The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it. - Ernest Hemmingway
Happy Monday Wrimos!
Six days into the challenge, how’s the writing going for you? I’ve got about 7,200 words down so far, which sounds like a lot, but is also a little bit behind what I wanted to accomplish, especially after this weekend, but things happen. Life happens. Naps happen.
And if you don’t think naps are necessary for writerly success, take a read at my Writing Tips post, 4 Reasons Why Breaks Are Good For Your Productivity. So, I only wrote around 1,200 words this weekend (most of which were on Saturday night), but I’m not stressed, because I know I’ll make it back up and get back to what NaNoWriMo calls “to par”, eventually. Especially if I keep word-vomiting like I do.
And on the subject of word vomit: this draft is not pretty, and that’s the point.
For an event like NaNoWriMo, especially if you’re writing a novel completely from scratch like I am (a handful of story/character notes and some dialogue puts me firmly in the Pantser category), then it’s really more about getting a framework to go back to and make pretty later. I even tweeted the other night about writing a line that foreshadows the CRAP out of the book I’m planning to write to follow up on #GroundhogOne, but dude, for the life of me, I can’t remember what that line was. I scanned through the document to see if I could find it, but I can’t. I know it’s there, and when I read closer, I’m sure I’ll find it.
And let’s talk about why I’m not reading closer right now: because I can’t stop myself from editing the things I read.
I just can’t. It’s that decade I spent working in PR, which gives me very little self-control when it comes to editing (also eating, which is why I don’t keep sweets in the house, because I KNOW I will eat it all in one sitting, but that’s another story). So, I’m not reading closely what I’m writing of #GroundhogOne because I know I’ll get myself stuck and start editing, and when you’re doing something like trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days, nobody has time for that. Especially not me. So, sure the grammar’s atrocious and the sentences are formatted weird and I don’t even know what I’m saying half the time, but there’s time to go back into it and fix it later.
And back to what Hemingway’s talking about, you can’t finish a book you never write. So, I’m committed to focusing on writing the story, and once I’m done, I’ll go back and make it pretty.
So, here’s to a productive week of NaNo-ing or just writing, whatever you’re doing.
*#MondayMotivation quote found on my Pinterest Board: Inspirational Quotes About Writing
