Write What You Know

Last night I was talking with LM about his project that we’ve been working on and he commented on how nice it felt to be ahead of schedule instead of leaving it all for the last minute. Mrs. B, his teacher, had even used the timeline he and I had put together as an example for his class and LM was proud that he was doing the right thing (“for once”). I told him that I preferred to always be ahead of schedule and tried to give myself extra time before something was due so that I didn’t have added pressure causing me to turn in a product that wasn’t my best. As the words came tumbling out, I found myself chuckling a bit, which LM quickly picked up on. “What?” he asked.

“Well, I decided to participate in the National Novel Writing Month this year where I have 30 days (the month of November) to write 50,000 words.” “Holy smokes!” LM exclaimed, “50,000 words?!? Are you crazy?!” “Apparently,” I said. “Right now I only have 7,500 words. I’m behind schedule and it’s only day 6!” “What’s the novel about?” LM inquired. “It’s about a boy named Charlie. The working title would be something like “The Trouble With Charlie” or something like that. Each chapter is about some sort of trouble that Charlie gets into.”

LM thought for a moment and then laughed a knowing laugh, “Hmm…is it about anyone I know?!”

“You could say that.”