WRITING/PODCASTING A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS NOV 7

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

7 Nov 2021 daily count 1950 cumulative count 10353

Everyone started to head inside the house to the dining room when they heard a low rumble coming from the driveway.

“That should be Vince, it is close enough to 1. Cheryl, Myra, here is what you have been waiting for, I present to you Vince,” said Carl.

“Dad do you want me to help him park the truck,” asked Seth?

“Go ahead, but you don’t get to drive it, just marshal him in and make sure Cheryl has room to move her car since she has to leave early,” replied Nate.

Carl took a seat where Nate was standing, and Cheryl and Myra followed suit to his right. Carmine sat at the opposite of Nate at the other end of the table and Rachel sat to her right. Nate waited for everyone to sit down before he took his seat and looked towards the front door to see when Vince and Seth came in. Everyone heard the loud horn and the back up beeping from what was presumed Vince’s truck. Cheryl and Myra’s eyes widened.

“Wait, Vince has one eye, how can he drive,” asked Cheryl?

“We know a few people at the DMV, plus Vince drives better than most people with two eyes. Sometimes I have him drive me to meetings or if there are certain issues that need his specialty,” replied Nate.

The sound of the truck died, and the heavy footsteps of Vince and Seth could be heard.

“Do I still need to take off my boots at the door Nate, I just had them cleaned before I came over,” bellowed a gruff voice from the front door.

“Leave your boots on, I don’t think our guests would appreciate your foot odor as much as we do big man,” replied Nate.

Seth walked into the dining room with a bald muscular man with a patch over his left eye not much taller than him. Myra and Cheryl presumed this was the aforementioned Vince. He walked up to Nate and shook his hand while whispering something in his ear. Nate smiled a little bit and shook his head and whispered back. Then Vince walked over to Carl and pulled out the chair he was sitting in and pulled him out of his seat and bear hugged him while Carl grunted.

“Little brother you look tired, has Nate made you a Vogon yet,” said Vince?

“I think the correct term is a tree hugging hippie, and the answer is not yet, but Cheryl might,” replied Carl. Vince put Carl down in his seat as Cheryl and Myra looked on in amazement. They were expecting someone much taller from what Seth and Rachel shared with them on the tour of the grounds.

Vince approached Cheryl and Myra from behind. He pulled out Cheryl’s chair and extended his hand to her. She put her hand in is hand and he bent over to kiss it.

“You must be Cheryl and I bet you were expecting me to pick you up like I just did to Carl? I am not the mean monster you expected am I,” Vince asked?

“No, you are very char-,” with that Vince picked up Cheryl and gave her a slightly less intense bear hug before she could finish her sentence. “-ming. Oh my gosh. Now that’s what I expected ha ha ha,” finished Cheryl. Vince put her down carefully back into her chair. He winked his eye at Myra and mouthed “want a piggyback ride”? She nodded yes and smiled ear to ear. Vince pulled out Myra’s chair and hoisted her about his head and she placed her legs around his neck and held on to the top of his head. They walked around the dinning table and out to the living room where Vince got n his tip toes and Myra was able to touch the crystal chandelier. When Myra touched the chandelier, it made a twinkling sound as some of the pieces softly clinked together which made her smile even more. Vince took her up stairs and back down as she squealed with delight and then they headed back to the dinning room where he gently put her back into her seat. He then made his way to his chair next to Nate and opposite of Carl at the head of the table.

“So, Vince now that you have met Cheryl and Myra, I think we can start having lunch. Everyone its family buffet style, our guests first please,” declared Nate. Myra and Cheryl got up and took their plates to the buffet followed by Carl and Vince and then Seth and Rachel and lastly Carmine and Nate. They all lined up and filled their plates. Carl looked over at Nate and then he looked at his family with Vince and smiled, he then looked at Cheryl and Myra who were talking with everyone else and his smile grew even brighter. He was happy he finally had a family that he could bring to his brother's house and eat a meal with, he felt more accomplished in his life regardless of the circumstances that made this possible. He ate and savored each bite of vegan food and today it tasted like the best meal of his life. He wanted more life, he wanted to not just live but thrive.

The meal lasted for about two hours and only broke up when Cheryl had to excuse herself to leave in order to cover the shift she promised. Before she left Carmine gave her a few containers of food and some cookbooks to keep at the apartment. If you had been a fly on the wall you would have never known that this was their first meeting.

