This post is a means by which to propel me into writing action. I’ve been writing romance for several years. I even have a couple of woeful manuscripts to my name, including an anatomically incorrect Mills & Boon novel which I co-wrote in my teens.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve had less time to devote to writing and I need to get back into a routine. One of my reasons for starting this blog was to curb my tendency to over edit. I’m a perfectionist by nature and I’d gotten into the habit of over editing and over analyzing each and every page of whatever project I was currently working on. The result: several abandoned manuscripts and a serious crisis of confidence.
When I heard about the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to get my writing mojo back on track. The idea of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000-word novel between the 1st and the 30th of November. This means an output of around 1,667 words per day. In order to achieve such a goal, I won’t have time to do any editing until the month is over. (This is not stated in the official guidelines, but it is my rule for myself.) This will in all likelihood result in a spectacularly crappy book, but at least it will be a book with a beginning, a middle, and – most importantly – an END! As Nora Roberts famously put it: “You can’t fix a blank page.”
So what does this mean for the blog? I currently have a self-imposed schedule of 5-6 posts per week. Throughout the month of November, I plan to reduce this to 3-4. Perhaps I’ll manage to stick to my usual schedule, plus write 1,667 words per day, but I doubt it.
If anyone would like to submit a guest post or review to be published in November, please e-mail me at sarah at monkeybearreviews.com, or via my contact form. With the notable exception of spammers, I’m open to submissions from everyone, so please don’t feel shy if you aren’t a blogger.
For those interested, here’s a link to my incredibly uninspired and uninformative NaNo profile.
Happy Halloween!
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Good luck! I don’t even think of editing for this, I just write and write and hopefully when I go back and read, I can understand what I wrote.
You maybe surprised by how much you can write when you have a deadline and the initiative.
@katiebabs Thank you! It’s nice to know a few other people who are also NaNoing. As always, it’s a matter of making the time. That means forcing myself to get up at dawn to get an hour done before the kids wake up. Not looking forward to that!
Okay, here’s my official admission. As usual, it won’t be brief.
I wrote a bad romance in my 20s. In fact, I may have written more than one. I wrote a bad romance in my 30s. I started one in my 40s, but within two chapters, I realized my heroine was suffering from clinical depression and needed psycho-pharmaceuticals not a love interest, so I put her out her misery.
But I’ve had plots, characters, even titles stored in my head for over 15 years. All involving lawyers: nice, smart, good-looking lawyers who work hard, win their cases, and win over each other’s hearts. Yup — that’s right, I want to write paranormals. (Hey, we lawyers are called “blood suckers” — why should vamps get all the hot chicks?)
Still, nothing happened for ages, and I’d actually concluded it would never happen, but then I got turned on to Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare-and-Russ novels, and everything changed. It’s like having someone hand you the answer to some riddle you’d forgotten you once struggled to work out, or the key to a long-overlooked cabinet with heirlooms inside. I wrote half-a-novel in six weeks over the summer, then stopped. No particular reason, or rather nothing is wrong with the book. More a hitch in my thinking.
Writing is a great goal to pursue, and I think NaNoWriMo is a wonderful thing. I signed up because a couple years ago I did NaPoBloMo (or whatever it was called) — a similar push to get people to post to their blog daily. I was a good doobie and kept it up all month! So I can do this — I can write 50,000 words in a month. Not sure that will be enough for a full romance, but we can see.
So I’m in. Oh, and I read the fine print on the NaNoWriMo site — I’m not allowed to pick up “The Cost of Happiness” (see? it already has a title and everything) mid-stream. So I’m starting a new romance. And trust me, I have a few to choose from in that file folder in my head. But one in particular has been knocking around, so it’s pretty much ready to go.
In 25 minutes!
Good luck with Nanowrimo! I also wrote several bad romances in my youth. But I eventually decided reading was more fun than writing. =/
@Magdalen I’ve added you as a NaNoWriMo buddy. Best of luck!
@heidenkind Thank you. A cursory glance through my first 1732 words made me shudder but I’m resisting my internal editor and persevering.
I read NaNoWriMo’s welcome & introductory email out loud to my husband, who is also my “external editor.” He smiled at the characterization of my internal editor as a “nitpicky jerk” and conceded he was as well. But you know what: he’s never written a novel, so screw `em. (Figuratively speaking.)
The NaNo insanity has begun! heh heh heh.
Ignore the inner editor. Mine is on vacation.
Good Luck Sarah
NaNoWriMo is completely passing me by but will check out various links!
Good luck, Sarah. I have a friend who’s NaNoing too; she’s determined to finish a story! I’ll keep tabs on both of you.
@Magdalen I see you already have an impressive word count. My heroine has already changed her profession and I’m only on Chapter Two…
@katiebabs Have fun!
@Leontine Thank you. A lot of people we follow on Twitter seem to be doing NaNoWriMo, so you probably won’t be able to escape it.
@Carolyn Thanks! And best of luck to your friend.
Good luck! I’m not an aspiring writer myself, but I have many friends who are so I just wish them all the best. Hope you have a good, productive month!
@Lynn Spencer Thanks, Lynn!
Well, at least you’re on Chapter Two. I’m still in Chap. One, the hero has just arrived (I think he’ll keep that name) and I still haven’t ironed out his entire backstory.
Plus, it’s late-ish on Day 2, and I’ve only now logged on. We’re on holiday at a mountain resort, and I’ll have to tip-tap for most of the evening to get caught up. Luckily we have a fireplace in our room. http://www.mohonk.com/