November 16, 2009 | The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekly NaNoWriMo Update,Writer Moment,Writing Movements
CLICK ON THE ICON TO VIEW MY PROGRESS.
I didn’t write anything for three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Not even during my breaks or lunch last Friday. With the daily required word count, and my normal writing process, I should, for all intents and purposes, be writing close to a chapter a day.
Two weeks in and I’m still working on Chapter Two.
Writing this particular book for the challenge has proven difficult for me. I’m feeling a little lackluster about it and that’s a little alarming to me. I could blame it on the interference of school and trying to readjust to that. Or that Auntie Flow is here for her monthly visit. But it’s none of those things.
I think it’s the pressure of forcing myself to write every day. Of knowing that I have to write every day, that I have to pound out a certain amount of words each day, that’s getting me down. Writing is fun for me, but it stops being fun when I have to do it. I should want to write, right? Because I can’t get the words out fast enough. Because I’m hearing conversations in my head. Because I’m picturing scenes in my head.
When I read blogs of other YA authors, I was jealous that they could write fast. I wanted to be like them and be able to crank out three chapters in one night. If they posted something about their writing process, I would try it. And then wonder why it didn’t work.
Because I’m not them.
I’m me.
It took me a long time to realize that I have to find a process that works for me.
Outlining a story first doesn’t work for me.
Answering 100 questions about my characters doesn’t work for me.
Committing to a certain daily word count doesn’t work for me.
Forcing myself to write every day when there’s nothing to squeeze out doesn’t work for me.
National Novel Writing Month doesn’t work for me.
I’d like to think that my writing process could change. Maybe if I don’t do an outline next time. Maybe if I work on an anthology of short stories instead of a novel. Maybe I can try other writing challenges and work my way up to this one. Maybe I’ll try harder to write on the weekends. That’s a lot of maybes.
I know me. I know the way my mind works. I know the writing process that works for me. I may not get to 50k, but I’ll be writing on my terms. And it’ll still fun.
Wendy Prior says:
Yay you! So really the whole process has been worth something, it’s shown you what’s really important to YOU which is what matters after all! Five thousand words that are good words are worth a hundred times more than fifty thousand you can’t do a thing with. Why waste a month?
Celise says:
Wendy – True. I just really needed to realize that I have to work at my own pace. I’m not going to stress about making a daily word count anymore. I’m writing every day and that’s good enough for me.