Tomorrow is my birthday and it made me start to think about the celebrations of life. They are not always big ones like birthdays or christmases. Sometimes it can just be a sunny day after a week of constant rain...I know that feeling this week also. Sometimes it is just getting a compliment from a stranger that makes you feel so good inside it is like a celebration. Life is full of just as many little celebrations as big ones.
As I am writing my first novel I have certain celebrations also that are big and small. Everytime I finish a chapter or a section I do have a bit of an internal celebration with myself. Yes, that may sound a bit crazy, but I am learning to embrace my inner crazy also. Finding that one word or phrase that had been eluding you for so long. Coming up with characters and story lines that you can control and yet feel are so real is an accomplishment to be celebrated. These little celebrations sound a bit silly maybe but they help push you forward to continue writing that next chapter and thinking of that next idea. Without the accomplishments being celebrated when you are writing your novel then it can become daunting and lose its purpose and your story will reflect that. So again, I remind writers and readers that taking a little time to celebrate accomplishments is better, it makes you a better writer and makes writer easier and more fun and not just hard work.
I know that some of the little celebrations seem a bit crazy of course. Putting in a word does not sound very exciting to you maybe. Yet, to be a really good writer it probably helps if you have to have a little bit of crazy inside of you. It is the interesting, or crazy, part that allows one to come up with characters and story lines and lives as if they are real. It is the interesting, or crazy, part that reads a book and gets so engrossed in a character that they hope there is a sequel or runs right out to get the next book in the series or even pre-orders a book because they don't want to miss out on the chance to read it and discover what happened in their favorite character's lives. As a writer, I am learning to embrace my crazy and share it with the world. I am sharing it with my first written novel. I am giving you the characters that I have created in my mind and the lives that I follow and shape.
I am learning to "celebrate" this inner crazy of mine. Maybe that is why I am just starting to write my first novel now but it is also why I am sharing and opening up to everyone about the process that I am experiencing. Not everything I put here will be a lesson on writing your first novel or a remark on the experience I am having and today that is the case. Today I am just reminding people that celebrating the small things in life are what really make the stories of your own life. Some of my favorite memories from childhood are sitting around with my family and talking. My family loved to talk and we would do it about music or history or politics. The best and funniest times though were the stories that we would tell about past events, usually they were Dad stories, but these are the little celebrations of life we remember and can recall in a good story. In fact, we have so many Dad stories they could fill an entire book or two...or three and they all makes us smile and celebrate those moments.
These events did not always take place on a major day but could have happened on a random Tuesday and yet they are celebrated by being remembered, laughed about and retold. Writing a novel is a celebration of the story you have created and shared with a reader who may then talk about it or recommend it to other readers and celebrate the story.
Sounds a bit crazy I know but then I will say Happy Birthday to the Crazy Lady writing her first novel. Did it make you smile? Good. Celebrate that.
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