I feel younger as time passes
No one warned me of this
The burdens of responsibility
I carried for years
Are gone
Dysfunctional family
Jealous adversaries
Gone
All gone
Now, as I enter the infancy
Of old age
I am freer than I was as a child
Today I thrive

All I knew was
I wanted sanity
Respect
Space in which to grow
I feel like dancing in the morning
By mid-day I want to burst into song
I smile as I drift off to sleep at day’s end
I have energy to do what I want to do
There is no hurry for anything
I look to the future with humor
Wondering what I will do next
Or who I will become

I live a life of wonder
Not always comfortable
Because walking into the unknown
No matter how sweet it is
Is a challenge
I live a life of joy
Mixed with sorrow
As awareness heightens
With each passing day
I am fully who I am every moment
No longer bound by conventions
Imposed by others
I believe whatever I believe
And leave the rest for someone else to think about
I walk with the God of my understanding
As a well-loved child
© 2011 Beth NoLastName

 I know! I know! If you are due to write a book, you need first to have some idea of what you are going to write about. I have no clue! I am still struggling with the fact that the word novel implies fiction. My life has been interesting to say the least. It reads better than any fiction I can think of. Fiction. Make something up. Make it fresh and new, so I will enjoy writing it. Create characters. Play God.

I started a grand story last year and fell in love with my lead character...the sweetest robot this side of Texas. It's close to Halloween. It would be cool to raise the dead and let that sweetheart come back to life, but the rule for NaNoWriMo is to start clean with a blank screen and an entirely new story. I doubt that everyone does that, but I like the concept, so I will make the attempt.

I considered writing a trashy novel. I bet I'd be good at it, but the problem afterward would be I wouldn't want anyone to read it! A sex scene a day for thirty days. That would surely take up the word count! It would probably become a best seller, too. I could make CD's to sell with it. I could start the TV program SEDUCING AMERICA.  

Huh? Yup, That's fiction writing. It's a matter of taking myself out of character and creating a character with it. I could write a novel about a woman who writes trash novels, etc.

I might be getting somewhere with this. 

And then again, can I use my time more creatively and come up with something akin to The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh? THAT is creative writing. THAT is a challenge. Innocence in today's age. Drama, intrigue, humor, philosophy and no sex. Wait! That sounds like my present life!  That's not fiction!

A Novel.  A completely fictional piece that will hold my attention long enough to record it. I dunno.  I think I am better off to do as other people do. Just write about  my zany life, change a few names, distort a few facts and call it fiction. 

The working title is THE BOOK I NEVER WANTED TO WRITE

I'm sixty-three. Will that qualify it as an historical novel? Are we laughing yet?