Final Word Count: July 21, 2011- 0 words; 0 journal pages
I don’t know where my day went today. Yesterday was unexpected so it was a complete write off. Another lesson I learned.: write whenever I can because who knows what kind of unexpected events will happen.
Well, today didn’t even start off too promising. I slept in from a stressful night before and tried getting some work done on the bus ride in but hit a bit of a brick wall. I realized that perhaps my “social life” chapter will overlap the “friends” chapter too much so maybe I need to consolidate them. It was hurting my head to figure it ut so I skipped to the next one.
I misjudged the timing as far as work went and am quickly losing the time I thought I had between work and going out tonight. It’s amazing how the heat, among other things, can zap you. To be honest, I’m finding it hard to finish this piece. I’m just not in the proper frame of mind (I didn’t even have the heart to pun there) to work on this. Maybe after tonight I’ll be a little less preoccupied with things and can settle back down. You know the feeling when you’ve been in one position for too long and all of the sudden realize you have to stretch, like RIGHT NOW? Well, that’s how I feel. I have all sorts of buzzing, nervous energy zipping through my body and I don’t know exactly what will help dissipate it.
Today would have definitely been a good day for a “to do” list.While seeing what needs to be accomplished can be daunting, seeing each item ticked off is a pretty great sense of productivity and highly satisfactory. Come to think of it, it’s never too late to write a list up so here we go…
12 Novels in 12 Months 
Hi, Sandra,
I don’t like giving unsolicited advice, but I think I have an idea what’s happening with you/your story (I’ve been there and I’ve met other writers in that situation). If you like, ask 🙂
Hahaha no worries, advise away! It’s amazing what insights people may glean from my posts that I’m too obtuse to realize. Sometimes the truths have to be literally spelled out for me so I welcome any and all criticisms, feedback ,encouragements and suggestions. Thanks for your help!
Looks like you discovered yourself one of the things I’m about to comment on: pacing (yourself, not the story). As for spelling it out: You’re suffering from a slight bout of *W*R*I*T*E*R*S* *B*U*R*N*O*U*T*
You’re running your brain in a marathon, but you’re trying to push it like for a sprint, and it starts complaining, asking for a time-out. Perhaps a better example: Projects like yours, started with a lot of enthusiasm, are very similar to falling in love, or having a crush on someone. Waking up, going to sleep and anytime in between we can’t halp but think about [fill in name] – no relief, and we enjoy it. But after a few weeks this immense energy surge begins to wear off, our body needs time to recharge. This stage is decisive for building a lasting relationship (in this case: with your 12 months/12 novels project) and also the time to choose: continue or not. Pushing is not a great help because, who knows, are you pushing in the right direction? If there is a sufficient resource of power to pull you up to the end then go on, it will sustain you.
My advice:
1. Finish that first novel, as fast as you can and no matter what the outcome is like. The only thing that matters is not to give up before you finished the first draft. Then put it in a drawer, forget about it, take your brain on holiday and rethink how you structure and pace the rest of your project.
2. Declare one day a week as a non-writing day. Don’t even think about your novel, give your brain a rest, the opportunity to balance and to sort itself out. Those are the days when zeros turn into flowers and smileys.
3. For the other days, set a minimum writing goal and stick to it – no matter what. Set it low, like 300 words or 15 minutes, so there’s no room for excuses. If you keep repeating the same word or phrase until you get to the end, that’s fine, too. (Still better for your self-confidence to get 300 silly words down than not to start on meaningful 2000.)
4. Whatever is bothering you, leave it for revision. Take a short note like “revision: check”, then write again (or write on) the way you want to, without looking back or making changes to what you’ve written. I’ve heard that many authors dread revision – for me it’s the most fun part. The first draft is like baking a sponge cake from ingredients like imagination and research. Revision is cutting the cake into layers, filling and decorating it, making it special. (By the way, from the 50k I wrote during the last NaNoWriMo, I know already that I’m going to scrap 20k.)
5. Being stuck with a chapter often indicates that something’s wrong with it. You might have gone off on a sidetrack, you might be bored because there’s nothing of importance at stake, or your characters might be bored because nothing really changes. On NaNoWriMo, one recommendation is to introduce a surprise, like having a tiger jump onto the road in front of your MC, but I prefer a way that contributes directly to the story: Interview your characters. In form of a Q&A session, ask them one at a time what THEY think is wrong with this chapter/the story, and what THEY dread or would like to see happening. Keep on writing both your questions and the character’s answers until you both have said all you wanted to.
Have fun, and keep going until you finished that first draft 🙂 You can do it!
Afterthought: Maybe check out “Forward Motion” (www.fmwriters.com), a free writers’ community where they do challenges and marathons all year round.
Thank you so much for both posts! I had a whopper of a week so writing about myself just wasn’t as sparkly as I needed, especially in the chapter i was working on. It’s funny you compared this to dating/falling in love because as a single girl, I’m open to possibilities but once one crosses my path it knocks me for a loop. So between a difficult work week, possible romances, a difficult chapter to put down on paper I was in emotional overload. I actually caved over the weekend and had my first cigarette in 5 years. Thank God I didn’t finish it- it’s cured me of this awful craving for good. Never again!
I got through all that baloney and took it easy over the weekend. I watched a lot of movies between walks with the dog, started cleaning my room (it looks like my closet had a severe projectile vomiting episode) and treated myself to dinner out.
I’m super happy to report that I’m on track and the remaining chapters should be much more enjoyable to write so I’m really looking forward to week.
I’ll definitely check out the link you shared. Thank you!