NaNoWriMo ’10

I’m currently 3200 words into this year’s National Novel Writer’s Month. This is my first year participating. In the past I have always been defeated before I even got started by my certainty that I would fail.

There’s nothing on my Author’s Page yet, but you can still check it out by clicking here, if you want.

The biggest difficulty I have with writing is actually sitting down and doing it. Ideas aren’t the problem, and neither is getting the words to flow together… it’s just a complete lack of discipline and a very low threshhold for frustration. This is a common enough issue with would-be writers that NaNoWriMo had to be invented in the first place. The goal is: write a 50,000 word story in one month. It doesn’t have to be a good story, or a coherent one. It doesn’t have to be in the ballpark of actual, marketable work. It just has to be complete.

The idea isn’t to sit down and write a masterpiece, but just to sit down and write. My personal goal is to force writing into my daily routine, so something happens every day. Heck, it worked with this website. It was hard at first, putting something up every day, but now it’s just what I do. Wake up, brush my teeth, post a blog. It’s just life.

So what do I need from you, my loyal readers? Well, two things:

  1. Patience. If at some point during November you log on and see a really crappy one- or two-line blog update, please understand that it’s because I’d already written 2000 words that day and I was burned out from all the typing. Just smile and nod and go on your way.
  2. Encouragement. If at any time you get the inkling that I might be dropping out or quitting, please step up and kick me in the ass. Guilt trips work okay. I might respond better to flattery or mockery.

All I know right now is that I’m writing a mystery. I don’t know what the mystery is yet. I’m hoping something comes to me. And I’ve got another 800 words to write tonight, at least, if I want to stay on par.

Hopefully I’ll have a title and an exerpt up on the NaNoWriMo site by the end of the week, although sharing and feedback aren’t the point here. In any case, wish me luck!

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