Writing a Novel is Hard

Have you ever seen one of those 10k runs that all people are encouraged to participate in? There's a funny thing about the first couple of kilometers of those. The first aid stations in the beginning third usually see a LOT of people who are completely unprepared for a 1k run, let alone a 10k. I'm kind of feeling that way about my novel. 50,000 words in 30 days. That works out to about 1600 words a day assuming you don't miss any days (which I have).

I can see why writing is considered a full time job now. Even when I do manage to sit down and write I'll rarely get my full quota for the day done in the 3 hours I generally have. It's also become pretty clear to me how important the editing process is. Trying to keep momentum going when you're writing is a challenge. You can't always, and in fact, probably shouldn't, write linearly. If an idea comes into your head you've kind of got to sketch it out before it's gone. That kind of stuff puts you in a mood that might not fit the previous section you wrote so I've ended up mixing tones and styles all over the place.

It's a good thing this isn't to write a novel you're proud of or I'd really be in over my head. I've got a story figured out though and I'm satisfied with my characters that have appeared so far. It's just filling out the words in between.

National Novel Writing Month

I've decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year! I'm excited to see how far I get. I've got an idea and a few hundred words written already but that 50,000 word goal is looking pretty intimidating. I really like the idea I've come up with though and think that if I can figure out how to make enough content for it I'll be pretty pleased with myself.

I remember reading Stephen King's on writing last month and how much that motivated me to write more. This year I'm going to try to take it to the next step with a full novel. I probably won't be releasing it because, hey, who ever wrote a good novel on their first attempt, but there's got to be some jumping off point.

(Apparently the rest of the world also had this idea too because nanowrimo.org is crawling at this point.)

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/737370