NaNoWriMo - As the Beginning Approaches
I'm not fond of deadlines. There, I've said it, in a statement, like an axiom or a truth. For those who know me, it definitely comes as no surprise. I also hate 'time clocks' and the idea of 'punching in' for work (at the day job). But I realize that it's something with which I have to deal as a 'professional' in almost any career and certainly as a writer. So, one of the specific challenges of the NaNoWriMo for me is not just to write the requisite number of words, but to write them by the deadline. And since I've set the total number a bit higher for myself and I know that I'm going to lose a few working days due to Thanksgiving (yeah, yeah, I know I'm a sentimental fool), that makes things a little bit tighter. That's okay, I'm certain I can do it.
I've written over 3000 words working on the Outline and characters/world-building. By this time, if I were working on my own impulses, I'd be well into the story itself, but can't do that yet so must expend the energy for it somehow. And interesting stuff keeps popping into my mind, of course, which I hastily scribble down in the margins of the Outline to be updated later. My co-workers watch me do this during my breaks (the scribbling) - they're excited for me and already wanting to read the story. The hard part is that some ideas pop up while I'm driving or dealing with someone while at the (public) desk and so I have to wait, holding that little gem in my mind in a safe pocket until I can write it down somewhere (and, yes, I often grab scrap paper and write it down there to transcribe it later).
I'm enjoying the process, the getting ready, the big push and, yes, the discipline of the deadline. I can already understand why it becomes addictive, especially since we get involved with other writers all going through the same process, no matter what they're actually writing. Doing something, a writing something, with other writers as a community is a large part of why it's fun because we simply don't get that chance very often. It's a special and wonderful camaraderie, this going into the fray, not against each other, but against the battle of time, energy, Life itself, ideas petering out, the need for sleep, and numerous other large and small enemies of the muse that drives us forward in the first place.
May the gods look favorably upon us all.
I've written over 3000 words working on the Outline and characters/world-building. By this time, if I were working on my own impulses, I'd be well into the story itself, but can't do that yet so must expend the energy for it somehow. And interesting stuff keeps popping into my mind, of course, which I hastily scribble down in the margins of the Outline to be updated later. My co-workers watch me do this during my breaks (the scribbling) - they're excited for me and already wanting to read the story. The hard part is that some ideas pop up while I'm driving or dealing with someone while at the (public) desk and so I have to wait, holding that little gem in my mind in a safe pocket until I can write it down somewhere (and, yes, I often grab scrap paper and write it down there to transcribe it later).
I'm enjoying the process, the getting ready, the big push and, yes, the discipline of the deadline. I can already understand why it becomes addictive, especially since we get involved with other writers all going through the same process, no matter what they're actually writing. Doing something, a writing something, with other writers as a community is a large part of why it's fun because we simply don't get that chance very often. It's a special and wonderful camaraderie, this going into the fray, not against each other, but against the battle of time, energy, Life itself, ideas petering out, the need for sleep, and numerous other large and small enemies of the muse that drives us forward in the first place.
May the gods look favorably upon us all.