Thanks to everyone who signed up for the Get Afraid Journal giveaway from Podcast Brunch Club. I was happily surprised by the number of entries.
For any new subscribers, my name’s Jed and if you want to get in touch, just hit reply.
💻 November Activity: NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month occurs every November. This year, I finally decided to give it a try.
National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.
The goal is to write 1,667 words per day. To be honest, it sounds impossible. I’ve considered the challenge in the past, but I’ve always been afraid I’d start and then run out of ideas after a couple of days.
I decided to take the plunge this year regardless of the outcome. I signed up with very little planning. The only prep work I did was to write a list of possible plotlines. They weren’t very good.
Someone’s been polluting the water supply and it’s the Kool-Aid man.
An underwater Princess wants to live in the sky. It’s like The Little Mermaid, but she flies.
What if teeth became currency?
The most interesting idea was, “Warehouse employees are trapped by delivery drones that are all returned to sender at the same time.”
I started writing on November 1st, using software called Scrivener. It’s supposed to help writers organize their novels.
My working title is, Rogue Logistics: Return to Sender. There’s a warehouse worker named Lindsay, a robotic arm that speaks using sign language, and an elaborate series of secret tunnels snaking between shelving. Everyone’s forced to work together when the Zing! Warehouse delivery drones trap them inside.
Of course I jumped ahead and wasted my precious time by designing potential covers. I don’t even have a manuscript yet, but I have a cover.
I’m sure it’s obvious, but trying to write a novel is really, really difficult. I’m only a few days in, but I already feel trapped under the weight of everything I have to create. Characters, scenes, locations. Where is everything going? How does it tie together? What’s the climactic moment?
Anyway, I better get back to writing. I’m already falling behind on my word count.
— Jed
🎁 Meetup & Airbnb Experiences
I used to attend a monthly podcasters Meetup that is now defunct. It’s been a number of years since then, but I’ve started to receive Meetup Experiences emails.
If you like my Get Afraid Journal, you’ll probably love these “out-of-your-ordinary” activities.
Apparently Meetup Experiences is trying to mimic AirBNB Experiences by providing a directory of brief creative workshops and city tours. Think wine, painting, shopping, photography, glassblowing, etc.
Meetup Experiences is only active in Chicago and NYC at the moment, but it might spark inspiration for things you can try on your own.
Sample Experiences:
Paint Graffiti & Learn the History
Shuck and Taste Oysters Like an Oyster Sommelier
Play the Harp for the Very First Time
Thus ends another newsletter. I’m still upset about the snow we got on Halloween. What horrors await this Thanksgiving? See you fearly soon. 🙄
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here
©2019 Get Afraid. The publisher is providing information so that you can have the knowledge and can choose, at your own risk, to act on that knowledge.