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NaNoWriMo Day 4
Nov. 4th, 2009 08:03 pmI wrote 3,211 words on my nano novel today. Then I opened the file for another story I'm writing (working title "If You Catch Me" but ultimately to be called "Fast Friends")...and I had nothing. The novel effort seems to be soaking up all my writing mojo. I may try again later tonight, but I don't hold out much hope.
So, with a little less than an hour left before I had to drive downtown to pick up my lovely and talented wife from work, I opened the Nano file again and added 644 additional words. I figured, the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can get back to writing other stuff.
But while I was working on it, I had an epiphany. I could see the flaws (the big, big flaws) in this story. Which, to be clear, I was aware of from the beginning. But I realized I knew what those flaws are, and that I also knew what I needed to do in future to do better. (I have no intention of trying salvage this novel once it's done. It's practice. I'll finish it, celebrate having done so, and then file it where it will never see the light of day again.*) But the next novel will be better.
And that's when it hit me. I caught myself thinking about the next novel. I realized that a) I was learning from this, and b) that I was contemplating doing it again. Not for NaNoWriMo either, but with Intent to Publish in the First Degree. Wow. Maybe writing this terrible, terrible mess of a novel isn't just finger exercises. Maybe I am actually learning something from doing so.
To be perfectly honest, my lovely and talented wife has said as much to me. She's been incredibly supportive, not just of my bellyaching over NaNoWriMo, but of my writing efforts in general. I appreciate that immensely. She's said that this was practice, practice with my process--which I'm stretching from short stories to novels, a learning experience. And I agreed. Intellectually. But today I grokked it in fullness, as Valentine Michael Smith might say.
I'm learning more from this experience than I expected I would. And that's great. It's liberating. And now, on with the countdown!
Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,855 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 11,010 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30
Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: TWO!
So, with a little less than an hour left before I had to drive downtown to pick up my lovely and talented wife from work, I opened the Nano file again and added 644 additional words. I figured, the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can get back to writing other stuff.
But while I was working on it, I had an epiphany. I could see the flaws (the big, big flaws) in this story. Which, to be clear, I was aware of from the beginning. But I realized I knew what those flaws are, and that I also knew what I needed to do in future to do better. (I have no intention of trying salvage this novel once it's done. It's practice. I'll finish it, celebrate having done so, and then file it where it will never see the light of day again.*) But the next novel will be better.
And that's when it hit me. I caught myself thinking about the next novel. I realized that a) I was learning from this, and b) that I was contemplating doing it again. Not for NaNoWriMo either, but with Intent to Publish in the First Degree. Wow. Maybe writing this terrible, terrible mess of a novel isn't just finger exercises. Maybe I am actually learning something from doing so.
To be perfectly honest, my lovely and talented wife has said as much to me. She's been incredibly supportive, not just of my bellyaching over NaNoWriMo, but of my writing efforts in general. I appreciate that immensely. She's said that this was practice, practice with my process--which I'm stretching from short stories to novels, a learning experience. And I agreed. Intellectually. But today I grokked it in fullness, as Valentine Michael Smith might say.
I'm learning more from this experience than I expected I would. And that's great. It's liberating. And now, on with the countdown!
Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,855 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 11,010 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30
Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: TWO!