Teresa Hackler Battles with NaNoWriMo and Wins!

Teresa Hackler has successfully completed not one, but two years of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This year she was one of 167,150 participants worldwide who took on the challenge of writing 50,000+ words of a novel between November 1st and 30th.

50,000+ words! In one month! Two years in a row!

On top of that challenge, Teresa contended with an extra personal battle. As a young woman only in her 20’s, Teresa is being treated for macular degeneration, which is a progressive disease of the retina that causes light-sensing cells in the central area of vision (the macula) to stop working and eventually die, leading to blindness. This disease currently affects Teresa’s right eye.

So, basically, Teresa wrote novel #2 with more or less the use of only one eye.

With treatment, Teresa says some days her eye feels better, other days worse – it’s hard to tell. “My biggest issue,” Teresa says, “is doing typing and reading, and writing because my eyes get tired looking at the screen.”

Yet, despite that, Teresa persisted and became one of the 19.2% of participants who successfully completed the NaNoWriMo challenge of 2009. Teresa says the challenge of NaNoWriMo has taught her that if she really wants to do something, there is always a way to do it.

Congratulations, Teresa!

To learn more about Teresa’s NaNo experience, check out the interview below!

Prior to your first NaNoWriMo, how much writing experience did you have?

Teresa: Prior to NaNoWriMo I cannot say that I had ever had the ambition to write so much in such a short amount of time. For the past dozen years of my life, I have enjoyed writing recreationally and for my own amusement. In the spring of 2000, I became a published author, with a poem in Dewdrops at Dawn, a collection of poetry in the International Library of Poetry. Since then I have taken a left turn with my writing and focusing my creative energies with short stories, editing and the once a year marathon of NaNoWriMo.

Did you find it easier or harder to complete 50,000 words the second time around? How did your first and second years differ?

Teresa: This year I found it a bit harder than last year to complete the task set before me. I think that biggest difference between this year and last year has been my focus. Last year’s focus, just completing the task and amusing myself along the way, made the story much easier to write. This year my story was a bit darker, and there wasn't a lot of humor in it which made my focus a lot harder to maintain.

What are the best and worst aspects of NaNoWriMo?

Teresa: I think that one of the best aspects of NaNo is that it’s a personal challenge. You have to be committed to fulfilling a promise to yourself if you want to succeed at it and when you hit that 50,000 it is a rush of pride knowing that you did it. I think that the worse aspect of NaNo is that is done in November. A stomach full of turkey is not a writer’s best friend.

How do you prepare for NaNoWriMo?

Teresa: The main thing that I do to prepare for this event is write a plot arch. I prefer to map out a basic course that I want my plot to go and then when I sit down to compose, it helps me from getting completely distracted and losing focus, it also gives me boundaries for my characters and how I want to develop them.

In just 2-3 sentences, what did you write about this year? Last year?

Teresa: This year I tried to do a twist on an old fairy tale classic, Beauty and the Beast. Last year I wrote a piece of non-fiction whimsy. So depending on how you look at it, I wrote two romances in two years.

Do you have a preference between the two novels you wrote? Why?

Teresa: At the moment I prefer my first novel over my second, only because I have had breathing room with it and am now getting ready to start the long and tiresome process of editing it. The second novel is too new, and too raw for me to want to start the long process of berating myself for plot holes.

Now that you have two novels, what do you plan to do with them?

Teresa: I think that like most people that have completed NaNoWriMo, I would eventually like to have them published, but for my immediate plans for my novels, I plan on doing lots and lots of editing and polishing until it shines like a diamond in the sun, before I even consider submitting for mass consumption.

What has NaNoWriMo taught you about writing?

Teresa: I would say that the most important thing that NaNo has taught me about writing that it is easier to keep doing it then it is to stop and start. It is better to lose sleep and write down the idea no matter how wretched it is, then to lose it the arms of Morpheus.

What has NaNoWriMo taught you about yourself?

Teresa: I think that the biggest thing that it has taught me is that if I really want to do something, there is always a way to do it. When something is a priority there is always time for it.

Do you plan to participate in 2010?

Teresa: Provided that I have at least one good eye to see out of, I will most definitely participate again. Just don't ask me about a plot until October.

A Writer and Her Odd Jobs

One day – you know the day I mean, I think everyone has (or had) that "one day" in the distant future when their life is great because they're rich/famous/successful – I’ll look back on this time of my life and laugh. I'm not laughing yet, though.

I'm holding down three part time jobs to make ends meet and support myself while I write. But ironically with three part time jobs I have little time and energy left to write, hence the hiatus of blog posts these past few weeks. I know I am not the only writer who has ever taken on jobs I don’t really want or don’t match up to my educational qualifications just to support myself so I can make advances towards my true passion – writing. But some days, after I get home from working 6am to 6pm, and I'm too tired to cook dinner, I do feel frustrated.

