50,076 Words

Well, here it is, just hours before the end of November 2009, and I've crossed the finish line. I'd like to say it was a great experience, but honestly this year was tough. When I did NaNoWriMo in 2008, I had a blast the entire time. Sure I got behind, but the story was such fun to write. This year I struggled through nearly the whole thing, and in the end I'm not sure whether it has any value or not. Sure I think there are some good points to it, my son said it was more "mysterious" than the first Noah Zarc book, which is what I was going for. But in the end I'm not sure it had any clear direction. But that is not what NaNo is about. It is about sitting your butt in the chair and typing, and that I did. If you take a look at my word graph, you'll see I really struggled in the middle. About day 16 is when my son told me he'd help me get going again by reading what I had written. So that got me moving. But by thanksgiving I really had to kick it into high gear, writing 10,000 words in only two days. When all is said and done, I am really surprised how easy it is to crank the words out. I just may have to go back to the drawing board, or keyboard, to figure out how to make those words form a story worth reading.

Writer's Block

I hate writer's block. I'm not saying I hate getting writer's block, I'm saying I hate the term. I've always believed it was just an excuse for not writing. "I'd be working on my latest novel, but I have writer's block, so I'll go check my facebook page instead." "The World Series of Poker final table is on, I wonder if my man Phil Ivey will take it this year." (He didn't.) You get the idea. Writer's block is an excuse to be lazy. And here I am about to get all honest on you. I had a huge bout of writer's block for several days last week and spilling into this one. You see I'm deep in the throes of NaNoWriMo, and as anyone knows, who is familiar with this insanity, there is absolutely no room for laziness. That's why we use intriguing, "You non-writers wouldn't understand." terms like writer's block. I was completely lost. I had no idea what to do next in my story. So I didn't do anything. I saw my word count deficit build. I thought maybe this year I would be the loser I always knew I was, and not finish what I had started.

Then, my resolve strengthened. No, I will not be that guy. I will not be what my friends in high school said I was. I am not a quitter. D. Robert 2.0 would prevail. So I put my fingers on my keyboard, and I typed. One painful word after another. Then the keys started clacking a little bit louder. The staccato of words on a page beat the air in rhythm to my pounding heart... Okay, that is a bit dramatic, but suffice to say, the words came. Maybe not the next Faulkner, but there are some nuggets in there. Something that won't hit the editing floor in a few months when I get back to the manuscript. So I say now, writer's block be gone. I do not condescend to acknowledge your presence.

Now, what the heck am I doing writing this blog. I still have a valley to climb out of. A low spot in my climb toward 50,000 words to make up for. 11,787 down. 38,213 to go.