Sunday, October 22
Ten
I spent the weekend walking the dogs and raking leaves, it seemed. I did other stuff -- mowed the lawn, saw a Norway travel movie, uh, watched baseball, read, etc. -- but the walking of dogs and raking of leaves is what I'm thinking of now. Because while the body goes through the motions, the thoughts are free to wander: free-range brain.
And so I thought of the coming month, National Novel Writing Month, and what a freak show it is. And how now it seems I can't help but do it again. I've done it four times before; I've signed on for a fifth. I've got a story lined up, and as my brain wandered while raking or walking or mowing, it pondered some threads in the story, added background threads, moved the story forward in my brain (and this afternoon, out of the brain and onto paper).
But make no doubt: NaNo is a freak show. It's no way to write a good novel, a novel that will be published, a novel that will help me land an agent. It's a great way to get the first draft, but the goal to complete it in 30 days is crazy. So this year maybe I'll start early, and try to write 50k during the month, but then keep going. Get the habit, keep the habit, but just the habit. Not try to finish the whole thing.
Who am I kidding. Ten days to go.
And so I thought of the coming month, National Novel Writing Month, and what a freak show it is. And how now it seems I can't help but do it again. I've done it four times before; I've signed on for a fifth. I've got a story lined up, and as my brain wandered while raking or walking or mowing, it pondered some threads in the story, added background threads, moved the story forward in my brain (and this afternoon, out of the brain and onto paper).
But make no doubt: NaNo is a freak show. It's no way to write a good novel, a novel that will be published, a novel that will help me land an agent. It's a great way to get the first draft, but the goal to complete it in 30 days is crazy. So this year maybe I'll start early, and try to write 50k during the month, but then keep going. Get the habit, keep the habit, but just the habit. Not try to finish the whole thing.
Who am I kidding. Ten days to go.
