So I got re-started with NaNoWriMo and then I had another few days where I just didn’t get the fiction writing thing happening. And then today I read the Quiet Rebel Writer’s confession that this year she’s a NaNoWriMo dropout. Not quite what I was hoping to read about.
What can I say? The big problem is I broke my promise to myself about writing my novel before I wrote my paid writing. When push comes to shove, and I have just a little time, then I just have to do the paid writing first or my editors will get mad and (importantly) I won’t get paid.
However, I’ve been so organised this week that I’m way ahead of schedule on my paid writing and now I really have time to continue my novel. There are no excuses. Just the usual procrastination.
This week a friend of mine asked me, when I’m writing fiction, how much of the time I actually enjoy the process. I thought this was a really interesting question. I think the answer is that nearly all of the time I’m enjoying it, or I wouldn’t be doing it. Even when I’m feeling a bit under pressure for word count and the race of NaNoWriMo, I still enjoy it. Heck, I enjoy nearly all of the writing I get paid to do, too. I even like reading what I write (most of the time). It’s a funny thing, and impossible to explain, though I guess most writers feel the same way. My husband described me yesterday as a “real” writer because, from what he’s heard from me and my family, I’ve always written. I just have to write. And it’s true, there’s been barely a time in my life when I didn’t have some kind of writing project on the go, even though I can’t even really give a reason for it. I just enjoy writing, both for the process of it, putting words together in ways that sound good, and having a finished product.
Perhaps this argument is convincing me to get back to my NaNoWriMo draft. One more thing – I’ve been wanting to make it all “better” writing than last year’s NaNo draft – “beautiful writing”, so to speak – but one of the main points of NaNo is just to “get it all out”, as fast as possible, and then work with it later. In a way I’ve been trying to make my life easier later by writing it “better” now, but that might be holding me up. So back to the NaNo draft it is to write things however they come out and to focus on reaching the finishing line with some semblance of a novel draft in place. I know this works well for me because otherwise it’ll take me a decade to finish a first draft. Here goes.
Your title – More than half way through November, and my NaNo draft’s in danger – caught my eye on the technorati feed page. Tahnks for writing this, I’ve added becomingafictionwriter.comto my reader, and will look forward to your next post.
Amanda, I think ‘writing better’ might be easier. I mean that’s what most writers want to do right? Perhaps getting it all out would hold you back more on your progress on becoming a better writer. If you find yourself improving on your writing day by day, wouldn’t that be something rather than produce the same haphazard work everyday?
But I still wish you all the luck for NaNoWriMo! I too enjoy all the process of writing.
That’s a very good question Kate, and I’m still not sure which way is best for me, but I know that I’m absolutely terrible at doing any serious amount of writing unless I’m under some kind of external pressure (like NaNoWriMo). Last year I wrote what was basically a terrible draft of a novel but I managed to use what I produced to structure something that I’m quite happy with, and the “beautiful writing” is something I fixed later – almost like a translation. So I think that for me it’s more useful to have a big pile of rubbish to start with – the bare bones are there, I just need to fish them out and make it better. But who knows … I’m still learning every day!