Wednesday, December 3, 2008

What I learned from Nanoing...

Trying to write an entire novel in one month is quite the challenge.  I learned a number of things. Here are some of them:

1. You can't write a perfect, meaningful, error-free novel in a month.
2. People bug you and interrupt you when you're trying to write each evening.  You're not really busy, you see.
3. If you edit as you go along, you'll never reach 50,000 words in a month.
4. I like to edit as I go along.
5. I need to think before I write.  Sometimes I spend a lot of time thinking.  If I spend a lot of time thinking, I don't end up writing.
6. It's very easy to get distracted when you work at home.  There are way too many distractions.
7. I don't put enough description and scene-setting in my novels.  Maybe I should be writing screenplays instead of novels.  I like dialogue.
8. My novel might not require 50,000 words.  Maybe 34,000 was enough.
9. Perhaps November is not the right month for novel writing.  We need a month with 31 days instead!  One extra day!
10. Perhaps I should just stick to writing poetry.  It's something I can finish!

3 comments:

  1. You've been pretty consistent with this blog, so I suspect you can be consistent with writing a novel! Stick with it, you'll find victory!

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  2. Thanks, Tony, for the comment and the advice.

    A friend suggested blogging and I kinda like it.

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  3. Kathy, I just gave up on my third novel. After 26k words I got some good advice from an AW crit, and took it. The story simply lacked enthusiasm, so I'll be starting another. One thing I like about my poetry and songs (I'm not saying they are great) is they are a real part of me. Writing a novel, I find is much more difficult, but very rewarding (not from a money aspect):)

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