NANO FOR FEBRUARY
I belong to a Yahoo group, WordByWord Society (by invitation only); a greater group of gal/writers you can't find anywhere. Tracy Johnson, our illustriest leader, came up with a wonderful idea--we were to have our own special write-a-novel-in-a-month month.
First, I said absolutely not. With my schedule, my teaching, our on-going landscaping project, this blog I don't keep up as well as I'd like, and my edits/rewrites on a collection and a novella I hope to see published soon, I just did not have the time to join in this writing frenzie. Did I?
Well, two of the writers who had read the first seven chapters of a novel I started an eon ago and was buried up to its hub caps in mud, "shamed" me into getting back to the book. I began this project sort of kicking and screaming.
To begin, I had to reread those first chapters again. Although I had given up the book, I had to agree with the ones who had critiqued it so far--it was a beginning. So I started on the next chapter. Man, was that a grind! I struggled for two days to get out 1,000 words--but it moved, even if at a crawl. But at that rate, I'd never complete the book.
I'm one of the by-the-seat-of-the-pants writers. No outline. But I felt at this point I needed to know what I wanted to happen in the remaining chapters of the book. So I took a day to sit down with pad and paper--I often think better with pen in hand--and outlined (how I dislike that word!-LOL) the remaining chapters. The next day I sat down, read my short sketch of that chapter, and began.
The only thing that didn't work was finding time to work on the novel each day. Often it was ten at night before I could get to the computer for that part of my work. Sometimes I managed an hour or two in the middle of the afternoon while hubby played billiards with his friends at the Clubhouse. And so it went for 28 days.
I didn't complete the novel in these days. I am proud, however, of how much I have accomplished with this book I thought would remain in the bottom of the file cabinet forever. I have a road marked to follow in order to finish this book. I am once again enthusiastic about the characters and the solving of the mystery. I completed the outline, rewrote some major parts of the first seven chapters and wrote another approximately 11,000 words of the novel. It doesn't sound like much accomplishment but, thanks to KC and Diana's encouragement, it is more than I ever thought I would accomplishment.
If you don't belong to a writers group, find a good one and join. Good writer friends can make you do the impossible.
First, I said absolutely not. With my schedule, my teaching, our on-going landscaping project, this blog I don't keep up as well as I'd like, and my edits/rewrites on a collection and a novella I hope to see published soon, I just did not have the time to join in this writing frenzie. Did I?
Well, two of the writers who had read the first seven chapters of a novel I started an eon ago and was buried up to its hub caps in mud, "shamed" me into getting back to the book. I began this project sort of kicking and screaming.
To begin, I had to reread those first chapters again. Although I had given up the book, I had to agree with the ones who had critiqued it so far--it was a beginning. So I started on the next chapter. Man, was that a grind! I struggled for two days to get out 1,000 words--but it moved, even if at a crawl. But at that rate, I'd never complete the book.
I'm one of the by-the-seat-of-the-pants writers. No outline. But I felt at this point I needed to know what I wanted to happen in the remaining chapters of the book. So I took a day to sit down with pad and paper--I often think better with pen in hand--and outlined (how I dislike that word!-LOL) the remaining chapters. The next day I sat down, read my short sketch of that chapter, and began.
The only thing that didn't work was finding time to work on the novel each day. Often it was ten at night before I could get to the computer for that part of my work. Sometimes I managed an hour or two in the middle of the afternoon while hubby played billiards with his friends at the Clubhouse. And so it went for 28 days.
I didn't complete the novel in these days. I am proud, however, of how much I have accomplished with this book I thought would remain in the bottom of the file cabinet forever. I have a road marked to follow in order to finish this book. I am once again enthusiastic about the characters and the solving of the mystery. I completed the outline, rewrote some major parts of the first seven chapters and wrote another approximately 11,000 words of the novel. It doesn't sound like much accomplishment but, thanks to KC and Diana's encouragement, it is more than I ever thought I would accomplishment.
If you don't belong to a writers group, find a good one and join. Good writer friends can make you do the impossible.
posted by Barb | 8:59 PM
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