Do we have any Chopped fans who read this blog? For those of you who haven’t seen the show, it is a game show on the Food Network. Four chefs get a basket with four ingredients and have to make an appetizer in 20 minutes. One gets chopped. The next round, four more ingredients, 30 minutes and dinner. Chop. The last round has the final two chefs competing with four more ingredients and 30 minutes to make dinner.
Time is one challenge. But the other challenge is the ingredients. They are, mildly put, challenging to combine into a cohesive and palatable course. An example from Episode 62:
- Appetizer: New Zealand mussels, Bosc pears, marula liqueur, frozen waffles
- Entrée: root beer schnapps, lap cheong, squash blossoms, ostrich tenderloin
- Dessert: puffed rice cereal, horned melon, cashew butter, gummy worms
And so, I submit that NaNoWriMo is my Chopped. First, there are time issues. You have to get it done, if you are playing by the rules. Now, I admit that I have already punted on the rules. At my current pace, I am not going to hit 50,000 words. Since I decided to use NaNoWriMo to finish a manuscript I last looked at a year ago, the numbers could be fudged a bit and the process will still be a success. But still, time is ticking.
And the ingredients are what they are, and you have to use them. There is no time to mull during NaNoWriMo. I find myself typing a name, and then putting a &&& in so that I can go in later and make sure it is right. There are a lot of &&& for me to search in December. The goal is a draft, and I add it all. No editing.
Once I made this connection, I started to have fun. So I get frozen waffles one day? Make it work. A scene takes me in an unexpected direction? Go with it. A new character makes an appearance? Welcome aboard. The cobwebs are being shaken out, and something is getting written. What that something is–I’ll let you know in December.
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J.A. Hennrikus is the Executive Director of StageSource. She is a mystery writer who recently has a new story, “Her Wish” in Dead Calm, an anthology by Level Best Books. She is a huge social media fan, and tweets under @JulieHennrikus.
I am cheering for you and hope you keep us posted on your progress, especially since some have convinced me I should try this next year. Will you write a post after it’s all done and give a synopsis of what you accomplished, what you learned ad/or shared with others who participated and what was most challenging?
Thank you Laura. A couple of other NHWN bloggers are doing it, so we will all keep you posted. And your comment actually helped invigorate me, so thank you!
Yes–I agree with Laura–a post NaNoWritMo post, please! I’d love to hear whether frozen waffles make it into your manuscript. (I think they have to!)
Waffles…and hopefully some good ideas. I’ll let you know!
great way to look at it! perfect parallel. and i love that show!
Thank you! I love that show too–very addicting. I feel empowered to combine odd things from my pantry now.
I remember the this episode of chopped perfectly. I think I’m going to use that as an analogy from now on, “__________ is my frozen waffles.” Yes, I like it.
I wish you the best of luck!
Thanks–I’ll join you in the “________ is my frozen waffles” phrase. Maybe it will catch on!
[...] keeping with Lisa’s and Lee’s posts, I thought I would do a NaNoWriMo update. My goal, as stated earlier, was to finish my manuscript. I failed at the attempt. There was a lot of life that got in the way, [...]