One of the teachers at the University of East Anglia where I completed my MA in Creative Writing told us about the jobs he held before he became a published writer and lecturer in creative writing. On the back of his first novel, Pig, it says: “Andrew Cowan was born in Scotland. He has worked as a postman, printer, oral historian, janitor and librarian. This is his first novel.” I like this description, and I think about it every time I get frustrated that I have all of these odd jobs instead of a bunch of published novels.

I suppose that these jobs are giving me life experience and teaching me life lessons that will strengthen my character and my writing. And one of my jobs is as an assistant college swimming coach, which I do really enjoy. So it’s not all bad. But my life now is a far cry from how I imagined it would be while I was completing my BA and MA degrees in Creative Writing. I thought I could spend all day every day just hanging out at my desk, writing my generation’s next set of great novels. Ha.

So one day, when I am published, I will look back on my hard work and frustration of today and smile.

More Novels About Female Athletes

I just read two of the best books ever – Dairy Queen and The Off Season – by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I discovered them one morning stocking shelves at Borders. I want to write sports books for and/or about girls and women, so I always keep an eye out for fiction about female athletes. I borrowed both books from the library and finished them in a week because I couldn’t stop reading.

In the past I’ve been asked what, in my opinion, makes a good book. There are three things I look for in a piece of fiction: a likeable/relatable character, compelling story, and beautifully written prose. It is extraordinarily rare that I find a book that matches all three criteria, so I get very excited when I do. Dairy Queen and its sequel The Off Season both meet up to my standards for excellence in literature.

The narrator, D.J. Schwenk, is a junior in high school who plays football for her high school. She is also a star basketball player and a reluctant volleyball player, as well as a farmer and a trainer. Gotta admire that athleticism. I liked D.J. from the start, but I felt connected to her when she said, (and I paraphrase), “I'm definitely not one of the cool kids but I'm too big for anyone to mess with.” This was exactly how I felt in middle and most of high school.

A few weeks ago I read Swimming by Nicola Keegan, and although I enjoyed Keegan’s prose, I got the distinct feeling that she had never been an athlete in her life. Not that you have to have direct experience with a subject to write about it. But her story didn’t ring true to me. It bothered me enough that I looked up info on Keegan and sure enough, she’d never been an athlete. While reading Murdock’s books I did not once question whether the author was an athlete or not because I completely believed D.J.’s athletic experience. Turns out Murdock did not grow up as an athlete, although she did start competing in triathlons for fun a few years ago.

The good news just keeps getting better. When looking up more info about Murdock, I discovered that earlier this month the third book in the Dairy Queen trilogy was released! I didn’t even know a third book was in question! How exciting! It's called Front and Center. Can’t wait to read it.

Another fun fact about Catherine Gilbert Murdock: her sister is Elizabeth Gilbert, the author Eat, Pray, Love.

Finally Finished Reading House of Leaves

Forty days after beginning House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, I have now finished it. It was definitely a reading experience like none I’ve had before and I'm still trying to decide if it was worth that much time and effort or not. There was a lot of superfluous text that I barely skimmed over because I didn’t think it was beneficiary to read pages of footnotes and other random blocks of text that seemed to be only long lists of people or things. Maybe I missed out on essential points of the story, maybe not. I think the random text was just a visual way to tell the part of the story when the explorers were lost in the labyrinth, and wasn’t meant to be read.

I do think it’s a very intriguing way to tell a story. And the crux of the story, minus all of the superfluous text, was definitely worth reading. I have a mountain of other books waiting to be read that knocked on my door for the past 40 days, but I put them aside until I completed this.

I tried to look up more information on the author or history of the book and came up with very little. There’s a message board for Danielewski’s cult following where fans post comments and often lengthy academic essays about the book. It makes sense – this book is so complex that it could have its own college class devoted to it and still not be completely analyzed.

House of Leaves started as a small project that escaladed. Danielewski even did his own graphic design for the book because the publisher wouldn’t hire anyone else to do it. He said it took him three and a half weeks, but only because it first took “nine and a half months to storyboard” (FlakMagazine).

Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, is one of many who gave House of Leaves a raving review: “A great novel. A phenomenal debut. Thrillingly alive, sublimely creepy, distressingly scary, breathtakingly intelligent -- it renders most other fiction meaningless. One can imaging Thomas Pynchon, J. G. Ballrad, Stephen King, and David Foster Wallace bowing at Danielewski's feet, choking with astonishment, surprise, laughter, awe” (B&N).

