The Office of Letters and Light Blog

Your Friendly Neighborhood Script Frenzy-Hero

Hillary, Script Frenzy ML for New Jersey here. OLL asked me to stop by and talk a little about why my area is so much cooler than… er… I mean, to talk about some of the things we’ve been doing here in the Garden State to keep the Screnzy magic alive throughout the whole month.

Script Frenzy is such a newer event than NaNoWriMo, and many areas (mine included), are really spread out, making it harder for MLs and participants both to feel like they have that same connection with their region, even if local events are less, well, local. I thought I’d share a few things we’ve been doing here in NJ to make our spread out community feel a little more closely knit.

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Perfecting My Writing Workspace

Last night after finishing all of my readings for school I decided to put off writing my script (AGAIN!!) by meticulously cleaning and organizing my bedroom. I live in a very old and extremely strange Berkeley apartment that’s pretty much two bedrooms and a bathroom connected by a narrow hallway with an oven, sink, and refrigerator crammed into it. It is in no way the nicest place I’ve ever lived but as my roommate says, “It’s a one star apartment that we love.” But since we can’t really hang out in our hallway, I end up spending a lot of time in my room so it’s very important to me that it’s clean and comfortable enough for me to eat, sleep, study, and hang out with friends in. But with Script Frenzy upon us, I’m trying to take it a step further by converting my modest bedroom into a chamber of creativity.

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The Great Outdoors

In a nice moment of synchronicity, I’m starting to work full time for OLL just as Camp NaNoWriMo begins. Since I anticipate finding my new job quite time-consuming, I’m not planning on writing a novel in July (we’ll see what happens in August), but it works out well for me nonetheless.

You see, this job means I’m working from home full-time. This has many advantages (proximity to refrigerator, world’s shortest commute, ability to nap on my lunch break), but also a few disadvantages. For one thing, my husband is a teacher, and he’s going to be home all summer, swanning around drinking lemonade and taunting me with his lack of to-do list.

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Nice to Meet You!

Hello, Wrimos!

It’s exciting to post on a blog I have followed for so long! My name is Max and I’m a new intern at the Office of Letters and Light. For those of you imagining at home, let me assure you that the Office is more magical than whatever you are picturing.

This summer promises to be action-packed for me, although here the definition of “action” comes into question. I’ll be taking summer classes at San Francisco State University, interning and blogging up a storm here, and writing several new projects at home and on public transit. This means that most of the “action” will be chair-bound, but I’m comfortable with that. Sometimes I like to work out to get re-energized. For instance, sometimes I will jog to the fridge, or touch my toes while waiting in line for more biscotti.

Now that I’m starting to settle into my summer’s distinct rhythm, the word counts are coming! I’m currently juggling a couple projects, and waiting for some to prove worthless so I’ll know what to focus on. The contenders include, but are not limited to: a cyber-noir for the stage; a sparse/period samurai film; a lo-fi musical about drug-addled backpackers in East Asia; and a murder-mystery set in the Amazon, with anthropologists as detectives. Wrimos, if three of these sound like drivel to you, and one sounds like gold, this is the time to let me know in the comments!

Alternatively, you may simply choose to steal the idea and write your own. Just be sure to save me a seat at the premiere, or send me an autographed hardcover.

More soon!

– Max

Greetings from the Newbie

Hi, OLL community! My name is Jenelle and I’ll be interning here for the summer, which is awesome because I get to work alongside the amazing staff and help gear up for NaNoWriMo.

A little bit about me… I moved here from Massachusetts last August to start my MFA in Creative Writing at Mills College. My specific genre is poetry, but I love learning about every genre. I’ve had a great first year reading reading lots and lots of books and getting back into a writing routine, which I’m horrible at keeping on my own. (Can anyone relate?)

Before moving to CA, I taught middle school language arts for three years. I also designed and taught a creative writing course one year, and visited schools as a guest teacher in the greater Boston area to spread a love for poetry and creative writing. My favorite lessons use visual art to inspire story. In fact, when I’m in the dungeons of writer’s block it is my go-to activity. I rummage through my folder of collected images and pick one to describe, create a story from, or play with what the objects or people in the image might have to say. Do you have any paintings, sculptures, photographs, etc. that have inspired a story for you?

