Colin, I'm a high school teacher in Oklahoma. I teach journalism and a class I call Digital Communications, in which we do a version of 20% Time, but we call them Passion Projects. It's a semester class, so the students only get about 10-12 weeks to work on them. Last fall, I decided to do a project along with them, and mine was to write a novel. Like you, I already had one begun. I had a good idea and had a small start. This project coincided with NaNoWriMo. I wonder if you've heard of it? It's National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November. It's an online community of support and all kinds of goodies. The goal is to get your novel drafted in November. I gave it a shot. I made some headway, but I was more impressed with how much you said you did on your project. 10,000 in one week! Wow! And to make changes mid-way to convert to a graphic novel, well, that's just one of the ways a 20% Time project can teach you to be resilient and flexible. It sounds like you have great ideas and you are not afraid of working hard and reconsidering direction when you need to. I wish you luck as you keep working on a writing life. PS One of my newspaper editors, a senior, just published her first book. She finished it last year as a junior, and with the help of her family, found a publisher, then went through edits and decision making about the cover and such and has been doing book visits to surrounding schools and communities. It can be done. Lisa Snider, @snidesky on Twitter
Colin, I'm a high school teacher in Oklahoma. I teach journalism and a class I call Digital Communications, in which we do a version of 20% Time, but we call them Passion Projects. It's a semester class, so the students only get about 10-12 weeks to work on them. Last fall, I decided to do a project along with them, and mine was to write a novel. Like you, I already had one begun. I had a good idea and had a small start. This project coincided with NaNoWriMo. I wonder if you've heard of it? It's National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November. It's an online community of support and all kinds of goodies. The goal is to get your novel drafted in November. I gave it a shot. I made some headway, but I was more impressed with how much you said you did on your project. 10,000 in one week! Wow! And to make changes mid-way to convert to a graphic novel, well, that's just one of the ways a 20% Time project can teach you to be resilient and flexible. It sounds like you have great ideas and you are not afraid of working hard and reconsidering direction when you need to. I wish you luck as you keep working on a writing life. PS One of my newspaper editors, a senior, just published her first book. She finished it last year as a junior, and with the help of her family, found a publisher, then went through edits and decision making about the cover and such and has been doing book visits to surrounding schools and communities. It can be done. Lisa Snider, @snidesky on Twitter
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