WRITING/PODCASTING A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS NOV 18

National Novel Writing and Podcast Posting Month 2021

Welcome friend to Create Art Podcast where I help you tame your inner critic and create more than we consume. I am Timothy Kimo Brien your thankful head instigator with over 20 years in arts and education. How I accomplish this is by providing you with commentary, interviews, discussions, and projects that will inspire you to create art. This month I will be podcasting daily and writing a novel in 30 days. I am participating in NaPodPoMo and NaNoWriMo again this year as I did last year and you can hear those episodes here. You will be able to listen and read along to what I wrote for the day. I like to practice what I preach when it comes to art so I am challenging myself to write and having you come along for the ride. It is my hope this inspires you to accomplish your goals with your art and if you would like to share what you are doing email me at timothy@createartpodcast.com

History of NaNoWriMo and NaPodPoMo

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.

NaPodPoMo: NaPodPoMo* is a month-long event along the same vein as National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. The difference? Well, instead of writing a 50,000-word novel, you podcast every day for 30 days from November 1st-30th. Use any platform you desire. From full production studio to iPhone app and just about anything in between. The goal is to use the challenge of podcasting daily as a form of podcasting boot camp.

The Writing So Far

18 Nov 2021 daily count 1778 cumulative count 27678

“Are you feeling better now, it seems like you are okay,” asked Cheryl?

“I am fine now; I am just tired of this stuff happening to me. It’s happened so many times before,” replied Myra.

“I totally understand as much as someone can who has not had this happen to them. Probably Carl understands even more so since he has similar episodes,” replied Cheryl.

“Will I die like Carl,” asked Myra?

“What do you mean dear,” asked Carl?

“Well, I had a dream that you were dead, and I was standing over your grave. It seemed so real, and everyone seems to be very gentle around you,” replied Myra.

“I have no immediate plans on dying so don’t you worry,” said Carl.

“I had a similar dream about my dad where I couldn’t find him anywhere and someone told me he had died and from what you told me my dad is dead. That’s why I am so worried about you,” said Myra.

“Death is just a part of like and we don’t know when we are going to die, but I assure you I have a long time to go before we can even think of me dying,” replied Carl. Cheryl looked at Carl and mouthed “should we tell her about your tumor”? Carl shrugged his shoulders. “Myra, there is something I should tell you right now. I don’t know if you overheard any conversations and that is what caused your dream about me dying, but you need to know. I have a tumor in my brain that causes my episodes. That tumor is not in remission yet and probably won’t go into remission. As you can see, I can work and interact with people just fine. I can cook and drive and do everything a person without a tumor can do, but I am considered terminal and one day I will pass away. We don’t know when that will be, and I’d rather focus on the here and now, so I don’t think about it much. Well until you told us just now about the dream you had. I just thought you should know so it doesn’t come as a shock to you when it comes that time to let me go. I don’t want you to be scared for me, let me be scared for me. Just between the three of us, I am not that scared. And yes, that is why people are always worried about me,” said Carl.

“Maybe I have the same thing in my brain as you,” replied Myra.

“We can get you checked out once I get this paperwork done tonight. That is one of the main reasons I went into work today is to get the paperwork and see if we can get you help with this problem. How about we eat dinner and work on the paperwork together,” asked Carl?

“But that’s grownup paperwork, what if I don’t know the answers,” asked Myra?

“Then we will wing it. Remember you have me here to Myra to help you out. We will be with you every step of the way,” Cheryl chimed in.

“So, we are like the three musketeers,” asked Myra?

“We are tighter than the three musketeers because we are family,” said Cheryl.

“That makes me feel better,” said Myra.

“Good, now I am going to get this lovely dinner put together because you both have done a wonderful job and Myra, do you want to work on the desert,” asked Cheryl?

“Sure, I may need a hand” replied Myra.

“I’ll just hang out in the living room and play some music,” said Carl as he headed toward the couch.

