It is based on a real event, as was my earlier attempt. It is fun to explore, but I do need to have more of a plot than I do at the moment.

I bought a bunch of "how to write a novel" books last year, but had no time to read them, as I was busy writing. This year, I am reading one of the books, on plot development. NaNoWriMo's book on writing is called "No Plot, No Problem," which is another approach to writing, but one that may leave the writer and the reader less satisfied.

Oh well, I will deal with this later, as it is time for cello lesson, one of my favorite parts of the week.

Maybe a novel, maybe not

I participated in National Novel Writing Month last year, and actually wrote a 50,000 page novel, some words of which are memorable. But, honestly, I haven't even looked at it since I finished it last year. This was partly because, almost immediately after writing it, I applied for a job as a editor/writer with the local paper, and have since been up to my ears in writing, not only for the paper, but for another blog.

Do I have time to write a novel this year? Probably not. But I visited the nanowrimo site, just to see what was happening, and I seem to have accidentally signed up.

The first web badge simply calls attention to the event, the second one indicates I am a participant. I shall ponder, over the next two weeks, which one to keep.

Last year I also participated in the blog-every-day-for-the-month-of-November event, NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I am pondering that one too. It was a lot of fun last year, and I met a lot of great bloggers. But this is also a huge time commitment, especially when you do both at the same time. There is a NaBloPoMo every month now, actually, but November still seems to be the official month.

Neither one of these endeavors really promotes quality in writing or blog posting, but sometimes quantity is better than nothing. And nothing promotes writing like a deadline.

I shall ponder for a little while longer.

Forty Cellists

Of the 42,000 writers who have thus far signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMO) and filled in a personal profile, 40 people list cello playing as one of their non-noveling interests. Some of them also blog, but I haven't gone through the list yet to see if any of them are bloggers who blog about the cello. Of the few profiles I have looked at, many are teenagers. Wish I had started my novel-writing and cello-playing when I was a teen!

There are only 13 people listing fiddle or fiddling as an interest. 98 people list flute, and there are 150 violinists. 721 people paint, and 1,920 people draw.

Last year there were 79,000 nano participants so I am guessing a lot of people will be signing up this week, including, probably, another 40 cellists. Cool.

Looking at my blog, you'd think all I did this week was celery-related, but it was in fact a very music-filled week: two cello lessons, an early music rehearsal, two church concert rehearsals, a fiddle session, and, tonight, a fiddle performance. Tomorrow is the first gathering of a new group of women fiddlers, so I am going to have to go to that too.

Meanwhile, I have yet another project to finish up, so will get back to work for now.

NaNoWriMo

I have never written an entire short story, but I have decided to write a novel in November. I am participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year. Participants are expected to write a novel (50,000 words) in a month (1,666 2/3 words per day, according to the NaNoWriMo web site). It doesn't have to be great literature, and no one will actually read it unless you want them to. The idea is to just encourage people to write, to dispel that starting-at-a-blank-computer-screen writer's block, and get going. Your efforts may be sheer drivel, but out of that drivel, the organizers say, will come some good things, maybe even some good writing. You're not supposed to edit as you go, just write, ignoring your inner critic, and (finally) produce that novel you've always wanted to write, or at least a portion of it. (You edit in December or January.) The social support and pressure of thousands of people around the world doing this at the same time is supposed to encourage and sustain you. There are online and local support groups, tips and suggestions, and a guidebook, No Plot, No Problem! A plot is helpful though.

NaNoWriMo began in 1999 with 21 participants. Last year there were 79,000, with 13,000 finishing 50,000 words by the end of the month.

You're supposed to tell everyone you know that you are participating. According to NaNoWriMo:

Tell everyone you know that you're writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who've had to hear about your novel for the past month. Seriously. Email them now about your awesome new book. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

So, I'm telling you about my novel. It will (probably, maybe, possibly) be about a woman in her 50s or 60s, who reinvents herself several times (not necessarily successfully) as she ages and about the other people, mostly women, who influence her. A friend referred to this, in a kindly way, as a "menopause novel," and it probably is. My concept is, of course, somewhat autobiographical, drawing on my life, my mother's life, several relatives and friends, people like Elizabeth Layton, and a dreadful woman who entered my life 10 or 11 years ago, just about a year before she died, suddenly, of ovarian cancer. We collided, and I kind of ricocheted off her in an ultimately positive way. There will be cellos in my novel, of course, and chamber music groups, artists, and someone who owns a restaurant. It will probably take place on Cape Cod because I like Cape Cod-based fiction and so that, should I ever finish it, there will be a spot for it on local bookstore shelves. I'll probably write in first person, perhaps from several different characters' points of view. It won't be a memoir; it will be fiction, just loosely based on my experiences, so that I can veer off and climb Mount Everest or actually master the cello in my novel, if I choose to.

