Tag: CampNaNoWriMo 2023

CampNaNoWriMo dashboard indicating I wrote 33,000 words

Okay, I didn’t reach my CampNaNoWriMo goal, but I’m SO PROUD!

On By Cait (like Kat) GordonIn CampNaNoWriMo, This blog's posts, WritingLeave a comment

I’m just sitting here stunned. In April, I hurled myself into Camp NaNoWriMo with not much heads-up. I had a couple of paragraphs and an illustration for something called Hot Wings and Sauciness. Was this a good idea? Just diving in? Especially since I had been so tied up with health issues and other stressors since the year began?

YES, MUCH GOOD IDEA!

My brain was aching for a creativity stint. I needed to write.

I set a goal of 40K words, which with my chronic pain is hard to do. But holy smokies, I ended up writing 33K words! I also did this:

  • had a blast
  • fell in love with these characters
  • cared for this “throwaway project”
  • realized I don’t want to throw it away after all

I also accommodated for my pain and fatigue and didn’t write every day. Now I have something that is wonderfully raw and first drafty, and I know how to finish it. This will be my first very short novel and something I want to indie publish in hopes of raising funds for cool projects with the Spoonie Authors Network. Hey, a disabled crone can dream, can’t she?

So yeah, here’s my dashboard as of April 30, 2023:

CampNanoWriMo dashboard with the mock cover and showing I wrote 33,000 words of my 40,000 word goal.

These NaNoWriMos are great motivators for me. And they not only get me back into the habit of writing but also the desire to write. I’ve been in production mode for two years with Nothing Without Us Too and Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space, so it’s nice just to play in my wordbox again (like a sandbox but with words).

I’m going to continue with Hot Wings and Sauciness this month, until I have a completed super-duper raw first draft. Like Terry Pratchett said, I’m just telling myself the story right now.

So, there ya go! Whoo!

Remember that we often think too much in a binary way—pass or fail, win or lose. The reality is we need to celebrate all the things. I didn’t “lose” anything! I wrote 33,000 words that weren’t there in March! I got a story to be enthusiastic about. To quote Ted Lasso, my book is a “work-in-prog-mess,” and I couldn’t be more proud.

I challenge you to be proud of yourself today. Go for it. Be shameless.

There’s too much self-bashing in AuthorWorldLand. Let’s try the other way, okay? Be your own cheerleader!

Because I have a strong suspicion other folks think you’re awesome too.

A greyscale close-up of me, standing in front of a blank background. I am a white woman with short silver hair cropped closely on the sides. I am wearing dark metallic rimmed glasses with rhinestones on the side. I’m wearing silver hook earrings with flat beads and a plaid shirt.

Cait Gordon is an autistic, disabled, and queer Canadian writer of speculative fiction that celebrates diversity. She is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, The Stealth Lovers, and the forthcoming Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space (2023). Cait also founded the Spoonie Authors Network and joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the multi-genre disability fiction anthologies Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too. 

Featured photo is a screenshot of my CampNaNoWriMo dashboard.

It’s Autism Awareness/Acceptance/Celebration Month, and I’m writing an autistic protagonist in my new WIP!

On By Cait (like Kat) GordonIn Autism, disability advocacy, This blog's posts, WritingLeave a comment

Let me begin by admitting that I totally forgot it was that month. I say it this way, a bit jaded, because April is often a battleground on Twitter between Autism Mom Warriors and/or autism organizations and/or autism “professionals” trying to speak over adults who are autistic. Sometimes it’s even autistic adults who have formal diagnoses going after those of us who are self-discovered. (To be clear though, there are also many, many diagnosed autistic folks who are overwhelmingly supportive of those who are prevented from getting a diagnosis. And for the most part, autistic culture validates self-discovered or self-Dxed people.) But yeah, because I quit the Twitters, I just plain didn’t remember it was the month of autism awareness, acceptance, and celebration.

Which is kinda funny because at the last second, I decided to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo to write “the awkward space opera romance nobody asked for” known as Hot Wings and Sauciness. Something in my subconscious must have remembered something about April because my female protagonist is a feisty autistic and disabled 50something. (Honestly, I have no idea where I came up with that notion…cough…) Anyway, I’m having fun going back to my absurdist humour roots, but even after the first seven days of writing this character, something cool is happening to me.

I feel really empowered.

It must be something akin to unmasking when an autistic author writes an autistic protagonist. Because my self-confidence is boosted (I know, please run and hide) and my identity is affirmed. Autistic folks can be romantic leads! I also have a romantic subplot in Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! that starts in “Episode 3: Herbie Tries to Flirt.” And that was cathartic for me to write as well. Even though I purposely have no cited diagnoses in my Iris and the Crew series, I did reflect my neurodivergence onto Herb and a couple of other characters.

But Colleen O’Donnell in Hot Wings is written differently. (Why, it’s almost like we autistics are not a monolith!) I think I’ve just slammed my foot on the gas for this lead. She’s from Earth in the not-so-distant future, so it’s not an idyllic world-building. And this gives me a chance to vent some feelings through her about disability and acceptance. But, it’s funny too. Well, it’s absolutely ridiculous at times. Humour is a great vehicle for storytelling. It’s my fave, really.

I also find with ripping off the mask comes untold freedom, whether in real life or through characters. And honestly, with so many non-autistic folks thinking they know people like me, but who really do not, if I don’t represent myself on the page, I will just shut down.

My voice deserves to be out there, not held back.

I have no idea if I will ever publish Hot Wings and Sauciness, but I am so glad I’m giving it a whirl. As with several of my short stories and especially with Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space, I am writing for myself first. To soothe my spirit through storytelling. That has to by my priority. It’s self-care and self-love. Then, if I feel ready, I will happily invite others to come along for the ride by putting it out in the world.

For now, I am just going to enjoy celebrating my autistic self, by creating art. It feels like the right thing to do.

A greyscale close-up of me, standing in front of a blank background. I am a white woman with short silver hair cropped closely on the sides. I am wearing dark metallic rimmed glasses with rhinestones on the side. I’m wearing silver hook earrings with flat beads and a plaid shirt.

Cait Gordon is an autistic, disabled, and queer Canadian writer of speculative fiction that celebrates diversity. She is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, The Stealth Lovers, and the forthcoming Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space (2023). Cait also founded the Spoonie Authors Network and joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the multi-genre disability fiction anthologies Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too.

Featured photo by FWStudio on Pexels.com