Moving Day

I've moved to www.ahashtaglife.wordpress.com!

Sometimes, the best stories happen in real life.

For humorous true stories about Facebook addicts, eccentric grandmothers, genius preschoolers and more, visit my blog, #Life.

NaNoWriMo

And, I've begun the great 30-day race to 50K words! I'm exactly seven days into the marathon and I'm on track at 10,136 words. I've decided to write weekly blog updates to save my creative writing energy for the actual novel.

NaNoWriMo isn't as intimidating as I had first thought. 50,000 words sounds monstorous and overwhelming. Yet, 1700 words per day is quite manageable, as long as I stay on track. On November 2nd, I only wrote 180 words and had to write double the next day to catch up. The hardest part is to buckle down for an hour or so, tune out the world, and just write. I've given up Facebook for the month - yes, I am one of those people.

Day #1 was a struggle - a battle, really, against my perfectionist side. Immediately after I wrote the first paragraph, I hated it. My fingers itched to go back, move commas and sentences around, change names and personalities, rework the dialogue. But I forced myself to move forward. I knew, if I had to write 1700 words a day, I absolutely could not go back to edit. My rule is that I can only go back to add more words.

I have written a total of four whole novels (including one I wrote over email with my cousin) in the past. I started out with a handful of interesting characters. I knew the beginning and I had a vague idea of the end. Then, armed with this small amount of information, I would write a story.

I like what Alex, from Alex & Emma, says, after Emma asks, "How can you write a book if you don't know the end?" He responds with, "Because I know the characters and they tell me where the story goes."

That's exactly how I've always written books. But my NaNo book is different. It had to be. Like Alex in Alex & Emma, I also have only 30 days to write an entire novel. I can't just allow my characters to decide their own paths, taking their own sweet time in doing it. I don't have time for that. I had to have a plan.

I took many notes leading up to November 1st, and it's amazing how much easier it is to write 1700 words a day, when you have a solid vision of where the story is going. Everything flows - character's motivations are clear and upcoming events can be foreshadowed. I think I can save tons of time in the editing process by plotting the story out before I write it.

But, enough talk...I have 1700 words waiting to be written.

Until next time...

Just Keep Writing

Last Friday, agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a thought-provoking post: What If There Were No Money In Writing? which discussed how the publishing world is rapidly changing and it's becoming much harder to make a decent living from writing alone. She concluded with, "Would you still write? Would you self-publish? Just enjoy writing as a hobby? Would you hang it up altogether? I understand you’re a writer because you want to be read… but how much of that is about getting paid? If there were no money in writing, what would you do?"

I know what I'd do.

In the words of Finding Nemo's Dory, I'd "just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

I love to write. I have to write. The thoughts trapped in my head beg to be released on paper, whether or not anyone reads them at all. Writing is my joy.

I've spent the last hour or so reading up on temporal lobes, cerebral cortexes, and brain shearing.  I've studied up on narcolepsy and hh bloody type for the past week for my NaNoWriMo novel. Not because I love science that much. Or brains. Or sleep. Or blood. (ACK!)

But, because I love to create other worlds that feel so real, you could practically fall into them through the pages. Like Alice through the rabbit hole.

I may not write for a living. But I MUST write to live.

Marathon Writing

50,000 words. 30 days.

Sounds like the tagline for some sort of writing horror film, does it not?

Actually, the real tagline for NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) is "Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon" which sounds slightly cheerier, wouldn't you agree?

My writerly comrades (Alex and Colin) and I are about to set off on a whirlwind race against the clock to pen 50,000 words of a novel. We start in only 14 days. Gulp. Where did I put my running shoes?

I wrote CYNDER in a year. My latest book will be penned in November. There will be no fussing over comma placement, or returning again and again to Chapter One to rewrite paragraph #14. There is no turning back. I will write straight through to 50,000 words, whether it be sloppy, slobby, or messy. Oh! Will my perfectionist self be able to endure it?

Yes. I must. I will prevail.

 Tune in on November 1st to hear the gunshot sound. And watch the race begin.