Writing this week. Around 800 words. This entire week.
This includes short story submission to Shotgun Honey. Makes me realize how many bad habits I’ve fallen into since last November… Then I realize, NaNoWriMo is in 26 days.
I’m going to have to go back over the trainwrecks of 2009 and 2010, read them over. This year is the last of the fantasy trilogy. (Idea : Orphaned girl can control forged metal.) I have to reaquaint myself with the characters. I have to do a list of all the plot points I want to cover. Of previous years work, this year might be the most difficult. First year, I could make stuff up and world build the first book, make things up as I went. The second I could introduce more characters and sub-plots, fill those word counts up with fantastic side descriptions and their actions. Ripoff more angst and drama than all soap opera history. The third… this year? I have to wrap it up. I could make this book 3 of 5. But without a finish on the story, it doesn’t get edited. It doesn’t get completed. I can’t do a second draft if I don’t have that ending. I cannot go back and say, ‘Okay that was a big organic mess, let’s strip this down to the core elements, tighten up number of characters, justify the drama and intrigue and begin draft 2 now that I know the characters and world.’
I could do 30 short stories for November. One per day. Yikes! Tempting, but that is a realistic weekly writing goal. 1 story per week. 52 stories. Flash Fiction. Musings. Rants. (Gods help me, poetry?) Double or triple up some weeks as I know there will be some weeks when I will not be able to do any writing at all. Then post these up. As any person who wants their creative work exposed to the world for feedback needs; put it out for the world to read. (Thanks Leo)
So what is NaNoWriMo? In a nutshell, you write 1667 words per day. Everyday in November. It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to be well thought out. It doesn’t have to be truly creative or new. It just has to be 50’000 words by November 30th midnight.
This is just an exercise to get rid of the crap writing. It is a challenge that anyone who wants to write for a living or pursuing the passion must try. To find the daily habit and keep going. To find elegance and style within the upcoming 10’000 hours or 1 million words, whatever it takes before you become Good at it.
Work the craft by working on the craft.
Get that daily journal and writing in over at 750words.com or 3 pages of handwritten daily journaling in first, then start on the 1667 per day. Note to self: Rewrite my NaNo oath, revise and update it.
In order to do this, I am going to drop all the indecisiveness and just write.
Don’t hesitate, just write.
Anything else is just good intentions. And that doesn’t get the story written.
I’m still here,
Pearce
(Word count for week including this sentence, 1300.)
Pearce Kilgour 