You can’t ask for a much better review than that.

If you're up for a challenge and interested in new forms of literary story telling, check out House of Leaves.

Check out my first post on House of Leaves, which includes a video of Danielewski reading an excerpt during his sister's music video "Hey Pretty."

Demand Studios Writing Experience

By responding to an ad in the Hamilton College Career Center Digest, I became a freelance writer for Demand Studios. Demand Studios acts as a middle man between a freelance writer and a few specific Web publications such as eHow.com, LIVESTRONG.com and Trails.com.

Demand Studios provides article titles of all different categories for freelancers to choose. Once you claim a title, you have a week to write and submit your article for publication. If you do not write it within that time frame the article goes back into the queue for other freelancers to choose.

Demand Studios has specific guidelines regarding titles, subtitles, content, pictures and even for your profile. But these guidelines are tailored to meet clients’ needs and make you and your article look professional. Demand Studios also provides a forum for writers and editors to meet each other and learn from each other’s experiences.

Suite 101 vs. Demand Studios

I have previously written for Suite 101, which is a similar concept to Demand Studios. But the more I think about it, the more I see the differences. Suite 101 considers itself an online magazine and all articles are published through their website. Writers are also free to write on any topic they choose and are not limited by given titles. This can be a plus or minus, depending on your preferences. For me, I enjoy selecting from a list of titles because some days I cannot think of anything to write. But, on the downside, sometimes there are no given titles for which I am qualified or interested in writing.

Payment is another difference between the two. Suite 101 pays the writer only a few cents each time a reader clicks on the ads surrounding their article. Or at least this is true for new writers to Suite 101. So, for example, I wrote ten articles for Suite 101 and have so far only earned just over $11. Demand Studios pays between $5 and $15 per article and a few articles are paid-per-view. So I’ve written eight articles so far and have earned about $90.

Overall I think I prefer working with Demand Studios. I enjoy the instant gratification of $15 after submitting an article, and I prefer having a list of titles to choose from. The site is easier to navigate. I'm also permitted to write in a more casual tone and use the pronoun "you" in an article.

Both sites provide good resources for writers and tips for online content writing. My background is in Creative Writing, so before working for these two sites, I knew very little about writing Web content. But through writing for these sites I am learning a lot, building a portfolio and earning some pocket change.

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, pg 89 + some footnotes and appendices

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I just began an epic journey called House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. This is a 700+ page book filled with footnotes, appendices, and other labyrinths of typography. I look at this book as a challenge, a mountain to conquer. I spoken with several friends who have read it, loved it, recommended it, but told me not to expect to finish it for at least three months. Yikes! And I pride myself on usually reading one or more novels per week. I began this voyage on September 20.

Johnny Truant, a tattoo artist’s apprentice and a general good-natured flunky, stumbles across a manuscript written by the recently deceased Zampano about a video filmed by Will Navidson. Navidson’s documentary is about his house, which he’s discovered to be bigger on the inside than the outside – like the Tardis or Mary Poppins’ handbag. The main text is Zampano’s manuscript, which is littered with footnotes written by Johnny.

So far, I'm enjoying the mystery. Not so much the 'why is Navidson’s house so weird' mystery, but the mystery in the style of Danielewski’s writing. Normally I don’t like to try this hard to enjoy a story. It’s very interactive with all of the footnotes/appendices, which is sometimes fun, but the interactivity kind of destroys my momentum. I'm not a reader who always looks for a “page-turner” but I do expect to build some kind of momentum when I read. I like to get lost in a book. I am getting lost in this book, but not in the same way.

I was most interested in this book when I found out that Mark Danielewski’s sister is Ann Danielewski, also known as Poe. Her second album Haunted inspired/is inspired by her brother’s book. She describes Haunted and House of Leaves as “parallax views” of the same story. There are also references to her first album, Hello, in House of Leaves.

This above video for “Hey Pretty” by Poe. Mark Danielewski reads from his book on this video. Worth a look.

Feminist Fairy Tales for Kids

I think I just found my new favorite kid’s book – The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko. It’s the kind of book that I would have carried around with me day and night if I had read it when I was 4-7 years old.

(Warning: Contains Spoilers)

The story starts like a normal princess/prince story. They’re about to get married, but then the nasty neighborhood dragon swoops in, steals the prince, and burns down the castle and everything in it, including all of the princess’s clothes. She puts on a paper bag dress and walks off to the dragon’s lair to rescue her prince. Eventually she rescues him and the prince says, (and I'm paraphrasing) “You look disgusting. Go away, put on some real clothes, fix your hair, and then come back for me.”

And the princess says, “I guess we won’t be getting married after all.” And she leaves him behind.

Such a good moral.