Sunday, December 15, 2013

The NaNo Experience

Dear Imaginary Readers,

I know that I haven't posted in a while. You can look at my 'Dwelling in Ink' blog for kind of more about why I'm busy and what I'm doing. I have a feeling that that one may be updated slightly more frequently than that one, seeing as most of my life revolves around reading and writing and that's kind of its theme.
But I just wanted to take a moment to really just appreciate how much NaNoWriMo has done for me. I don't want to make people feel guilty because they didn't bother attempting or they barely even know what it is or maybe they tried and failed this year, but I really just want to take a second and appreciate how much it has done for me.
Just over two years ago, I was working on a project during science with one of my friends. Somehow, we found out that both of us are writers, so she started telling me about this event -I guess it'd be called an event -called 'NaNoWriMo', where you try to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month. I had a lot of doubts. How was a thirteen year old supposed to write 50,000 words in one month when her greatest writing achievement so far had been writing 60,000 on one over the course of two years or so?
Still, some part of me thought it sounded kind of cool, so I signed up. I didn't realize then how much it would impact me then. I simply signed up for this site.
Immediately, I felt like I fit in. Where I'm currently living and where I lived at the time were pretty similar with their opinions of writing: there was nothing worse. If you wanted to rise on the social scale, you did not write stories for fun. Just the thought was and is absurd to them. Because here, being smart generally leads to a life of a nobody or a life of a nerd, some of the lower rungs on the social ladder here. And doing anything that furthers your education or, heck, could help in life later at all immediately makes you a nerd-level freak.
So I had been keeping my writing in hiding for the longest time. Few people knew that I enjoyed writing, and most of them were my closest friends that I knew that I could trust. After all, everybody here appears to be perfectly fine with reading, but they never stop to think about the person behind the book unless it's something huge and famous/infamous.
But the second I stepped onto this site, all of that changed. I was suddenly flooded with messages that were telling me the exact opposite of what I had learned from my peers. Writing was a good thing to be proud of, not something to hide away lest someone you know sees it.
There was a huge community of people there that all actually understood me. They knew exactly all of the problems I had trying to keep my writing hidden, and it wasn't just a bunch of intimidating adults. On the site, there were others my age that were writing novels in months. And that helped give me a boost of confidence.
And not only did NaNo grant me with an outlet where I can go whenever I need people to understand all of the problems I'm having in regular, everyday life about hiding my writing, it also introduced me to some of my favorite people on the planet. Just over two years ago, I started getting on the 'N.O.W.' chat, which was set up -I believe -for NaNo, and just continued on. I have met so many amazing people through the years because of it, and I can't thank my friends enough for everything they've helped me through. Even through the change of chat to Pencils to Paper -which is an even better and greater experience than the N.o.W. chat was because of trolls -I've enjoyed every minute of it. Now I'm directing this towards any PtPers that might be reading this:
We've been through a lot, ladies and the few gentlemen we actually have on the chat. You guys have helped me accept myself a lot faster and easier than I could have hoped to imagine two years ago. We've had loads of little adventures, from our pen pals to the channel on YouTube we attempted (and kind of failed at, whoops) to just all of our NaNos and holidays and birthdays we've shared. And there is no way I can put my thanks into words.
You have done so much more for me than I can even begin to say. I wouldn't even know where to begin. And I understand that some of you need breaks, that's completely understandable and I don't blame you a bit.
But come back as soon as possible guys because I miss you all so much and Christmas won't be Christmas without our Pencils to Paper celebration.

Okay, readers that aren't a part of Pencils to Paper, I promise that's finished. I would have posted this on my Dwelling in Ink blog, but this one needs some love and attention, so here ya go. I don't know the next time I can really post at regular intervals (have I ever posted at regular intervals?) because I have been flooded with school work recently, but I'll be sure to update whenever I possibly can. I promise.
Yours Truly,
Beth (not really)

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