NaNoWriMo Day 1

NaNoWriMo Day 1

            I didn’t outline.  I meant to, but procrastinated.  Last night I had a hard time falling asleep in hopes of figuring out the opening to my NaNo novel.  And so it begins.  The month of self-inflicted hell.

            I toyed with the idea for this novel when I first started this blog.  It was the novel mentioned in the blog’s title.  I had ideas stacking up in my head like a madness.  I had most of the story laid out (mentally, not on paper) and was just beginning the first chapters when all hell broke loose.  (yes, the murdered-sister thing). 

            I put the novel aside.  It was gory and scary and focused on an evil that any one of us could possess.  I had more than enough of my share of all those things, I didn’t need to focus on writing a book about them at the time. 

            But somewhere inside, I still wanted to write that story.  I liked the characters, I liked the message, I loved the twists.  So this year, this NaNoWriMo, I’m going to write that original novel that sparked the writers-urge in me years ago.  And you know what? I’ve learned a whole lot about writing since then.  I’ve been published, twice. I’ve self published once. I’ve created the prompt-and-share, reviewed novels and done my share of editing. I’ve completed a writing course, AND, I’ve got one NaNoWriMo certificate under my belt.  That’s the good stuff.

            The not-so-good stuff: I haven’t written in a while.  That trumps all of the positive accomplishments listed above.  When it came time today to sit my butt in that chair and fly the words off the keyboard, I got stuck.  That’s the simple way of putting it.  Stuck.  The true definition of “stuck”? Scared, unsure, self-conscious, weary, leery, confused, over-whelmed and more importantly, doubtful. 

            But here’s the thing, NaNo is about more than writing a novel, it’s about getting into the groove of writing everyday.  And let me tell you, if you don’t keep at it, like any other muscle in your body, it’ll atrophy.  

            So to all of you who got their word count in today – Kudos and congrats! Beyond all the self-doubt and procrastination that reared its ugly head with distractions of all shapes and sizes, I too began my NaNo journey today.