NaNoWriMo Is Almost Over And I Failed

EPIC FAIL. That's me. Terrible, awful, no excuses although I did my best to make them up. Last year I completed the NaNoWriMo with my project Perspectives. Almost 60,000 words and looking back on it the draft is crap, but it has a shell of a story. Long and drawn out but a story nonetheless.

This year I have nothing to show for it. Nothing structured anyway and no where near 50,000 words. Only myself to blame, words ain't going to write themselves.

However there is a bright, white light. I had an epiphany that may be my gateway to getting something solid and perfected and I owe it to my 6 year old son. He has taken to reading like a duck out of water. He's reading at a 3rd and 4th grade level with near photographic memory comprehension... he's in 1st grade. He is bored with the books his age, refuses to read 'picture' books and only chapter books yet we haven't found a series he likes yet. He has read two American Chillers books which are not really horror genre because the 'horror' is a setup joke to take away the real horror. They are about 150-180 pages and he'll read them about 5 chapters at a setting. He' reading who cares, right?

Anyway out of the blue he asked me to write him a book and he will read that. What a great idea! His 6 year old mind of absolute insane imagination and processing would be a great source of material and flow for a story. Tell me what you want to read about and I will fill in the blanks. I have even began to record him in the morning to describe his dreams from the night before, sometime they are the scariest things I have heard. To him it's as real as life but to me it's a starting point to wrap a world around and aim it to a sub-10 year old mind.

Yes! Exciting.

I don't need NaNoWriMo, I just needed my purpose. I think I found it.

Time to turn the page.

Writing Is Fun Even Though It Isn't

Writing is fun. It is, believe me. Sitting down and painting your thoughts with words is a liberating experience. Once you let go and allow your mind to go where it wants the results can be amazing. Shocking perhaps.

I used to write thousands of lines of code, computer programming, hours and hours of pumping out creativity using computer logic. There are many times when I go back and see what I built and I am amazed that I came up with that a built it. Writing is no different.

You can plot, plan, sketch, flow, chart, diagram all you want around a story or idea but until you put words on paper it will never be realized. That's the fun part.

Writing is also one of the the most frustrating, complicated and confusing abilities humans can do. One moment you can be on a roll then your creative processing center shuts off. Disappears. This could happen for any number of reasons, emotions, overthinking, it's raining outside or it's too sunny out, the baby's crying or you're hungry. Mind over body, creativity over analysis, free-flowing or planned. Writing is a battle.

That's why every book, author, blog, speech, class everywhere tells you to write everyday. A writer writes, always. Write daily. Don't stop writing. Keep the mind going, leave it free, create with your words, paint that picture, introduce new worlds and people, express yourself. If you don't write, you can't do anything.

Accept frustration, anger, obstacles. Accept success, creation and accomplishment. Regardless on how 'good' your stories are, at least you wrote a story. Then next one will be a little better and the one after than better than the first. That's the enjoyment and also the hatred of the process. If you are like me nothing will ever be good enough, you just need to learn to love creating and let it go when you are done.

Time to turn the page.

My 500 Words Commitment, 31 Days

I'm back. I have been around just not blogging here on my writing progress. I am writing and enjoying it, expanding on my craft, but the chronicling my journey for others to share in have fallen to the side.

No more.

I am announcing my commitment to 500 Words A Day for the next 31 days. This will be the lead in to the NaNoWriMo which I completed last year but this year my goal is to have a more substantial piece of work to take closer to an end. last year I did it to do it. Now that I know I have it in me to do it I want to create a functional novel flow toward a more planned out structure.

500 words is nothing, simple, easy. I talk more than I should anyway, writing more than I should comes easy. Making it efficient and meaningful is the hard part of the writing art. That's why you need to practice every day, write everyday, and no matter what don't stop.

Time to turn the page.