National Novel Writing Month: One Author’s Journal, Day 1

by Karen Harrington

Nov 1, 2007

First day of NaNoWriMo. I started writing at 9:30 a.m. after dropping my girls off at school. Thankfully, they go to school two days a week and this is prized writing/laundry folding time.

I put on a music selection of Enya.

I wrote until 10:30 a.m. I checked the word count two times, I admit it. The first time, I had accumulated 769 words. Not too bad for the first sprint.

Then, I got up to vacuum. Vacuuming is one of this writer’s best-kept secrets because it stretches the whole body and is a great interruption from the writer’s posture. (Please don’t tell my husband.)

Then, back to the computer. While vacuuming I came up with another new idea and went back to the computer, abandoning the vacuum in the entryway.

I wrote another half-hour and found I had amassed 2,177 words. Of course, the first entry into any writing project is the most fun. I actually like starting something new over the tireless editing of a work I am no longer objective about. So don’t pat me on the back too much for that effort. I was fueled by caffeine-laden, Halloween candy enthusiasm and all the story ideas I had made notes on the night before.

Here’s how it begins:

Come with me now. Don’t be afraid. Take my hand. I want to tell you a story. Yes, it will have some scary parts. And, there may be a time or two when you need to run off to mother and fetch a tissue. But there are going to be many, many happy moments as well. There are going to be times when you want me to retell a section of the story so you can commit it to memory. So come on in. Sit down on one of the many colorful cushions with all the other children and I will tell you the wonderful story of the Delano children and how the youngest, Claire, finally got her teddy bear. If you like teddy bears as much as she does, you will understand why this story needs to be told. Because in the end, you will see that no one has the right to take away someone’s teddy bear. Ever.

To begin with the Delano family of 1600 Bellvue Drive in Caketop, Texas, live a very quiet and peaceful life.

So far, my story, No Teddy Bears, follows the Delano family of Caketop, Texas, as the four siblings are forced into foster care after the untimely death of both of their parents. The first 2000 words have thus far dealt with describing the Delano’s home and inhabitants. I chose a young adult theme and approach because:

1/ I have never written in this genre before. And I must say, trick-or-treating with my tots for the first time last night was great inspiration for wanting to recreate the delight in a child’s face about something as small as lolli-pop.

2/ I knew I could be inventive about descriptions and names. For example, I have given all four of the children three names. Graham Greene Grape Delano; Prosperity Plath Peaches Delano; Frank Faulkner Fudge Delano; and, Claire Chaucer Cupcake Delano.

Yes, this is in part to beef up the word count. But also because I think this whimsy fits the story, don’t you?

Until next time, Write on!

Karen Harrington is a Texas native who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. Her writing has received honors from the Hemingway Short Story Festival, the Texas Film Institute Screenplay Contest and the Writers’ Digest National Script Contest. A graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, she has worked as a speechwriter and editor for major corporations and non-profit organizations.

She authored and published There’s a Dog in the Doorway, a children’s book created expressly for the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation’s “My Stuff Bags.” My Stuff bags go to children in need who must leave their home due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.

Her first novel, JANEOLOGY, will be released in Spring 2008 from Kunati Books (www.kunati.com).

She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband and two children.

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