ambivalent imbroglio: I Are A Novelist

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November 30, 2004

I Are A Novelist

Frist draft of 32-pg journal “note”: Check.
50k-word NaNoWriMo Novel: Check

The to-do list just got a lot shorter. It feels good to be a novelist, even if the “novel” is incomplete and completely unreadable. By the rules of the NaNoWriMo game, it's a novel. My brain is empty of all cogent or meaningful content, but maybe that's just how these things go.

Although it's a bit old at this point, Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, was on Talk of the Nation last Tuesday. He talks a bit about what seems to be the “normal” trajectory for NaNo novelists, which is that week one is fast and fun and furious and easy, followed by week two where you get tired and hit a wall and wonder why you're doing this, followed by a speeding up in week three and a beer and skittles race to the finish in week four. I guess that sort of fits my experience this time around. Week one was definitely easy and purely fun; words came quickly and easily, and it was exciting to get going. Week two I started dropping the ball, playing catch up, it became harder to motivate or maintain interest in my characters or plot. Week three, though, was really the worst, I think, because the doldrums of week two only got worse. The point is some advice to myself for next year: Days 10-20 or so are the hardest. Make a pact with yourself to keep writing through them, even if its just a couple hundred words a day. If you don't, you won't finish.

Posted November 30, 2004 12:29 PM | NaNoWriMo

Comments

congrats!

Posted by: jose at November 30, 2004 01:33 PM

Congrats!

That is way cool... I want to give it a go, but it's going to have to wait for summer. How you managed to do that and not let your coursework slide is beyond me!

Posted by: -Dave! at November 30, 2004 02:26 PM

Coursework? What's coursework? What do you mean by "slide"?

Posted by: ambimb at November 30, 2004 04:51 PM

bravo!

did you do an end-zone celebration dance?

Posted by: matt at November 30, 2004 08:21 PM

Wow that's awesome. Congratulations. Brag to everyone you talk to -- you've earned bragging rights!

Posted by: Frolics and Detours at November 30, 2004 09:59 PM

I'm impressed. So do we get to read it??

Posted by: J. J. at December 1, 2004 01:54 AM

yay, that's awesome! i won't ask to read it, because you've hinted several times that we won't get to. :)

Posted by: monica at December 1, 2004 08:39 AM

I just want to see the cover page with my dedication so I can show it to all MY friends. : )

Way to go - sorry I started the rumor. Maybe if this law thing doesn't work out, I'll become a professional trainer for novelists.

Posted by: E. McPan at December 1, 2004 11:46 AM

Yeah, no reading the thing. I don't think any sane person could get through it. The first 100 pages or so might be tolerable, barely, but then you'd start wondering what the heck was going on. I certainly did.

More likely you'd get bored w/in 5-10 pages and lose interest. Anyway, I may return to it sometime (in the spring perhaps) and if there's anything worth saving, I'll pull it out and share.

And E. McPan: Thank you for starting the rumor. I couldn't have done it without you! ;-)

Posted by: ambimb at December 1, 2004 05:53 PM