Wednesday, December 1, 2010

NANOWRIMO DID ME IN



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

6 comments:

Jessie Harrell said...

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.
I know, easy for me to say. I stopped writing DESTINED for months b/c I couldn't bring myself to wrap it up. *shrug*

Melissa said...

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.

LM Preston said...

It'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.

Mardel said...

I 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.

Get 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. :)

LM Preston said...

Thanks Mardel :-D You are so correct, I've been slacking due to nanowrimo madness.

RJ Blain said...

I 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.

That said, great for learning how to write well AND quickly.