“No jazz or classical,” said Myra and Cheryl in unison. All three laughed at that and Carl turned on some alternative rock for the 90’s station. He thought that would be a safe bet and nothing would cause Myra to have another episode. He grabbed a book from the shelf and started reading as Myra and Cheryl put together dinner and desert. He was slowly drifting off when he heard Myra putting out the plates and silverware. A few moments later Cheryl came over to him and let him know dinner was served. She was making sure he hadn’t drifted off to far or was having his own episode. Carl got up and everyone sat at the dinner table. They began eating in earnest and silence. When they finished the meal Myra got up and took the plates away and brought back a tray of vegan cookies and glasses of chocolate milk.

“Uncle Nate's vegan cookies, I hope you like them because I followed his recipe,” said Myra proudly. Carl and Cheryl devoured the cookies and smiled at Myra.

“I think we have a desert chef in the house, what do you think Cheryl,” asked Carl?

“These are delicious and better than the cookies we had at Uncle Nate’s,” replied Cheryl. Before all the cookies were gone Carl took out his phone and took a picture of what was left. He then sent it to Nate with the caption ‘better than yours, Myra can bake!’ They finished the cookies and Carl took the platter and the glasses to the dishwasher.

“Well since you both made a wonderful meal; I’ll get the dishes done. Why don’t you two have a seat on the couch and I’ll grab the paperwork that we need to fill out,” said Carl. Carl started the dishwasher after he loaded it up. He then went to his room and grabbed the paperwork and went to the living room where Cheryl and Myra were already sitting. It took them about an hour to fill out the paperwork as best as possible because they didn’t have all of Myra’s information. Once completed it was about nine o’clock and Myra was yawning.

“Is this what adulting is all about,” asked Myra?

“Yep, boring paperwork and lots of it. But adults do get to have some fun playing with their kids,” replied Carl. “Do you want to head to bed dear?”

“Yeah, I think I better,” replied Myra. “Goodnight.” Myra went to her room and Carl and Cheryl waited until they heard that she was done in the bathroom. Myra’s light clicked off and Carl started to dial Nate. Cheryl motioned Carl to the patio, and he met her out there.

“We don’t want to wake her up and I am sure Nate doesn’t want her to hear what we talk about,” whispered Cheryl.

Nate answered his phone and Carl put him on speaker softly. “Hey old man, the kids in bed and I have Cheryl here on the patio. You wanted to talk,” asked Carl? The dishwasher was making noise in the background to cover up the conversation.

“Yeah, do you got me on speaker,” asked Nate?

“We do but we have the dishwasher going and we are out on the patio,” replied Carl.

“Just as long as the neighbors don’t hear. We did some research on those names you sent me,” said Nate.

“What names,” asked Cheryl?

“I sent Nate the names of the individuals that had signed the book before us,” replied Carl.

“So, as you know Harold was the last one before you two signed the book. Now you went against my cardinal rule of not signing anything without a lawyer present, but I’ll forgive you for that for now. Just make sure you don’t sign anything else,” said Nate.

“We were filling out paperwork for insurance for my job,” said Carl.

“Let me see it before you turn it in,” said Nate.

“Sure thing, we just wanted to get Myra set up for medical ASAP because I’d like her to see my neurologist in case the episodes can be treated,” replied Carl.

“Well, you might want to hold off on that until after you hear what I have to say. Anyhow, Harold was easy enough to find out information on, but the older names you gave us was a much harder task. The first name in the diary John Dee, he goes back to the 1500’s. The second name you gave me Digges, he is right after in the 1500’s and early 1600’s. Both men were in Britain at that time and John was an advisor to Queen Elizabeth the first. Dudley Digges was a son of a student of his named Thomas,” said Nate.

Well Jon Dees sounds like a common name, could we be mistaken,” asked Cheryl?

“That’s initially what we thought, however, we found out that he had a child named Myra. So, I think we are on the right track with this guy. His student also had a daughter of indeterminate age named Myra. Now John died in late 1608 or early 1609 and no mention of her after 1609 can be found until we look at Dudley who had a child be the name of Myra. Dudley died in 1639. Now the next name you had was Grover Brecht, he had a child of indeterminate age named Myra and he died in the early 1900’s. Obviously we know what happened to Harold who just recently passed away. As far as William Byrd, no child named Myra, but he lived in Britain during the same time as John Dee, so it is possible that they knew each other,”

Reaching Out

To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and lets start that conversation.