Last night I read a blog by one of my new favorites, Kristen Lamb -her heart for writers astounds me and gives me so much hope. Her post was about NaNoWriMo and though this wasn’t the first time I have heard of it, it was the first one that had come around since I’ve been actively engaged in the writing world. Her post highlighted what a great opportunity it is to just have fun writing and meet others that want to do the same.
My initial thought was: Novemeber=Thanksgiving= family, loads of housework, recitals, and Christmas productions to be practiced and even worse, shopping to be done. Aside from homeschooling my kids, working on all the above things, normal daily life and the work that’s being done on my novel ‘Rough Edges,’ I immediately thought that I would never have time for this. Besides, I don’t have another story I want to write that doesn’t involve my ‘Rough Edges’ characters.
Then creativity took over. I went to bed and the lightbulb went on. One concept that had occurred to me months ago popped back into my mind and I was hit. An entire story played out in my head. I couldn’t write down my ideas fast enough, but first I looked up NaNoWriMo and read the rules and what needed and took the steps to get started. Then, I did what Kristen recommended and instead of writing off the top of my head. I spent time developing characters and timelines first and thought, ‘This is brilliant!’ I had outlined other manuscripts before but never to this detail and I am so excited to see how this story shows up! It’s almost like having a cheat sheet on my characters!
November 1st cannot come fast enough. I don’t know if I will make the deadline, but I look forward to the challenge. The major reason I look forward to this is getting away to the characters that I have spent WAY too much time with for the last several years. It’s time to give ‘Rough Edges’ a break and come back with fresh eyes. I will still be working on it with my editor because I don’t want to lose momentum, but this idea has reignited my love of writing that this publishing/editing process has all but squelched.
I’d love to hear from those who are and are not participating. Why and why not? Nonetheless, remember we do what we love and love what we do. Always go back to your first love. Writing.
Catherine Black 