Have you ever heard the phrase "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him"? Have you ever wondered why a non-violent religion would ever preach murder? How does this all connect to NaNoWriMo? Do you want to find out? Step aside, Atticus, because we're about to find out after the jump!

Hi! Welcome to another edition of my NaNotes, or Notes of a Frustrated Author/Enthusiastic Storyteller About His Journey Through the Wild National Novel Writing Month and His Quest to Churn Out Another Book From the Ether. Whew! That's a mouthful! (That's what she said ;) ) Aren't you glad that I shortened the title to NaNotes? No? Then maybe you would prefer to call this series NOAFAESAHJTTWNNWMAHQTCOABFTE. Hmm… now that I think about it…

The First Steps in Killing the Buddha

Before we get to the why, we must first deal with the how, like civilized intellectuals. This is how great wars are won—doing instead of thinking. And, what is NaNoWriMo but a war… of words, that is. The ever elusive Buddha is a being that can't be easily killed. As with most ideas, they simply just won't die. So, once you take up this task, you have to be steadfast and not stray from your goal. The same goes for NaNoWriMo, which I'll pivot to in the next paragraph, because reasons.

Focus on meeting the deadline. You only have 30 days to complete the task, so you don't have time to be distracted. Same goes with killing anyone. You don't have all the time in the world to finish your task, so stay focused and be efficient. What are you even doing reading this? Go on and write! But wait, since you're already here, might as well stick around for the big finale, right?

Make an outline and leave room to stray. Set a bare bones outline, with a definite finale. As with any plans, you won't always get the chance to stick to it, so plan your contingencies ahead. I know it's fun to just wing it, but if you don't stay consistent, you'll look more like a dodo bird flapping around rather than a precise eagle diving towards its prey. Guess which species have gone extinct?

Turn off your inner editor. It's tough to consciously stop editing your work as you go along, so at least try to keep it to a minimum. If you want to finish by the end of the month, you would quickly find that being anchored to editing makes it tough to do so. Editing is the problem of next month's version of you. As with killing, you can't critique your work as you go along. You'll get sloppy and you would end up getting caught. So, let's stay out of jail, shall we?

Set up a relaxed environment. If you want to rattle out 1,667 words per day, then you better have a place where you can let your ideas flow. This could be your room, a hipster coffee shop, or the middle of a busy market. Wherever you feel like you're free to let loose and put your thoughts to digital paper, go write there. As with killing, you don't want to execute someone where you're not comfortable with. I mean, you won't always have the luxury to choose where, but if you do, then take advantage of it. Preferrably with tons of exits.

Stock up your arsenal. Writer's block is unavoidable, so find alternative ways to get stuff done whenever it strikes. As with killing, there are a million ways to murder someone. Don't get boxed in with a bullet to the head or asphyxiation. Get creative.

A Violent Turn (of Phrase)

Now that we've rattled off some of the how's, I think it's time discuss the why's. The saying actually came from an old koan attributed to the Zen Master Linji. If you took it literally, then you're farther (or closer) to enlightenment than you thought. As with every other koan, it's symbolic. As much as I want to write a 3,000-word write-up all about it, I'm going straight to the NaNoWriMo connection.

Imagine the "road" as your path to finishing the goal. Whether it's just for NaNoWriMo or your path to becoming an author, the "road" is that path. The Buddha being referred to in the koan is a teacher that seeks to help you travel down that path. It could come in the form of an experienced author or a group of authors trading tips on how to write. Don't get me wrong, this is not a knock on anybody in particular.

Learning from other people's experiences is all well and good, and abiding by basic language structure is a definite plus, but if you lose that fire or what it is that got you into writing, is it all worth it? If writing stops being fun and you're forced to abide by other people's ideals, then you lose your identity as a writer. This isn't a popular opinion, but it's an inconvenient truth.

And yes, I'm fully aware of the irony of me writing tips. Trust me when I say it was all intentional. When I first started in Steemit more than a year ago, I initially posted life lessons so I just wanted to hearken back to it. If anything, I wrote this to emphasize my earlier folly. By all means, kill me.

Guerilla Storytelling (Turn that Shit Up)

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We all have our own unique writing style, so who has the right to say that their style is better than anyone else's? It could be true for the current climate, but ten or a twenty years down the road? That might not be the case. Learn the ropes of writing readable work, then mold it into your own.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not advocating bad writing. I truly believe that if one chooses to write in a certain language, then one has to abide by that language's rules. By no means that they have to be a stickler about it though. If you feel like you want to improve your skill in writing, then there are several groups of Steemians ready to help you out. It's one thing to be happy about what you've written, it's another thing for others to appreciate what you've written as well. The best thing is to find a perfect balance between both. But, the most important thing is that you are happy with what you end up with.

That's why I choose to identify as a storyteller rather than a writer or an author. Writing is just a means to get my story across. Sure, in the past, I've been very vocal about my displeasure of the lack of interaction, but that was the compromise I took. I sacrificed being marketable for my vision. But, that is in no way anyone's fault. I have high hopes that I would build an audience as time goes by.

The road is long, and there are many Buddhas that have yet to show up. Time to get to killing.

NaNo Update

Here's my progress so far:

I've fallen off a bit the other day because I had to do wedding preparations, but I managed to write 90 words, so that's still something. Even one word is progress, right? I've fallen off a bit from my pace last year, but I'm still slightly above the curve.

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Vote @lukestokes.mhth back to the Top 20 Witnesses to make the STEEM flow freely :D

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