749,689,061. That’s the total NaNoWriMo 2009 word count as of 9:05 am, Pacific Time. My novel is at a very respectable 21,720. But that was week one, the week during which all that easy breezy beautiful first ten to twenty thousand words just pours out, high velocity style. (which is to say, not anything like publishable, but fast and furious.)

Screech! Now we’re into week two. My nanoing daughters and I keep saying, hopefully, to each other, “things are going great, and I haven’t even had to use any tricks yet!” By that we mean: nano tricks.

Such as?

Such as having a character read aloud from the 164 – box of Crayons. Many of the colors have two-word names, bonus! Or, having a character walk on and sing all the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda, and then disappear, never to be seen again. A dream sequence. A sudden recollection of a past life. Two past lives.

But here’s really a neat trick. A few weeks ago I saw the (former Oregon resident and) poet Dorianne Laux give a reading, and one of the poems she read was called “Cher.” The origin of the poem was a challenge from her husband, the poet Joe Millar. He gave her ten words and told her to use them to write a poem meant to say something she’s been wanting to say but hasn’t. Let’s us try it.

Here are ten words:

1. Peat moss

2. Jellybean

3. Post-it Note

4. Convertible

5. Plausible

6. Switch

7. Tooth

8. Curator

9. Fringe

10. Custard cup

You can try this yourself, or — nano trick! — make your character write the poem. It will probably take your character several tries. Record them all in your novel. Good luck.