Tom is always saying how when he listens to an audio book or watches a movie or whatever, he unconsciously takes on the mannerisms of whatever he'd been listening to. I think it's something everyone does to some degree or another, you're always adapting your manner of speech to those around you, to better fit in, and pick things up from what you're exposed to a lot. If I've been writing a lot, I wind up talking in a fairly old-fashioned way. If Tom's been listening to The Opie and Anthony Show, his jokes and comments get much more crude and mean.

I've just finished listening to "Little Women", and I honestly feel like a much better person for it. Obviously, the language has infected my speech, as this post probably shows. But also... for as many times as I've read it, it still does me so much good. Old-fashioned books always make me feel warm and cozy and comforted in general, but Louisa May Alcott's books in particular really do, I think, help make me a better person, or at least try to be. "Little Women" is so filled with all the quiet, sweet little kindnesses that are what truly make people's lives happy ones, and I can't help wanting to be just like the March girls. They're not perfect, they have their faults and failings and mistakes, and their dreams don't ever turn out quite like they'd imagined, but... they're content, and have that deep-rooted happiness set firmly in their hearts, that the glow from their lives spreads into the lives of everyone around them.

And that, I think, is what I really aspire to be.


That, with the addition of art. And the more time I spend thinking on it, the more I realize that not having a focus isn't the problem I once thought it was. No, I don't have any one particular thing I do, I'm not a Painter, I'm not an Author, I'm not a Photographer - I'm an Artist. I draw, I take pictures, I Photoshop, I crochet, I write, I play flute, I arrange little tableau on my coffee table, I have handwriting filled with flourishes, I decorate cookies with way more detail than anyone should ever do without being paid to do it. And though I don't have one particular outlet, there's a common thread that runs through all of it, and all of it, in some way or another, reflects me and my view of the world and the things I see in it that I find beautiful.

One of my friends linked to an article she'd read, a "ten ways to work more productively" sort of thing, and said that it actually had a point when it said that the reason most people don't do things, is because they're waiting to do it perfectly. And that's exactly what NaNoWriMo's whole point is - you're never going to do it if you wait until it'll be great, you need to just roll up your sleeves and plunge in and make a big giant mess - but in so doing, you get it out of you. You bring it into the outside world, where you can get a good look at it, and *then* set to work making it the thing you want it to be. And that's a huuuuge issue that I know I struggle with, in stories and especially with drawings. I get these great ideas, but then I think, no, I don't really have time to sit down and do it properly today, I'll do it some other time, I don't have time to figure out the logistics of that pose right now. And then I don't ever do it.

So I'm trying to get better at plunging right into things, when I can, and when I can't, grabbing a sketchbook and getting as much of the inspiration down as I can. NaNo is also great at making you realize just how much spare time you can find in your life, and I intend to cling desperately to that. Right now I still have it, since I'm baking and crocheting like a madwoman in preparation for Christmas, but once all that's through, I intend to cling to that time and make good use of it, and start churning things out. Even if they're not My Best Work Ever!!1!, they will be My Work, and every time I do something I figure out something for myself, so it will be a worthwhile thing.


And as all of this is going through my head, an email lands in my inbox from Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, a wrap-up email giving a few notes on the fallout from November, and some further encouragement. I'm posting the encouragement part, because I was blown away with how exactly he nailed what's been going through my head.

With so much fiction produced, you might mistake National Novel Writing Month for a novel writing event. But we actually have a sneaky secondary mission that extends beyond books...and into your job.

(If you're still in school, please print this email out, seal it in an envelope, and read it on your first day at work.)

Okay. Jobs. Having a job is one of the greatest, trickiest things you can do as an adult. Employment brings perks like challenges and growth and (sometimes) money. But the longer you work at a job, the easier it is to confuse what you are doing with what you can do.

This is true whether you're a dental hygienist, a stay-at-home parent, or Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, the Forestry Minister of Finland. Because careers tend to be all about specialization. Human beings, on the other hand, contain multitudes. Each of us has a wealth of talents spread broadly over domains both marketable and deliciously impractical. The tricky part is that we tend to develop the former at the expense of the latter. Passions become hobbies. Hobbies become something we swear we'll get back to when we have more time. Or when the kids are grown. Or when the stock market recovers.

Which means we leave unexplored many of those paths that ultimately make us feel most alive—the moments of creating, building, playing, and doing that lead to extraordinary and unexpected things.

Like writing a book.

Or, more loosely, postponing the must-dos of the real world to spend 30 days exploring an attractive, improbable dream.

Giving ourselves that time is so important. Because the world can wait. It's what the world does best, in fact. It was hanging out for 4.5 billion years before we arrived, and it'll be waiting around for another few billion after we're gone.

Our dreams, however, have much shorter shelf-lives.

If there's one thing I've learned from running NaNoWriMo, it's this: Whatever you think you are, you are more than that. You possess a fearsome array of skills and abilities, and the most satisfying of these may be completely unknown to you now. Your curiosity is a dependable guide; follow it. Put yourself in unfamiliar places. Kindle passions. Savor the raw joy of making things, and then remake the best of those things until they take someone's breath away. Wrestle bears.

Actually, skip the bear-wrestling.

But do keep trying big things, okay? Sometimes we can wait so long for a clear sign that it's time to begin, that the opportunity sails right past us.

Life is so short. Adventures beckon. Let's get packed and head out on a new one today.

I think it's time.
- Chris Baty