So, I set out to participate in nanowrimo to help motivate me to get my word count up and hinder my attempts at procrastination. As the title of this post suggests, I didn’t accomplish what I had set out to do. Or, did I? I was about 37,000 words shy of the goal for the thirty day write-a-thon. Do I feel a little disappointed in my results? In honesty, I would have to answer both yes and no. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t manage to turn out the 1,667 words a day that I would have needed to hit the 50K mark in thirty days, but I’m elated at how much about myself and the process I’ve managed to learn over those thirty days.
I’ve learned some things about my style, grammatical methods, sentence techniques, and plot pace, as well as, some of my personal limitations. I’ve learned that I have to sit quietly for a period of time before I ever start tying and think about the scene I’m going to write and how it affects my characters mentally and emotionally. If I don’t, I go the through the motions of writing and look back to find that the spark of life needed to ignite my story and characters went out before it could burn due to a lack of imaginative oxygen. That may seem a little dramatic, but I mean every word. I want my store breath the oxygen of my imagination and catch fire to burn it’s own paths through forest of blank pages. If it doesn’t then I’ll gather my coals that still radiate some heat, throw some new kindling on top, and blow creativity at it until it burns.
Sure. I might eventually find the story if I hack at the keyboard long enough, and sometimes I have to, but it’s usually easier if I get in the mindset of my characters and put myself in their shoes before I type a single word. Most of the time I can read over a few of the passages from my last session and pick right up where I left off in a matter of minutes, but sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes I sit and stare at the screen for a while or let my eyes drift around my office hoping to find an idea somewhere…anywhere. Those times are rare, but they happen.
I fell like I’m starting to ramble on, so I’m going to wrap this one up with some questions. Did you participate in NaNoWriMo 2009? Did you come out a winner or a loser, like me? Either way, what experiences or lessons did the venture leave you with? Please respond in the comments. I’m interested in other people’s writing experiences, and I would love to hear yours.
Until Next Time,
Jerry W. Stewart
