Friday, November 11, 2011

Sharon Spencer Schlesinger: NaNoWriMo

Sharon Spencer Schlesinger: NaNoWriMo: What am I doing blogging when this is National Novel Writing Month? For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is almost self-descriptive. A whole bunch...

NaNoWriMo

What am I doing blogging when this is National Novel Writing Month? For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is almost self-descriptive. A whole bunch of writers, new and experienced, attempt to complete the first draft of a novel in November. I think if you finish on time, and upload 50K words, you get a tee shirt.

Obviously everyone isn't going through writer hell just for a tee shirt. It's just a great way to power through a story. Because it's fast tracked, your subconscious is given free reign and your inner editor doesn't have time to build massive walls out of writer's blocks.

In this, my maiden voyage, I'm fortunate to have a co-pilot (we'll refer to her as G) to act as some wind beneath my wings. Plenty of nights I have stayed past quitting time at my computer simply because I didn't want to  try and sleep with G in the lead, word count wise. Today is the 11th day of NaNoWriMo and I'm pleased to report I've banked 21K toward a novel entitled Far Enough. It started out as a character driven story of a young alcoholic girl who hits an elderly man with her jeep and runs away.

Now, the characters have hijacked the story line and introduced a mystery element. But I'm still going to stick with my projected ending no matter what they say.

Sharon