I’m super-excited to be here at the Office of Letters and Light for the summer and am hoping to learn more about writing, editing, and how community writing initiatives can be used to benefit people everywhere—especially students!

Right now I’m working on my thesis, which will be a collection of poetry, but I’m experimenting with craft components of fiction in my work. I’m also gathering ideas for November, when I hope to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time!

– Jenelle

What would your writing hut look like?

I’ve been obsessed with tiny houses for a while. They just seem so tidy and stylish—like a perfect solution to the sprawl of everyday life. Someday, I fantasize, I’ll just buy a beautiful plot of land in the middle of nowhere, roam all day, and sleep comfortably in my little space.

More realistically, though, I’d just like to have a small structure to work in. For inspiration, I’ve been looking at this post from Re-Nest—a gallery of writing huts used by Roald Dahl (pictured above), Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and others. Currently, my home workspace is an unused walk-in closet that is way too close to the television and way too connected to the internet. It would be so awesome to walk out the door and into a cozy, spartan set-up… and not leave until I was done with my writing for the day.

Laurie Halse Anderson recently designed and built her own writing hut. If you could do the same, what would yours look like? What would you need to have inside? And what would you definitely want to keep out?

Write or Die: An Experiment!

A lot of of the awe-inspiring Wrimos out there have been doing so well at keeping up with daily word counts that I decided to ask around and find some tips and tools for keeping up. One of the big ones people recommended was Dr. Wicked’s ‘Write or Die’ program. With a name like that I just had to go check it out for myself.

As it turns out, the program is all kinds of wonderful and is especially great for Wrimos. It even mentions writers like us in its description of who the program is right for:

This is aimed at anyone who wants to get writing done. It requires only that you recognize your own tendency towards self-sabotage and be willing to do something about it. If you’re sick of saccharine writing advice that no one could honestly follow and you want a real method to getting work done.

• Works great for real deadlines too!

• Excellent for getting your 1667 words a day for NaNoWriMo

• Good for writing on lunch breaks, just enter 30 minutes in the time limit box

After you select your word count goal and your time limit, you choose the consequence mode and the grace period, click ‘Write!’ and a no-frills, no-distractions text box appears. The word count is displayed in the bottom right-hand corner, and the time remaining is displayed in the bottom left. As time ticks away, you’re constantly aware of how well you are doing.

I don’t know about you, but I consider it a personal break (read as: procrastination) whenever I go to the little word count button in my word processor, and this system takes out that step. There are also some great Writing Wars you can join up with, community resources, and Dr. Wicked’s blog entries - they’re a great read while you’re taking a breather between challenges.

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Where We Write: On the Bus

Writers on wheels! Image by Flickr user ACTransit.org

I’ve already mentioned exactly how many things I’m juggling this month in addition to novel-writing. As a result, I spend a lot of time in transit between my house and school, the Office, or my paying job. Since I’m a student, I get an incredible discount on the local bus service, which I use to get almost everywhere.

During most of the year, the time I spend on buses is dead time. It’s the time before my day begins (or after it finally ends) to look out the window with glazed eyes. Sometimes I’ll listen to music or attempt to read a book, but most of the time I do absolutely nothing.

The other day as I was on the bus to the Office, worrying about how my senior honors thesis was taking words away from my novel, and despairing at my ability to survive the month without having to hook myself up to a drip IV of caffeine, I realized that the real solution is to put my dead time to use. So I unzipped my backpack, pulled out my laptop, and started writing. The result? Ten minutes on the bus yielded over 300 words! That might not seem like much, but when you add up the number of ten-minute bus journeys I take on a weekly basis, the number becomes much more significant. I’ve decided to make bus writing a habit this November, and I’m looking forward to enjoying the word count that results.

But I shouldn’t be the only one to benefit from this amazing realization. Think through your own busy schedules—I’m sure you have some “dead time” that you can fill with noveling!

– Candace