Carl and Myra walked her out to her car. Myra gave her a hug and looked up at Carl.

“I had a great time thank you for bringing me to your family. They are awesome,” said Cheryl.

“I think that food is going to put me into a coma, how about you,” asked Carl?

“Nah, I feel energized like I could run all the way back to town and into work and not even sweat. Okay Myra look after Carl and make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble. I won’t be back before you go to bed so can I get a hug good night and I’ll see you in the morning,” Cheryl said before she opened the driver's side door. Myra and Cheryl hugged deeply for a few minutes.

“Myra, why don’t you run back inside and give Carmine and Nate a hand with the dishes,” said Carl. With that she ran inside the house. Carl looked into Cheryl’s eyes, “Thank you for coming. I know this is all moving so fast right now and let me know if you need to slow down or have some space. I am feeling better about what’s going on even though we know how it will probably end. I haven’t been this positive in a long time,” said Carl. Cheryl started to tear up and then grabbed Carl and planted a deep and passionate kiss on him. They stayed like that for a few minutes not caring about the camera or if anyone could see them embracing from the house. Finally, Cheryl broke the embrace and sat down in the driver's seat and started the car.

“I’ll see you in bed tonight, don’t let me catch you sleeping on the sofa,” said Cheryl and closed the door, almost immediately putting the car in gear and headed back to town. Carl stood there for a moment dumbfounded by what just happened and by what Cheryl just said. It also frightened him a bit since he hadn’t slept with a woman since the divorce. He didn’t know if his snoring would keep her awake or which side of the bed she liked to sleep on or if the music he played would keep her up. His anxiety started to rise, and just as it did Nate called to him from the front porch.

“Hey lover boy, we got some work to do, Angela is on her way, and she has some paperwork for us to go over,” said Nate in a loud enough voice for Carl to hear but not shouting.

Carl started back to the house with a spring in his step and the biggest smile he had in years on his face.

“Thanks for making this easier big bro,” said Carl as he passed Nate through the front door.

“Oh, this is where things get much harder, run down to the office and meet Vince there. Carmine and Rachel have taken Myra to the craft room to make something for Cheryl,” said Nate as he followed Carl into the house and to the office. Nate’s “office” was in the basement of the house and reminded Carl of the bomb shelters he had seen in books about the Cold War. It was decked out with computer and TV screens as well as a couple of beds and a full bathroom with a shower and bathtub. Nate also kept a pantry and a weapon room down there with a generator and a two-car garage with a full shop and two four-wheel drive Ford Broncos from the late seventies that were in perfect running condition. Carl didn’t know what else he had stored down there but he felt safe in Nates office space. Vince was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Nates old wood desk and Carl took a seat next to him. Nate went behind his desk and settled into his leather chair.

Vince had a drink on the end table next to him and a portfolio in his lap opened up with various papers and pictures of the coffee shop, the outside of Carl’s apartment, a random hotel and a house that he didn’t recognize.

“Vince what are we dealing with,” asked Nate?

“Alright boss, this is one of the weirdest assignments we have done. So, the father and I use that term loosely is Harold McKenzie. He was thirty-four and until recently he was the father of Myra. He was found at a no tell hotel where my friends with the police department found him. They received a call from someone at the hotel letting them know there was a dead body. The informant did not identify themselves, but the hotel had a reputation for unsavory individuals. The informant gave Mr. Mckenziee's room number, and the call was unable to be traced. The informant’s voice was determined to be male and natural; no vocal modulation was detected. The call came in at about seven in the morning. They sent out a car and the officers spoke with the employee on duty. They were granted access to the room where they found the recently deceased laying on the bed, unresponsive to their commands. One officer inspected the room while the other officer attended to the body. No signs of a struggle, no gunshot wounds, no shell casings and no blood from the body. There were no personal affects found in the dresser and the bathroom appeared to have been unused. The employee on duty noted that the occupant had paid in cash and a search of the body turned up a wallet and keys to a car that was in the lot. The wallet was Mr. McKenzie's and there was no activity on the credit cards for two days before when he had gotten gas at a station nearby. and They estimated the time of death was very recent say in the past 6 hours since discovery of the body,” Vince said with no emotion in his voice.

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.