This Novel-Writing Thing

So, I said I had decided to aim for that lovely goal of writing a 50,000 word novel within the month of November.  It started out beautifully: the idea came and began to flow as the characters took life and I wrote the 1,667 words I needed a day, enjoying the surprises happening as the plot began to form itself.

I am still writing, but my measly contributions of a few hundred words to the word-count mean that I am seriously behind.  The problem is neither lack of desire or inspiration, but simply time.  It is difficult to work long show days and still have time to write.

Thus I have a quandary: what do I do?

It is incredibly difficult for me not to do what I have set out to do.  Hence I would rather not abandon my goal.  Yet perhaps I ought to put my energy into other projects and let this novel grow more slowly.  Is there any great advantage to writing another novel to add to my files of interesting-but-not-at-all-worth-publishing-and-maybe-not-even-worth-reading works?  I am not sure yet.

There is certainly worth in practicing my writing of fiction, something I have done not much in the past few years.  I do want to see where this story goes.

Still the question remains: should I force myself on to the end and to complete the 50,000 words within this month of which only twelve days remain?

NaNoWriMo 2015

I was not going to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year.  After all, it takes an incredible amount of time and I have not been able to do so for the last several years for that same reason, so it seemed a reasonable decision.  I even vaguely considered not participating as an opposition to the month in which it was chosen or the fact that so many people out there are writing bunk because they can.  Yet somehow the challenge of writing 50,000 words in one month is too much for a writer.

It is a little strange to me to be defining myself once again by the term writer since for several years I was a theatre artist first.  Now I am sinking back again into the old knowledge of writing and the ideas are coming....

So what else can one do when faced with the NaNoWriMo challenge and an idea that just happens to come at the right time?  I said yes, of course.  Fiat.  Let it be!

Hence I am now a little over 3000 words into this epic adventure.  I have a wonderful brother and sister duo each with their own similar struggles.  I have a war setting with refugees in need of care.  I even have a place to put them: this story will go into the world of another story that I have yet to finish writing because it needed more time to germinate.  So I will explore the world a little with this story and see where it leads.  Already there is a mysterious character that promises to reveal something about my female character, if not about the terrible problem facing these people.

There are so many ideas begging!  I am happy to pursue one of them, although sad that I cannot follow them all at once.  It is good, though, to be ready to write, to develop my skill further, and to take seriously something that has always been the fruit of my own need to create something and to explore new worlds than for any other reason.

Some of us just seem to be created to be happy only when we are writing.  Perhaps it makes sense, as it means we are fulfilling our end and hence becoming fully ourselves.

So I had better halt my philosophical ponderings here and return to my writing, for I have not yet written my 1667 or so words for today.  I know at least what shall begin to fill that section of the story, but beyond that mist still lies....