Well, November 1st marked the starting gate of NaNoWriMo where you try to write 50,000 words in 30 days! What was I thinking, saying I wanted to do this?!?! But, I have seen many people do this and I am constantly thinking that I could do better when I read a book that was poorly written - and published no less!
For the month of October, I read several different books and blogs, getting me ready to do this thing! I signed up for Storyfix's NaNoWriMo Daily Tips and trolled through the website, looking for divine inspiration. I also created pages of notes from Novel Writing Help's How to Plot a Novel. I learned about hook vs. plot and how to flesh out characters. I saw that there are several elements that are needed for a novel, but don't understand half of what I read!
Needless to say, this was probably the wrong attack for me to take. I started November 1st feeling inadequate and wondering what the heck am I doing here in the first place! I sat down to my free trial of Scriviner and spent time trying to figure out how this software would help me.
Then I faced the blinking cursor! What was I supposed to do? Am I supposed to write something? I have an idea in my head, but how do I get it out? All of the things that I read didn't tell me that!
Yes, I have read all of the tips on how to NaNoWriMo... simply sit down and write, making sure to have checked the Inner Editor into the IE camp where they are kept away from budding authors for the month of November (from No Plot? No Problem!). I liked one tip for people who don't necessarily plan out the whole novel before sitting down. Create 30 topics - one for each day to write on. There is also tell of others who mindmap their novels before writing the first word.
I have been thinking about this story for months, to be honest. It all started with Jane Austen Made Me Do It! I wrote a story for that, expanded it for another contest and thought that this would be a great jumping off point for me. But create it from scratch and tell the story of two young ladies during the Regency.
So, there I sat, staring at that blinking cursor. On October 31st I was ready to start my story, but not so on November 1st! Blink Blink Blink - whatever will I do? I wrote down my topics as 'chapter' headings...not quite thirty, but felt like I might be able to spend a few days on a couple of the topics. Blink Blink Blink...
I started with my first topic, and ran out of steam at 337 words. Okay, let's move on to the next topic. So I did... and got another 1124 words. Still haven't hit that magic number of 1667 for the day. And I will have to do extra each day as I am throwing a week-long trip to Hawaii into the month of November!
I moved on to the next topic... oh, no! THREE topics on the first day?!?! This is disastrous! But, I did manage to write 2081 words yesterday! (There are 549 words up to this point! Oh my! and this was easy writing!)
At least I can say I am attempting NaNoWriMo. We shall see if I emerge victorious at the end of the month. I will try my best and continue the fight. Though, I hope it will not be a fight! I am still waiting for that enthusiasm that is supposed to be evident the first week. Currently, all I feel is dread of the blinking cursor! Maybe once I get everyone else out of my head, with all of the elements they say I need to make a story, I will be able to get more creative. Why couldn't I have been able to write this last month, when the story was bubbling to get out on paper! I need to find that inner spark, fan it, and hope the flame takes!
Any ideas for this floundering, wanna-be writer? Chocolate and Candy Corn didn't help....
