I am pooped, whipped, wore out, exhausted and brain numb. Nanowrimo kicked my living … ‘hush your mouth’
I’ve always been a fast writer. Finishing a book in 3 months was my best time, and after several books it’s my natural rhythm. A great improvement from the first book I wrote. So what did I think about Nanowrimo? I thought I could shave off my natural timing and kick out 50K words in a month.
I almost did it…just a-bout there, when what happened…I shut down and my bad old Achilles heel tripped me up. You see I have a problem, a big – o – problem with ….
ENDINS! There I said it, I admit it. I hate writing endings. Not because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but because…well I just can’t seem to want to let go of my characters. Even though I know I’ll be editing in a few months and seeing them again, I won’t BE them when I writing them.
I thought Nanowrimo would help me solve this small problem. Truth be told, I didn’t really see that it was a major problem until I had a seriously – bottom line deadline like Nanowrimo.
So what now?
Well I believe I can cut that 3 month to draft time of mine down by 2-4 weeks, but truth is I won’t try it again until Nanowrimo next year. I say that as I struggle to write the last chapter of THE PACK – RETRIBUTION the sequel to THE PACK.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
I learned that I really do get almost unhealthily attached to my characters – at least when a short deadline is staring me in the face.
Hopefully by this Sunday, I will be ready to let Shamira Nobles finish kicking butt and taking names for maybe the last time :-D
wiring that last chapter isn't an ending, it's a beginning! you can't send them off into the world for others to love too unless you finish.
ReplyDeleteI know, easy for me to say. I stopped writing DESTINED for months b/c I couldn't bring myself to wrap it up. *shrug*
I have a problem with endings too I found out. They are hard to write and when I finish... I sort of feel empty. And it's hard writing the ending when I know the emptiness is coming.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know I'm not alone. I'm shaking myself saying ... just get over it already. These are not real people... but to me I guess they are.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why I didn't you your online presence as much as usual - I usually lurk around, but noticed you weren't posting as much. I can't imagine how tired you must be - especially since I'm not even close to being a writer. I just do the reading - but I certainly appreciate all the writers' hard work.
ReplyDeleteGet some rest and then GET BACK TO WORK WRITING! LOL- just kidding (sort of). Hope your NaNo resulted in a good book for you to polish up. :)
Thanks Mardel :-D You are so correct, I've been slacking due to nanowrimo madness.
ReplyDeleteI love Nanowrimo because it *does* really help with getting used to deadlines... but until you're used to it, it is SO brutal. The first time I did it, I was sweating sooo bad by the time I was done the novel.
ReplyDeleteThat said, great for learning how to write well AND quickly.