All Wrote Out

Nanowrimo finished on Monday (national novel writing month), so I’ve been taking a break from writing out of sheer creative exhaustion! The challenge was to write 50000 words in a month. The idea being that when you’ve got 50000 words, you have the bones at least of your novel. Most people feel they have a novel in them, but most of them don’t ever write.

Nanowrimo gives them a reason to do it. So, is my ‘novel’ close to done? Nope. What I wrote SUCKS! The story wandered off in a different direction from the one I had in mind, the plot was lost within the first week, and because I didn’t keep a note of salient details about my characters, there are more inconsistencies than words. Well, almost! I seriously doubt that even with some rigorous editing this project will ever see the light of day.

So did I fail? Absolutely not. I now know 100 things I did not know before. I have a better idea of where my writing strengths (and weaknesses) lie. I ‘won’ in Nanowrimo terms – getting 50000 words done. It is an exercise in pure output that I have never done before, and that was an interesting experiment for me. Yeah, what I wrote sucks, but my first attempt at walking when I was little was embarrasingly bad too.

So was my first attempt at riding a bike, and don’t even speak to me about my first attempt at ice-skating! (Actually, I never got any better at that!) The trouble with so many of us is that we’re not prepared to fuck up. So we don’t even try. Guaranteeing failure. There are those who think I ‘wasted my time’ – they are sadly mistaken. I learned HEAPS! And I had fun. And I did it. So I’m really proud of myself for sticking at something even when I didn’t think it was working.

Every great novel started as a first draft that was probably rubbish, comparitavely. And who knows, once I have edited and polished my story, the plot may be found again, the inconsistensies corrected, the genius resurfaced (RAOFL). But even if not, did I waste my time? No. I grew. I challenged myself. I wrote myself hoarse. I’d rather grow and fuck-up than do nothing and watch my soul die.

Love

Donna.x

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Nanowrimo Update – 1 Week To Go

Well, there’s only a week to go until November is over and I’ll either be a Nanowrimo winner (having written 50000 words) or loser (having written less). Of course, whether I win or lose, I will still have learnt some incredilbe things about the process of writing a novel – among which is the need to note down somewhere what my characters do for work so I don’t have to re-read 25000 words to find out!

As of this moment, I am at 35000 words or thereabouts, still have 15000 more to go and I am really wishing I hadn’t started this challenge! But such is the nature of a challenge, it seems like a good idea at the time, then you wonder if you have become bereft of all reason, then you complete the challenge and are enormously proud of yourself and glad you did it.

Then of course comes the resolve never to do such a barmy thing ever again, and 1 year later you find yourself signing up to do exactly that! Lol. So, with only just over a month to go til 2009 ends, what challenge are you going to take up? (if you’re interested in a fun one, make sure you check the blog on Friday for a GREAT challenge!)

Wish me luck with my last 15000 words, and if anyone has any creative energy to send my way…I need it! Thank you!

Love

Donna.x

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A Relaxed Attitude to Goals

Over the weekend, I signed up for NaNoWriMo – the National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write a 50000 word novel in a month. What caught my attention was the ‘rule’ that you just write, you just get on with it, you don’t edit or start again or stop or take time to wonder if it’s any good. You just write 50000 words in a month.

Yesterday morning my ideas woke me up heckling me to write them, which was quite funny and I got about 4000 words done in one day. I’m off to a flying start, and I have no doubt that at some point I will stall and maybe not even finish. But do you know what? I don’t care. If I do it, great. If I don’t, it doesn’t make me a ‘failure’ – it just means I didn’t do it. I am not apathetic about it, I am just relaxed.

There is a big difference between the two. Apathy guarantees that you won’t do a thing. Relaxation guarantees that you’ll enjoy what you do, and that you won’t beat yourself to death with a stick if you don’t do. NaNoWriMo might not appeal to you, but you’ve got 60 days left of this fine year – what could you adopted a relaxed attitude to achieving your goals for the year? Remember if you do it, cool! If you don’t, cool! But if you don’t even start, you definitely won’t get anything done!

Love

Donna.x
PS If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, let me know!

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