Writings of Stuart Whitmore

I first participated in NaNoWriMo in 2006. I skipped it in 2007, but I have done it every year since 2008. Most of the time I "won," by writing over 50,000 words in November. There were some years where I could not reach the finish line in time, though. Last year, I won... and I decided it was my last time to participate.

Before I go into more detail, I want to make two things clear about my beliefs and principles.

First, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with an "organization" (or "entity" to be more general) gathering the resources it needs to survive. This is true for companies, for nonprofits, for clubs, for churches, and even families and individuals. There are costs for everything, even for survival needs. Seeking the means to cover necessary costs is not, by itself, "wrong." Second, I see nothing inherently wrong with amplifying the voices of those who have been historically ignored or pushed aside (for any reason), nor with making sure everyone feels comfortable participating in a group activity (however that may be defined). These things are not inherently wrong. How they are accomplished... well, that's a different story.

Maybe you've thought about writing a novel, or maybe the thought never crossed your mind but seeing this blog post makes you consider it. Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and with it a fun and useful way to achieve that writing goal. As I write this in late September, I'm starting to prepare for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which is really international these days) in November. This annual writing event brings together people around the world for one goal: write a new novel! You can join in—it's free, and at the end you might have a new novel. Read on for more about NaNoWriMo and why I think you should join the fun!

Distant Worlds is a sampler of my fantasy and science fiction. It was available on Amazon for a time, but now you can't buy it there or through any other bookstore. You also can't download it from my site. But from now until the end of May, you can get a copy. And it won't cost you a dime. Details below, but first I'll bore you by talking a bit about myself and the current state of my writing career. :)

Last September, while I was at the NINC conference in Florida, I decided to move my "Writing News" blog from this site to my author site (StuartWhitmoreAuthor.com). I figured that would make more sense than leaving it here, considering how I focus most of my writing-related efforts on that site. The only problem with this plan was that I needed to write a fair amount of code to get the job done. Not just HTML, but server-side code, along with setting up a database. While all of that is well within my technical capabilities, it was not well within my time and energy constraints. So, it was postponed for a month, then two, and then... yeah. Now it's on hold indefinitely.

What do the Esperanto language and trees have in common? Unfortunately, the answer is not that trees speak Esperanto. If they did, I'd be more diligent about learning to speak it!

There is a little real-world connection of sorts, though, now that I've released my first fantasy novel (The Ambitions of Kreltahk). That connection comes in the form of "back matter," the pages in a book after the end of the book. I first learned about Esperanto, and was inspired to learn to speak it, via the back matter in the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. Long before the first book in my fantasy series hit the market, I was inspired by that use of back matter to share something real that is relevant to the fiction in the book. It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted to use the back matter in at least one of my books to increase awareness of the need to plant trees, and how The Arbor Day Foundation will plant trees on your behalf in forests that have been damaged by fire, disease, or other problems.

NB: Today I put my money where my mouth is. I decided to start off the 2018 holiday giving season by arranging to have The Arbor Day Foundation plant 20 trees in Klamath National Forest, in honor of my kids and in celebration of the winter holidays and new year.

Read on to see why I decided to support this mission and that organization in my fantasy novels!