What’s happening? Is writing supposed to be this much fun? It never was before.
At 85,475 words, I have completed the first draft of my novel Apocalypse Z: The Beginning
Yeah Baby!
It’s an almost indescribably good feeling to finish a novel length manuscript. To complete a story which came from some mysterious place deep within you. And for the first time, you feel it is really, actually – good. I’m now sitting here enjoying a tumbler of bourbon – no ice, no water – in quiet celebration. Life is Good.
I’ve never in my life written so much, so quickly while having so much fun with it. Perhaps it’s that I found my writing voice, my genre, my niche? I’m not sure which it is – maybe it’s all three. The story and the words just flowed. I still have ideas and images in my head on what I’m going change during the revision process.
I know that before you begin the revision process you’re supposed to put the manuscript away for a couple of weeks before coming back to it. This time, I feel that would be a mistake. I have the momentum, the energy and the enthusiasm for this story, so I’m going to begin the re-writing process right after we get home from our Thanksgiving Day family dinner. I wanna get things moving while the ideas are still fresh in my mind.
Although I smashed through the 50k goal this past Saturday (earlier than ever before), and with a current word count of 67,292 - I’m still not done writing the story.
I’m continually amazed how smoothly things are going and how much writing is getting done on a day-to-day basis. There is, however, a real danger which has raised its ugly head. As I continue writing and developing the story along the lines originally outlined, there has been a series of nagging, persistent thoughts entering my head on what I want to add and change in the story.
I’ve been fighting to resist these thoughts and urgings as it would totally mess me up if I try and implement them now. What I have been doing is jotting these ideas down on a notepad – so they don’t vaporize into the ether – because they are actually pretty good and can really enhance the experience of the story.
So it looks as though I’ll be ready to dive into a first revision as soon as I’ve completed this first draft. I just hope the enthusiasm and energy I have now lasts through at least the first revision.
I’m not sure what’s happening, but am I glad that it is. I’ve been more prolific over the past few days than I ever have.
My writing productivity has taken off like a rocket. I’ve written more than 20,000 words in less than 3 days. There’s been a lot of extra hours spent in front of the home PC, but I’ve hardly noticed. This is a blast.
I spent the first couple of weeks building suspense into the story and it was kind of a slog. Now the “good stuff” the “exciting stuff” is happening, my fingers can’t keep up with the story at the pace it evolves in my mind.
As I’m writing, I can actually see a full color, 3-D movie playing in my head. It doesn’t feel so much like I’m writing the story and the movie is happening – but rather the movie is happening and I’m scrambling to record what I’m seeing. This is such a cool experience.
Even though my word count is currently 48,505 – putting me right on top of the 50k goal – I’m far from finished. The way the story is moving I feel I’m just past the mid-way point. If I keep writing at the pace I have been, I should be able to finish the novel by the 30th.
Recently, I’ve had a personal close friend and a young friend, from the NaNo Forums, ask me how to get motivated to start and keep writing. This was my response to them.
Most of us have a story to tell – a book inside each of us just busting to get out. The difference is the vast majorities of us never take the time and put in the effort to get it down on the page. For most it’s a lack of confidence. They tell themselves, “My stuff isn’t any good…nobody’ll want to read it”. Others get scared off when they realize just how much of a commitment it is and how much work is really involved in writing a story.
In order to write any manuscript of any length – you need to have a passion for writing. I also think you need to write for yourself and not worry about anyone else. I believe it was Harlan Ellison who said, “I couldn’t find anything to read that appealed to me, so I wrote stories I wanted to read”. This has worked out pretty well for him so far.
For this year’s NaNoWriMo, I was going to write another thriller which I thought people might like to read – but I wasn’t enthusiastic about it. I then decided to write for myself. I explain why I changed gears here: http://1667wordsaday.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/switchin-gears/
If you really, truly want to write – you’ll write. It’s all about self-motivation. You sit in front of a blank Word document until the words bubble up in your head to the point where they boil over into your conscious mind so vividly that you need to write them down on the page just to get them out of there in order to make room for new words to boil over…and you keep going until the pot is boiled dry.
The next day you fill up the pot with the cold water of initial thought, sit in front of the page and keep the heat of thought on it until it begins to boil over again…
I finally got out of the funk I was in last week. I think a big part of the problem was that the company I work for was facing a major RIF. I happily made it through those cuts. It was a big relief and it helped me to put my focus and energy back on my writing. The words are flowing again. Every day now I can hardly wait to get home from my job to work on my novel.
It’s kind of like a writer’s version of a runner’s high.
I’ve been having such a good time with it; I forgot to remark on the passing of the half-way point of the month and passing the half-way mark of the word count. I’m up over 28,000 words now. I’ve cranked out 13,000 words in 7 days and for me, that’s pretty good. I’d love to be able to write 4,000 words a day, but after a long day in front of a pc at work and another couple of hours at my home pc writing my story – my eyes feel like they’re gonna pop out. The good thing is I know just what I’m going to write when I get home the next day.
Even though, I’m more than half way to the required word count goal, like last year, I can tell this novel is going to be quite a bit longer than 50,000 words.
Man, am I feeling bi-polar about this year’s NaNoWriMo.
I have a story, I know what I want to write and know where I want to take the story, but I find myself dragging. Don’t get me wrong, the story reads well – better than I expected actually – it just feels like such a chore this year.
This ain’t got anything to do with the Week 2 doldrums. Like I said, I know where I want to take the story, I have a plotline to follow and make changes when and where they’re needed. The enthusiasm just isn’t there. I can’t put my finger on it.
Wah!, wah!, wah!, enough with the fuckin’ whining – I’ll just put my head down and forge ahead. The interactions on the forums are the only things I’m still enjoying. When ALL the fun is out of this endeavor, then I’ll stop.
Last Thursday I was very enthusiastic and really in the flow. I produced almost 3,500 words of story. For my dyslexic ass that’s a lot. You’d think I’d be way ahead of the curve – but I’m not. For that one 4k day, I had a couple of days where I just made it above the 1,000 word mark. Right now, I’m slightly ahead at 15,500 words, and will shoot for the 17k mark tonight. I’ll put myself in the right mindset with a jigger of Jack followed by hot cup o’ coffee – yeah, it’s different, but it works.
Time flies…when you’re writing your ass off. But it sucks when that concentration is interrupted.
I had a busy weekend, and had to take blocks of time to write my NaNo novel. Each of those time-blocks were gone in a blink.
Halloween sucked. My wife was working, my kids were at two different parties and I was alone. Last year I had so many kids come to the house I almost ran out of candy. This year I bought extra and was prepared. I had one ( 1 ) kid come to the door – that’s it! Next year, I’m going to a party.
Now I have waaay too much junk food in the house. In fact I had a sugar crash sufficient enough that I didn’t participate in the Midnight Madness as I had for all other NaNo’s.
I had a lot to do on Saturday, but got up early enough that I was able to get a good start on my story before other obligations got in the way of my writing. Its amazing how quickly the time zips by when you’re in the flow – and how annoyed you can get when that flow is broken.
I was reminded of this when I later watched The Shining on Saturday night. It was the part before Jack Torrance totally flipped his noodle, but was well on his way. Wendy, his wife, came in to see how Jack was doing, forcing Jack to stop typing. He proceeded to tell her how pissed he was with the interruptions as it broke his concentration and how long and difficult it was to get it back.
Posted by WFMeyer 
Posted by WFMeyer 
Posted by WFMeyer 
