In the wonderful words of my author friend, Lisa: May the flow be with you!
Today is indeed the first day of the rest of your writing life, especially if you’re a fiction writer and participating in Nanowrimo, the popular annual 30-day novel-writing challenge.
Well, it’s already been a tumultuous first day as I embark on this wild writing journey!
Letting my wonderful muse take me by the hand, I fell into productive creative flow quite easily. I’ve stopped myself for the moment at 2,022 words,coming up for air, right in the middle of a sentence.
I’ve decided I will aim to write approximately 2,000 words daily during my allotted time to work on my novel. Then I’ll have a break, get some exercise, and get on with accomplishing the other necessary tasks I have on my to do list for today.
I’ll consider returning to writing more later on during any particular day only if I’m really itching to, have the energy to go for it, and circumstances are in my favour to do so.
If not, I’ll let myself feel good in the knowledge that I’ll be back at it tomorrow, same time, same place.
I’m being cautious not to risk getting burned out too early in the game.
Also,I’m not going to succumb to worry and the tyranny of the ‘shoulds’ telling me to write as much as I can right now straight out of the gate, even if I don’t know what’s in store for the next 29 days.
I’ve also decided to remain faithful to my original novel idea and plan despite getting a bit distracted last week with two new amazing ideas for books which make my heart race with the possibilities. But I’m not going after them.
I’m sticking with my original idea and notes I plan to work on for Nano. My main character deserves her story to be told, not to wait any longer because of fickle me abandoning her and becoming infatuated with yet another new and shiny writing whim.
That said, I’ve taken the time to make notes about these exciting new premises for stories,and told myself I’m definitely going to pay attention to those great ideas after I’m done hammering out my rough draft of this current novel with these characters, this November.
In case you missed them, here are a few posts I’ve written recently about preparing and doing Nanowrimo this year for the first time:
Fear of Nanowrimo - My guest post over at the Fear of Writing website.
8 great writing resources to help you get prepared for Nanowrimo - A whole whack of great free resources I found online to help you with your writing all year long!
By the by, I’ve also just discovered Storybook, a free, open source novel-writing program that looks quite helpful. It promises to help writers keep an overview of multiple plot-lines while writing books, novels or other written works. I’m looking forward to trying it out to see how it enhances my novel-writing experience.
If you’re participating in Nanowrimo this year, how did your first day go? If you’re working on other creative projects instead, feel free to share how it’s going for you in the Comments. Happy creating in November, all!
I love the relaxed way you’re approaching Nanowrimo, Carole Jane. I learn over and over again that being relaxed about it is really the best way to go. It makes us so much more open to all the magic that the muse brings! I look forward to hearing more about your progress over the course of the month.
Charlotte Rains Dixon recently posted..Writing Every Morning
Hi Charlotte,
Yes, I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but I really am enjoying the writing process for Nano a LOT more than I anticipated based on my experience with my writing practice up to now. I think I’m feeling less pressure because I know for sure it’s a rough draft, and it’s for my eyes only for now. My muse also seems to love the discipline of writing every day, usually at the same time. I’ve written 13,000 words already
Remarkably healthy plan, Carole! Thank you for sharing it with us!
I think there is as much value in knowing when to stop as there is in just starting a project/adventure. Pacing is vital. As with the ocean, when incoming waves don’t stop, they flood and overwhelm us.
Beautiful picture of movement of water pushing in from the sea and going back out, natural rhythm, stopping and going, ebb and flow in balance. Peaceful, constant, dependable. It syncs with your first day of Nanowrimo beautifully.
Best wishes for your journey.
So glad my ocean waves digital collage ‘spoke’ to you; had fun making it to accompany this post. I have taken quite a few pictures there at my favourite beach/place in the whole world, in the south shore coastal region of Nova Scotia. I dream of having a seaside cottage there someday! Ebb and flow in balance! Such poetry in your comment. Thanks
Bless all you NaNoWriMo’ers! I love your approach, Carole Jane — it reminds of the long-distance runner’s strategy: not to start out too quickly, but to pace yourself. I’d be so interested to hear how you felt about Storybook. I’ve always been intrigued by writing programs, but always fall back on the old-fashioned word processing, note cards, binders method. Good luck!
Melissa Crytzer Fry recently posted..Spooky Spines
Thanks for the well wishes, Melissa. I really love the idea that I’m using the same strategy as a long-distance runner;brings back memories of all the excitement watching those marathons during the Olympics this past summer! I think (hope) I’ll have enough stamina to really pour on the writerly juice in the final lap of this Nano race and finish strong. I’m curious to see how it’ll all play out
I’ll let you know about Storybook. I literally just found it two days ago, and haven’t had much time to check it out thoroughly yet. I’m still using the ‘old-school’ method too, plotting with my colour-coded index cards, keeping records in notebooks, paper printouts of documents in binders. Maybe I’ll just try Storybook for Draft #2