Writing free

I’ve been working on a novel for four days now.  And, hear this. I will finish my first draft of this novel in 30 days.

Writing this novel has been one of the mostfreeing experiences in my life. If you’ve ever wanted to write a novel but  found the blinking cursor on a blank computer screen intimidating, google nanowrimo.com and think about jumping in.

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month.  The goal for participants  is to write a 50,000 word–175 pages–novel in 30 days.  This phase of the writing is about quantity, not quality. (No editing now–that comes next month.)

Now, 175 pages may sound like a lot, but broken into day-size chunks, it’s 2000 words a day. That is not huge.  So far, I’ve spent between one and two hours a day. And in whatever form it takes, I know my novel will hobble or soar across that finish line on November 30th as long as I keep meeting my daily word count.

Thinking only about meeting that word count has been amazingly freeing. I don’t self-censor. There’s no time. I don’t go back and rewrite my title, or the beginning, or correct inconsistencies along the way.

In taking a “kamikaze” approach, as the nanowrimo site says, I have put aside judgement, created a deadline situation and am enjoying the process! I am thrilled at what is emerging… it’s easier than journal writing–and much more fun. In fact, it’s a novel experience.

 

Visions

Have something to say? Want to win cool prizes?  Submit to Visions, the school’s literary/art magazine.  Categories are film/drama, short story, comedy/satire, poetry, nonfiction, and art.  All submissions are to be typed and turned in by December 18th.  Put entries in Ms. Turner’s mailbox.