Write what you know, they say. Or, better, write the novel you want to read. My novel could easily change change direction completely, of course. Fictional characters do have a way of going off in their own directions.

I do not intend to blog the novel as I write; I am quite sure it will need significant editing before it sees the light of day. I don't really expect to reach 150,000 words either. Even though I tend toward long, verbose posts, 1,666 and 2/3 words every day are a lot of words, and I am already a little overextended. But this is something I have always wanted to do. I do spend a bit of time on the Internet; perhaps I can convert that time into a novel-like substance.

As required, I will not begin writing the novel in advance of the November 1 start date, but I have, as recommended, started jotting down some notes and trying to figure out a plot and define some characters.

Mostly, though, I am reading other people's novels for inspiration. I just finished George Hagen's The Laments and starting Andromeda Romano-Lax's (what a name!) novel inspired by Casals: The Spanish Bow. One of these days I would like to write a novel based on an historical figure in music. I loved Marrying Mozart, for instance. But I don't think NaNoWriMo is the time for that. An historical novel requires at least a little time for research.

Oh, and I also signed up for NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. All you have to do is post to your blog every day in November. This one I'm sure I can do. I don't think there are any length or content rules. I have looked at the blogs of random participants, and they seem to be bloggers serious about their content, not people who would post "I blogged today!" and call it a post. There are various self-identified subgroupings of bloggers. I joined the one for people doing both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, though I don't think anyone in this group will have much time for posting there. There is another group dedicated to commenting on other participant's blogs. There is a music group, but it seems to be for those who like to embed or link to music clips, rather than create it.

This particular post is over 900 words. Maybe it won't be impossible to write 1,666 and 2/3 words a day--at least once or twice.

More Flowers and writing

More "Flowers of Edinburgh" tonight at fiddle session. We had a guest cellist from Manchester, England who happened to be in the string shop as we were setting up. She was not familiar with fiddle music, but was happy to have an opportunity to play cello. She was a very good cellist, and somewhat perplexed that we would play a tune more than once. We play them at least three times each because that is how we learn and remember them (I gave her sheet music, but we don't generally use it).

After a while, though, she said, "do you have any classical music?"

Ah, a fine opportunity to play "My Love's Bonnie ...." (Flowers of Edinburgh) which sounds like chamber music, yet can still be considered fiddle music. The sheet music has two cello parts, one melody and one accompaniment, so we played cello duets, with violins.

I've been enjoying the writing class this week, even though I do not have time to write much this week. I finally got my little story plotted out; then the exercise for the day was (1) change your main character; (2) change your setting. Oh, no, I can't, I thought. But I did, and I think the story is potentially much better now. Tomorrow is the last class. I may need an ongoing class to actually finish this story. I am impressed by the writings of my classmates. Most of them have been writing fiction for some time, and their story fragments sound good.

Yesterday, I attended most of a talk by Claire Cook, author of Must Like Dogs. Her main message was "write the book that only you can write." (write what you know). But she was funny and had lots of good information on how to get published (there are no rules), so I bought her new book, Life's a Beach. I've only read the first chapter, but it's funny, too. A good beach book.

Writing Camp!

View to the side, from the classroom. To the left (not shown) is the ocean.

I am taking a couple of classes at a week-long writer's conference this week. One class meets every day: Writing Fiction from Family Stories; the second one meets only Wednesday afternoon and is about inspiration for writing. There are also talks in the evening that I may attend, if I can find the time. I do get to go home every night and sleep in my own bed. And attend to my job during the rest of the day.

There are assignments. Today we had to come up with an idea. My first thought was to write something about my mother, who died in February. I was having trouble fictionalizing her life though. I talked to the teacher after class who suggested that maybe it was too early to write fiction based on my mother's life. Maybe a nonfiction memoir would be the way to start. She said she had similar feelings when she tried to write about her mother. That was a very helpful discussion.

I'd like to write about someone who plays the cello. Or about someone who lives in a nursing home/assisted living center. Or someone who lives in a nursing home and plays the cello. Someone who is a real person, not a caricature of an elderly person. Someone who has their wits about them (as my mother did). But I am thinking that it might be best to start with a character who is somewhat removed from me (and my mother). We'll see.

I don't write much fiction (just memoir and blog entries that sometimes want to leap in the direction of fiction), which is the reason I am taking the class.

Tips for Writing

I saw this at the dentist's office today (from ceilingnews.com):

Two important principles for good creative writing:

1. Keep your audience in an anticipatory mood.

2.