The Zone

“You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Twilight Zone.”


—Rod Serling


I was thinking about these words the other day. They were one of the introductions to my all-time favorite TV show. If you’ve never seen any of the episodes, then you have missed some really terrific writing. As in anything some of the episodes were better than others, but as a whole, the show stretched the boundaries of sixties TV.


Even so, I have no intention of praising that show here in this post. What I would like to embellish on is Rod Serling’s words. For the last two years, I’ve enjoyed taking part in the National Novel Writing Month held every year in November. If you are so inclined you can find more information at nanowrimo.org


The catch line for the challenge is: “Thirty days and nights of literary abandon." In my opinion, this is absolutely correct. When you’re attempting to put 50,000 plus words into a story, there isn’t time to think about what you’re writing. So it is very liberating for a writer’s muse to take hold of a story and run. That’s what I try to do. If the story isn’t completely concrete, I’ll have time to flesh it out after the 30th. The important thing is to get those words out of my head onto the paper or into the computer.

So with November 1st fast approaching, I see a signpost up ahead. In fact, for me, there are two.

The first image that comes to mind is the tunnel sign. For me, November is like traveling through a tunnel. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the onset, the light at the end of the tunnel is obscured by the Everest of words I’ll need to churn out as fast as possible, so I can keep the story fresh in my mind. The focus is on that story and those words that will tell the story.

The second is the caution sign. I don’t want to spend my entire month focused on this challenge. Let’s face it November is a time for celebrations and holiday prep. The last thing anyone needs to do is shirk those challenges to sit in front of a computer screen with some background music blaring as white noise. I plan to proceed with caution and schedule at least three hours a day to reach my daily goal of 1667 words. Those hours may be early or late but I'll need to make them count.

When midnight on the last day of November arrives, I plan to look at another completed story. Oh sure it’ll take some rewriting and some editing to make it shine, but that magical muse will have done his work, and I’m sure he’ll want a few days off. He always asks for Christmas.

If you join us in nanoland this year, you will enter another dimension. Not one of sight and sound but of mind. You’ll journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. If you should need a guide or a writing buddy search for rc022762. See you there.