So far, I have to admit I have a love/hate relationship with NaNoWriMo. I love that it’s getting me to write MORE, but I’m not convinced that simply writing a large quantity of words helps my life goal of continually learning how to write better.
Total words so far: 25,013
What I’ve learned about Nanowrimo:
- It’s fun to hear about others’ writing projects and success, but I have to be careful not to compare myself to them.
- I think it is worthwhile to participate because it can add a little external pressure to help me work on the project that is always on the backburner.
- The writing time and energy I’m not devoting to the projects on the front burner provides a little tension. I’m itching to put more energy towards my children’s fantasy series.
What I’ve learned about myself as a writer:
- Yes, I’m creative. Yes, I can pound it out when I need to. But there’s no getting around the fact that I will have to edit the dickens out of my writing to make it into something I can be proud of.
- I have also found that I have a hard time sticking to my outline. I get several chapters in and realize that my character arcs (because I like to have many!) are heading in a different direction, which then changes the plot. I discover certain supporting characters along the way that I didn’t intend on putting in the story, but they show up to move those main characters along.
- Sometimes I discover that what I thought my character wanted isn’t what they’re all about. One character becomes more thoughtful and pensive than I thought they were at first, and another becomes a little more impulsive and exciting. Even if I modeled the character after someone I knew at one point in time or a part of myself, that character eventually becomes their own person, distinctly separate from the original inspiration. I only realize this when I think, “this character would do X, but so-and-so (or I) never would.”
Here’s a (very rough) snippet of what I’ve been writing:
Christine was gazing out the window at the birds, and you could hardly tell whether she was paying any attention at all. The truth was, her thoughts were on the date that she had just had. As it had turned out, Charles was a true gentleman, living up to his name.
They had met for coffee and had started an interesting conversation about what religion was and what it meant to have a moral and well-reasoned religion.
Christine had been surprised that Charles knew so much about different religions. He had studied some of them in college and had considered becoming Jewish at one point and then had looked into Islam, and last had come to Christianity looking for some answers.
“What do you think about what Kant says about evil and the world?” Charles asked. “Do you think the world is getting more good or more evil?”
Christine thought for a moment. “Well,” she began, “I like to think that there’s always hope. And even though I do see a lot of wickedness in the world today, I think of times like the middle ages and the holocaust and I have to think things are better today than they were then.”
Charles nodded, a grin on his face. “A good answer,” he said.
“What do you think?” Christine asked.
“I think things are probably about the same,” he said with a wry grin. “I’m a rebel. But if I had to pick a side, I’d probably agree with you,” he hastened to add.
Christine smiled. “What else do you believe?” She asked. “I mean, I know you’re not supposed to talk about religion on the first date, but since we already started…”
Charles winked at her. “I think there’s some truth to Christianity,” Charles had said. “but I don’t know if I’m ready to commit yet. I just have a few problems that I’m trying to figure out. That’s why my friend recommended this book.”
“It seems like your friend cares about you a lot,” Christine had said. “To try to get you to learn more about how to think about religion. The way I think about religion is that it’s not just this structured format that I’m following. It’s not as though I sat down one day and I was convinced by all these different theological positions. Instead, when I was a little girl I used to go to church, and the ladies there were nice and they would tell me stories about God and then about Jesus. They would tell me about his love and his forgiveness and how he healed people. I started to pray to God, and at one point I made a decision that I was going to become a Christian. The funny thing is, I didn’t even know all of their Christian beliefs at that point. I didn’t know what The Trinity was. I didn’t know what it meant that Jesus had died for my sins. I knew the words, but I don’t think I really understood them.”
Charles sat across from Christine at the table, transfixed. He was glued to her every word, his eyes shining and sparkling with interest.
“Now, I understand a lot of things about my faith,” Christine said. “But it’s funny: that’s not what made the decision for me. I think ultimately what it comes down to is faith. I’m not saying that reason isn’t important, because I think it really is, but I think our reason should always back up what we believe,” She said. “I don’t know if I’m being clear.”
Charles nodded. “Yes, you’re being very clear,” he said enthusiastically. “I’m just thankful that you’re being so straightforward with me. I think it’s really amazing that you can articulate things so well.”
Happy Writing, fellow writers! One week left.
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