Fairbanks Writers - National Novel Writing Month

22 October 2012
7:59 PM

Sunrise at	9:08 AM	in direction	116°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:01 PM	in direction	244°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 8 hours, 53 minutes (6 minutes, 43 seconds shorter than yesterday)

I would love to see a compilation of statistics about Alaskans.  Personally, I would expect there to be quite a few "per capitas" in the mix.  Some of those statistics would not be so great - per capita more suicides than any other state, per capita more alcoholics, per capita more incidents of multiple sclerosis, per capita more deaths due to trespassing!

I did some checking and I am not surprised to report that "per capita income is over $40,000 per year ranking it 15th in the nation.  And it's GDP is ranked at number 1 due to oil and gas production in the state.  But then I would also expect some really fun facts about Alaskans - per capita more writers, per capita more artisits, per capita more dogs per family, per capital more musicians.  And from writing in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) program along with other Alaskans, I know that our collective output of words has struck me as high for such a small population.

I have written two novels and completed the minimum word count.  I wrote a novel about an Alaskan mother of grown children who is looking for new experiences now that she is no longer needed to keep her family together emotionally and financially.  I tried to convey what it was like to live in Fairbanks, but I am fairly sure I fell short.  Through many, many revisions, it became more a novel of a person in transition who happened to live in Fairbanks.

My second novel was science fiction.  The words just flew out of me, but I have not even revised it or read it since.  It wasn't that I didn't like the novel.  I think it actually has promise, but along with the promise is truly, truly hard work to make it gel.  Writing soft or hard science fiction still requires creating story lines and events that are believable within the context of the world created.  I did not have time to go back and tighten it up, so it sits waiting.

I read somewhere, I think maybe in a novel by an Fairbanksian, that people in Fairbanks love to join things and be involved in lots of activities.  Well, when it is dark and bitterly cold, a person does need focus, right?  So, I know that I certainly have my plate as full as I can handle it - agility twice a week, conformation dog shows, blogging nearly daily, working full time, exercising regularly, and now I am thinking I will try to write another novel this November.  That is probably crazy.  How can I possibly blog, NaNoWriMo, work agility classes and home training, and the dog show in early November - not to mention Thanksgiving!

But I went to the planning meeting at the College Coffee House anyway.  I think I was seeking motivation and also, why not see what the other NaNoWriMo aficionados are like here in Fairbanks? They met my expectations - nice, decent people who enjoy one another as much as they enjoy writing.  It is a social event as well as a way to gain more writing skills and motivations.

So, shamelessly, some of my blog may become snippets of novel writing through November.  Because one of the ways I cope with the impending darkness and cold is to focus on activities that give me pleasure.  Writing is definitely one of those activities.