Sunday, November 2, 2008

NaNoWriMo- Hanging out with a squirrel is looking pretty darned good


Why is this little guy so bewildered? Do you see what the poor squirrel is sitting on? Yeah, he's sitting on a stump of a tree. The day before, he was running up and down it's branches, enjoying life and then he heard the blare of a chainsaw. As I walked by, I think I heard him say, "What the heck?"

And you know what? I totally understand. NaNoWriMo is the chainsaw I heard. Only in my case, it didn't cut down a tree, but something just as life-changing. It cut off my internal editor. You know the one; it's that little somehow unheard voice that says, "You misspelled that word...go back and chaynge it. Or maybe it says, "Your plot makes no sense at all."

The rules of nanowrimo state that you write as fast as you can, not worrying about such pesky things as spelling or grammar or even character development. In fact, the guidebook is called, "No Plot-No Problem." Sounds great, doesn't it. I mean, you can finally write with wild abandon.

Easier said than done. I am actually having a terrible time with it. I've started my novel three different ways. I just can't help it, it seems. There really is something to turning off the internal editor. It's just that it doesn't seem to stay turned off. The only good news is that I know from experience, that it does get easier. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. But for now, if you're looking for me, I'll be up in the tree commiserating with my new friend. ~Karen

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This is my first year doing NaNo and I am having a hard time telling my inner editor to take a hike and let me write. I haven't gotten out as many words as I would have liked by day two, but the glass is always half full and there is always tomorrow to make up for what I did not accomplish today.

Finbar Reilly said...

I'm having a hard time myself. It doesn't help that trying a genre that I've had some fun with but doing it in a way that makes it even more difficult. I wish you luck, and I can't wait to see what you've written! (Thanks for the comment, BTW!)

Polenth said...

You can still count all three beginnings in your word count, so all is not lost.