As I’ve mentioned, Goodbye, Magnolia was written back in November of 2008 during NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. From their website: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.
I have always loved to write and felt like I was much better at saying what I wanted to say on paper than verbally. In high school, I was all about writing notes to my friends. There were no cell phones or even emails back then, so that’s what we did. My school was in a different district than a lot of my close friends from church, so we would write each other during the week and exchange notes on Sundays and Wednesdays. Some were just quick descriptions of what I did that week or what my biggest crush said or did, and some were my deeper thoughts and feelings poured out for my friends on a weekly basis.
As far as writing creatively, I can remember writing silly stories for fun when I was maybe ten or eleven, and I think I was 9 when I won a creative writing contest in the 4th grade and got to go to a nearby college to receive a certificate. I vaguely remember that, but I know it was a medieval story about two brothers and a princess. Pretty sure my mom has that packed away in a tub somewhere. If I ever find it, I’ll be sure to share that masterpiece here. 😉 But I never saw myself as someone who would pursue writing someday.
Jake took part in NaNoWriMo once or twice before I did. He’s always been a creative writer – stories and lots and lots of poetry – and has had a zillion stories in that brain of his for as long as I’ve known him. We joke now about how he was the one we always thought would publish a novel someday, but now his interests lie elsewhere, and I’m the one writing novels.
Honestly, that first year (2008), I only did it to see if I could actually write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It was one of those things that you challenge yourself with just to get that feeling of completing a task. But I never expected to fall in love with writing like I did. I never expected it to make me happy, almost giddy at times. I never expected to be sitting at my keyboard with tears streaming down my face, like Joan Wilder in the movie Romancing the Stone.
This photo was taken at the halfway point. November 14, 2008. I was already way past half of the required word count, which I was pretty excited about.
At that point in my life, I thought photography was it for me. It’s funny how something comes into your life and changes things. Changes you. I knew from the moment I wrote this book that it was special. Maybe every author says that about their own books, but I don’t care. I’m saying it. I’m a sucker for a good romance and Goodbye, Magnolia is just that.
One of the themes in the book is trusting God with your future, trusting His plan. It’s kind of exciting, right? I’ve had things happen in recent years that threw me for a loop, for sure. But when I got past them, I was a better person, stronger for having gone through them. And I could look back and see how God led me through it. That’s how I feel about this whole writing thing. Writing is healing for me. Writing is hard work and frustrating at times, but so worth it.