The younger me thought writers walked well laid paths and contemplated life. From there, the universe planted the seed for stories and kapow it grew into something amazing.

The published storyteller in me laughs. Stories come from living. Sure the path is there. But it is full of people. I have to be honest. Most of my lessons come from stumbling. As, I dust off my bruised ego, my eye catches the pebble that brought about the fall. I have found humility is easily digested when a friend is there to laugh and say, “Ha! that pebble got you too.”

Moral of the story. All of us are trying to figure out one thing or another. Writers just know how to express it in a relatable way.

With that being said, here is a vlog my friend recorded the first day of Nanowrimo. It was midnight, my time when we recorded it. When I went into school the next morning, I began a Nanowrimo journey with my seventh grade class. A week in, I can proudly say, it has succeeded far beyond my wildest dreams. In subsequent blogs, I’ll share what I did to help a group of kids who groaned when I said they had to write essays into writers who use breaks in the day to add words to their stories.

We talk about Nanowrimo and lessons learned from the writing conference we attended last summer. I hope you enjoy the video.