Over the past four years-ish, during November, I participate in an epic word contest called NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. I won't go into details about that. But basically, during the course of the month, I wrote about 37,000 words, finished my novel and BAM. I was the happiest McKenzie on Planet Earth.
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| This basically captures my feeling of accomplishment. |
So wait, why am I sitting here in my computer chair feeling sorry for myself? I have a whole other exciting installment to start writing!!!
Meh. It's like I was high on NaNo and now I'm completely wasted. Unproductive. Uninspired. Unimaginative. I have a great story to write, dang it! I know exactly where it should start, which should make the whole thing 10x easier. Right? So why can't I get started?
It's not school... It's not lack of sleep... It's not the weather... It's not a B12 deficiency... (Well, it's not!) Every time I think about starting I groan and go lay on my floor and pretend to think deep thoughts. Or plan out genius strategies to force myself into writing again. Self punishment never seems to work for me though, I wonder why...
Some people tell you that you need a break from your story after NaNoWriMo. "You need something fresh!" they say. Don't ask me who - it's just general advice. But, c'mon, it's been over a month. Shouldn't that be long enough? Well. Okay. If you say so.
So I started a new story about a whirlpool. Yeah.
Needless to say, I stopped after two sentences. Wow, I thought, this is really quite incredibly stupid. I want to go back to my old story. The one that deserves my attention. The one that I love like my own child. The one that's so gloriously filled with old characters that haunt my waking dreams...
Did I start back on it?
No.
I wish I could say this was a severe case of writer's block, but there's nothing blocked about it. I have the whole flipping beginning planned out!!
Nope, see, this is a severe case of Writer's Laziness. Straight up, uninspired, lay-on-the-couch-and-eat-Doritoes, gross, despicable laziness.
There. I've confessed. I have no excuses. Not any good ones at least. So... what am I going to do now that I've written such a depressing post? *sigh*
I don't know. Maybe I'll feel so guilty for writing this nasty confession that I'll start writing just so I can post something super happy. This also might be one of my overly complicated strategies that will fail. But this one might work... hopefulness is never a bad thing, right? :)
Hey, I know the feeling! I participated in NaNo this year, met my goal of 30,000 words - and haven't written a single word in my novel since November 30th :( I just need some serious motivation.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one!!! I had a friend kick my butt into gear the other night and we gave ourselves a goal of 500 words every night. So I'm starting to get back into it - little by little. :)
DeleteI haven't touched my NaNo project since November, either...I'm so stuck on getting the prequel polished and nice that the sequel's had to wait.....only now I've realized that if I market it as speculative fiction, I can make the word count longer, so book two may actually be the second half of book 1 after all??? *sigh* *bangsheadondesk*
ReplyDeleteBahahahahahaha. I'm sorry. It's just funny. I know exactly how that feels. :) You can do this!!!
DeleteHope you are able to write soon. Two years ago I started writing a story and after 30 pages I stopped. I didn't start writing it again until last November. I finished my novel in a month when I went back to it and have finished a novella recently. What helped me was setting up a schedule and making myself write without stopping. This helps me get into the flow of writing. Each day once I get into a good flow it is easier to write. Best of luck with your writing!
ReplyDeleteI was actually! I gave myself a goal of 500 words a day and I finally started back yesterday. Thank you for the encouragement! :)
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