Half Past NaNoWriMo

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

Today is my day to post and, ironically, it’s half way into National Novel Writing Month. If you’re involved in this frenzy, I hope you’re well on your way to fifty thousand words. I just made it past 25,000 today, myself.

My goal this year is to rewrite an unfinished WIP and hopefully finish the manuscript. So far, I have not come up with an idea to finish the novel. Am I worried about that? Yeah, I am a little.

I’d hate to have gone this far only to stall out and not complete the NaNoWriMo goal. What’s keeping me going is that this doesn’t have to be a great work of art. I can just go off on a tangent, have fun, and maybe come up with a better story arc. I’ll guess we’ll just have to see.

As for you, I hope you’re enjoying whatever you’re doing creatively. And if I may say so, wish me luck.

Darla’s Wiley Wednesday

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

Today I’m supposed to impart some sort of writing wisdom. Honestly, I don’t feel qualified. What I can do is follow a theme.

Are you writing your novel yet? Have you signed up for the 2011 National Novel Writing Month? I hope so.

It’s a fun, frenzied time where we learn what we can do if pressuring ourselves to write. So far, I’ve kept up with the quota and already learned more about where my story can go than I dreamed possible.

I hope you’ll join us in NaNoWriMo next year if not this. Just know that it’s not too late to start. Nor is it too late to complete the task if you’re feeling behind.

Happy writing!

To NaNo or Not to NaNo

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

NaNoWriMo is that annual writing frenzy that occupies many writers across the globe.  Some finish, others don’t, but what the participants know that non-participants haven’t learned yet is that it’s the writing that’s important.

I’ve spoken to many people about NaNo in the past, and they’ve responded with statements like “Well, yeah, it’s 50,000 words, but is it any GOOD?”  They look self-satisfied as though that comment should be enough to put the silly idea to rest.

They’re missing the point.  When you write 50,000 or more words of anything, you get better as you go on.  You learn how to sustain long-term output.  You learn how to let the words come out, whether or not you’re in the mood.  The thing about writing a novel is that it’s a long process, it’s not something you can do in a night. 

On the other hand, it IS something that you can do whether or not you are an author yet.  It’s the process of doing it that makes you an author, not whether some external third party bonked you on the head and said “Thus I make thee an AUTHOR!”

So, should you NaNo?

My answer is, do you want to write a novel?

If your answer is yes, then my answer is too.  Why?  Because making the attempt will teach you a lot about yourself.  Many writers have become addicted to the mental masturbation of telling others they’re writers, and saying they’re writers, and talking about what they’re writing; however, they don’t actually write.  It’s hard to sell a novel that you haven’t written, and all the talking in the world won’t write it for you.  The only way to become a novelist is to, well, write novels.  And the only way to do THAT, friends, is to write.

Wish I had some magic potion for you, but I don’t.  That’s all there is to it.

So, I ask you:  do YOU NaNo?

National Novel Writing Month

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by
I can’t believe November is here again already.  Are you ready for a challenge, fellow writers?  Now is the time to dust off your keyboard and start on your novel.

“What’s that?” you ask.  “A novel?”

Well, yes.  All that’s required of you is that you abandon all excuses and just write as fast and furious as you can.

At the end of November we’d like to see you having accrued fifty thousand words toward a WIP.  It might be finished at that point and it might not but the effort is what counts.

That said, I’m going to go back to my work in progress and try to crank out the requisite 1,600 words in a day to start meeting my goal.  Happy writing!