Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It's Almost Time

I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo again in November. For those who wonder what I'm talking about, it's a national contest to write a novel in 30 days. Yes. Thirty. Days.

I tried it for the first time last November, and it was fun! But a couple of weeks into the contest, I got very sick and had to stop. Still, I managed to type a little over 7,000 words. The difficult thing about NaNoWriMo is that you are not allowed to edit. The whole point is to write for the fun of writing and to achieve a goal. Let me tell you, that was the most difficult thing...I could barely stand to start back in on the story after leaving it sit all night in those festering and often reeking words, but that was the deal. It was hard to not go in there with my red pen and slash away all that I had written the night before. It was difficult, and even painful, to have this screaming little editor, sitting on my shoulder the whole time I typed, wanting me to fix that word or get rid of that sentence. And I even made my screaming editor muse laugh a few times with my paltry attempts at dialogue. Oh well. I'm assured that every book starts out reeking and festering and that it takes many months of honing and polishing for even the best novel to start to shine through the muck.

So, I plan to give it another go and I hope I can accomplish my goals this time! In the meantime, I have a lot of planning and plotting to do. I have a lot of praying and asking the Lord what He'd like me to accomplish because one thing I'm sure of at this point, I have a story I think He wants me to tell. And I want to do it justice and set in motion what He's been bringing into my world lately. It's exciting and scary at the same time, but it's something I definitely want to try.

If you'd like more information about NaNoWriMo, here's the link:
NaNoWriMo


3 comments:

LauraLee Shaw said...

You go for it, Dee. And you are so talented, I know it will go well for you!

Yvonne Blake said...

Yay, Dee! I'm going to try it too...we can cheer each other on.

Josh said...

I tried NaNoWriMo two years ago, and I ended up with about 5,000 words. I still have that tiny portion of a story, and I'm thinking of maybe attempting the same story again from scratch this year. I'll have to see how much time I have.

Even if I don't successfully finish again, I will be rooting for you as you go for it. Can't wait to read the final product once you are allowed to edit and polish. :)