WRITING/PODCASTING A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS NOV 20

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

20 Nov 2021 daily count 1692 cumulative count 29320

“What you are telling us is unbelievable. You mean to say that Myra has been around since the late 1500’s and has been passed along from one family to the next and this is the first time she has been passed to someone who is not technically a family. What are the odds,” replied Carl astonished?

“Nate, I am not sure giving you those names will be good for us, it may violate the rules I the diary,” said Cheryl.

“Well, we can’t really go any farther until we get those lists of names and no one has died since we started our research so there is a chance that what Harold did broke the curse,” replied Nate.

“Myra did have another episode when I played some music earlier today. It was William Byrd’s music that triggered her episode. It seems like whenever these names are brought up outside of us saying them, she goes into an episode. Cheryl and I are going to have to talk about this,” replied Carl.

“Don’t take too long thinking about this, if we can find information to help us out in understanding what we are dealing with here then we can make good choices and not make the same mistakes that these other families have made. It all ended badly for these other folks, and I’ll be damned if I am going to let anything happen to you little man. I don’t think you want anything bad to happen to Cheryl either and neither do I,” said Nate.

“Nate, we will sleep on it, and we will talk to you tomorrow about this. I have the insurance paperwork mostly completed and I have the retirement paperwork completed. I need some help with few details on what to put down for Myra and maybe Angela can help me with that when she gets time,” said Carl.

“She hasn’t gotten back to you yet? She was supposed to set up a meeting with you both tomorrow. Did either of you get a text message or a call,” asked Nate worriedly?

“I have had my phone on me all day and I was over with Carmine earlier today with Myra and I got no call,” said Cheryl.

“Yeah, nothing on my phone either, I know that it is hard to get messages while I am at work but if there was a message from her it should have made it to my phone by now,” said Carl.

“Okay it may have gotten stuck in transmission somewhere along the line when you went into work and lost signal. What I want you to do is both of you to reset your phones and then look for a message from Angela. Cheryl did you two exchange numbers when you were at my house on Sunday,” asked Nate?

“Yeah she asked me and I have her number saved on my phone but I don’t think I lost signal anytime today,” replied Cheryl.

“Who knows maybe you lost signal and just didn’t know it. I know it happens to me all the time out here that’s why I have landlines and two different carriers. Give that a try and give me a call back either way,” said Nate.

“Okay talk to you in a few minutes big bro,” said Carl. Both Carl and Cheryl hit reset on their phones. They heard a tapping on the patio door which caused them to jump. It was Myra in her pajamas knocking on the glass door. Carl opened it up. “What are you doing up Myra, you should be asleep right now.”

“I was sleeping, and I had a bad nightmare about Uncle Nate, Angela and Vince. It woke me up and you two weren’t in your bedroom and so I hear voices out on the patio and that’s why I knocked on the door,” said Myra sleepily.

Carl and Cheryl’s phones turned back on at that time and were cycling through their checks. Cheryl walked into the apartment and took Myra’s hand and led her to the couch. “Hey sweetie, Carl and I were just talking to Uncle Nate, and we stepped out onto the patio to not wake you up. Uncle Nate is fine we were just talking to him,” said Cheryl reassuringly.

Myra sat on the couch and yawned. “Can I sleep here until you are done talking with Uncle Nate,” asked Myra?

“You should go to bed, I can tuck you in if that helps,” replied Cheryl.

“I am not sure I can go back to bed, the dream seemed so real,” said Myra. Carl had stepped into the apartment and sat down next to Myra on the couch.

“Do you think talking about the dream would help you fall back asleep,” asked Carl? Myra nodded her head meekly. “How about I pick you up and take you to bed and you can tell us all about it and maybe that will help,” asked Carl? Myra nodded her head again. Carl picked her up and Cheryl walked in front of them to open Myra’s bedroom door and turn on the light. Carl placed Myra gently on the bed and she got under the covers.

“Do you need a night light Myra,” asked Cheryl?

“That might be nice,” replied Myra.

Cheryl went to the bathroom attached to Myra’s bedroom and turned on the light over the toilet and came back into the bedroom and shut the door most of the way. “Is that light enough for you Myra,” asked Cheryl?

“That should work, thank you,” replied Myra. Carl and Cheryl sat on the edge of each side of the bed.

“So, what happened Myra. Uncle Nate is fine, and I am sure Angela and Vince are fine too. Can you tell us what you dreamed about,” asked Carl softly?

“Well, I was walking around Uncle Nate’s house and Seth and Rachel and Carmine weren’t there, but Uncle Nate, Angela and Vince were there. An old man came through the front door and took Uncle Nate, Angela, and Vince into Uncle Nate’s office. They didn’t want to go and they were yelling at the old man but he was too powerful and he took all three of them into the office. They were yelling in the office and then they were quiet. The old man came out of the office and walked right past me and smiled at me like he knew me. I was so scared, and I was crying silently because I couldn’t talk. When he left, I ran into Uncle Nate’s office because the door was still open and there they were, all three of the laying on the floor, unable to talk and reaching out to me. That’s when I woke up,” said Myra in a soft voice.

“That is scary, I can see why you woke up. But let me tell you about Vince, he is very strong and fast and protective of Uncle Nate and Angela. Vince is one of the fastest and strongest people I know, and he would never let that happen to anyone he was protecting,” said Carl.

“But he has only one eye,” replied Myra.

“Yes, that’s true, but even with his one eye he is faster and stronger than just about everyone. He learned to adapt to make up for the loss of his eye. Uncle Nate is strong too and his office has things in it to help protect him so that no one could do anything to him. In fact, he has cameras all over his property so if someone tried to get on his property, he will know about it as soon as they step foot on it. Uncle Nate is well protected, and he also protects us from anything bad happening,” said Carl.

Carl’s cell hone indicated an emergency text coming through. He hugged Myra and left the rom to see what the issue was. Cheryl stayed with Myra while Carl read the message, it was not from Angela as he expected, it was from Carmine. It read ‘taking Nate to the hospital, not sure what happened after he talked with you, meet me there when you can, seems serious’. Carl’s heart froze. He texted Vince and Angela at the same time about what Carmine texted him. Panic filled his head. He berated himself for bringing his brother and his colleagues into this mess. He started to breath slowly to calm his nerves. There was no answer from Vince or Angela so he texted Carmine back. He wrote ‘I let Vince and Angela know by text, they haven’t responded, I will get to the hospital soon, just putting Myra to bed after she had a nightmare, be safe’. It took a few minutes for Carl to calm down, but when he felt his breathing and heart get back to normal, he put on his game face and went back to the bedroom. When he got there, Cheryl put her finger to her lips to shush him and he saw Myra sleeping soundly. Cheryl got up from the bed and walked out into the living room with Carl. They sat on the couch together and Carl handed his phone to her. She read through the text messages between Carmine and Carl.

“Get over there now, I can watch her tonight. Just let me know what is going on okay. If I hear anything from Angela or Vince, I’ll let you know,” said Cheryl as she kissed Carl.

“We need to be careful with that diary and with Myra. This just got turned up a notch,” said Carl.

“Just get to the hospital and help Carmine, we can talk about this later when Nate is okay. Just go now and be careful, don’t let your emotions get out of check on this. We will be fine here,” said Cheryl.

“Text me the moment she wakes up or if anything happens. Text me if you feel weird, just text me if anything is out of the ordinary okay,” said Carl.

“Just let me know when you get to the hospital, I love you. We will get through this together,” said Cheryl.

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.