[Note: In honor of the upcoming NaNoWriMo event, rather than our regular weekend poem feature, we offer this ode to inspire Storyacious readers and writers. Regular weekend poems will resume next week.]
It’s that time of year again. National Novel Writing Month. When budding, ambitious writers everywhere commit to getting 50,000 words down in 30 days. There are author pep talks, Twitter chats, in-person meetups, write-ins that go past midnight, They also manage to raise some decent sums of fund money to allow the NaNoWriMo Staff to come up with even more ideas and treats to trick new unsuspecting innocents into trying out a novel in a month the next time.
For all that, this will be my first year of participating. And, while I will not have the time to go to all the meetups, participate in raffles, Twitter chats, online forums, etc., I will be writing my 1667 words/day to keep up. Want to join? Go on. Live dangerously. If nothing else, it will get you into the habit of daily writing with a large group of people all over the world.
Ode to NaNoWriMo
In the month of National Novel Writing
I, beholding the summer dead before me,
Set my fingers to keyboard and tapped silent,
Gazing eagerly where, on my screen,
Lit as bright as a thousand candles,
Black letters crawled along like busy ants.
When I heard, as it were, a noise of voices
Gathering steadfast across social media:
Multitudinous, from all over #NaNoVerse.
Knew the fluttering nerves, the shy ambitions,
Shaken fitfully, full of fear and joy.
And saw, created by many #NaNoCoaches,
Author pep talks to inspire and inform,
With bold strokes of genius and practicality.
And, buoyed by #NaNoWrimos I knew not,
#NaNoWriMos in the north and every quarter,
#NaNoWriMos bringing unseasonal sunshine;
Hearing between them a voice of exultation:
“Lo, we rise together, wielding our words,
Even like as the un-countable stars in the sky.
We have worked hard on our #NaNoPrep and
Practiced our #NaNoWordSprints all year long.
All the write-ins and writeathons are scheduled,
All #NaNo Buddies have now been messaged.
Like a collective phoenix rising from the ashes,
Now, with light of the winter days, with moonlight,
Light of snow, and the bitter light of hoarfrost,
We rise together in a single writerly cause,
Which transcends language and cultures,
Unites us all in a single-minded obsession,
Growing vast and wide under the autumn sky,
To write like a crazy, possessed people
In public venues all over #NaNoVerse.
And, when we have raced breathless
To our finish of 50,000 words or thereabouts,
There will be mad, bad, dangerous celebrations.
Watch out, World. Our words march to conquer.”
– With apologies to Algernon Charles Swinburne and his lovely Hendecasyllabics