Don't Give Up

You know those days when you wonder why you're writing? You wonder what's the point, if your story's never going to be polished enough to be published, if your characters aren't coming across on the page as they live in your head. You're moments away from trashing your manuscript or work in progress and quitting altogether.

I have three words for you: don't do it.

Even if no one reads your work, even if writing is hard right now, or you don't think your story's going anywhere, don't give up. Writing is a process of the soul. It can be cathartic, and you can write yourself in and out of moods if you pay attention. Your story needs to be told, even if it's just in your notebook or on your computer. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be yours.

One of my favorite authors, Gail Carson Levine, tells us to never get rid of any of our writing. Save everything so you can go back and see how much you've improved, or pull an old idea and rework it. I'm a big believer in this. Everything you write is a part of you; it's like pouring your imagination onto the page. If you get rid of it, it's like throwing your very ideas away. No idea is bad enough to deserve that.

When I was in this position a few months ago--ready to trash everything I'd ever written and pretend I was content doing something less creative--a friend sent me maybe the most inspiring thing I've ever seen. It's a website that lists the failures and successes of all of these people we all know: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Frank Sinatra, Dr. Seuss. None of them gave up; why would you?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet:

For all of you in the States, happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great holiday filled with family, friends and good food. And don't forget to be thankful for all the blessings in your life.

What am I thankful for? A lot. My friends and family, the ability to read and write what I want, my overstuffed bookshelves, my job, my imagination, the world, the universe--the list is practically endless.

So go out this week and see everything you take for granted in a new light; what would your world be like without it? And remember to show some gratitude!

Point of View Problems

You know that time when you wonder if you've really chosen the right point of view for your masterpiece? Yeah, I hit that. Last night, my critique group pointed out that I have a decided lack of internalization from my protagonist, which makes it hard to feel really connected with him or the world. I suppose that's one of the risks you run when you decide to write in third person; all I know is that I'm deathly afraid of info dumping or getting far too into a character's head and getting rambly.

So I write in third person and struggle through the omniscient/limited fight. I'm working on finding a way to add more character thoughts without seeming too forced, but I'm also wondering if I shouldn't have written this book in first person. I really, really hate writing in first person (probably because I don't read it much) but it would likely help to immediately get in the character's head. And I've always been curious to try writing an alternating point of view story.

Has anyone else struggled with point of view like this? Which PoV do you like writing in the most and why?


P.S. If anyone has any job openings they know about, would you please let me know?

NaNo Check-In

Liiiiiiiiiiifeeee! Mwahahahaha!

Ahem. Sorry about that. I'm just so excited to have an excuse to do something besides writing or work. I mean, I'm writing here, but it's not on my NaNovel or even a piece of fiction, and that's refreshing. Week two of NaNoWriMo, 20,000 words in, and I'm dying.

My motivation has gone and disappeared, even though the story itself has reached the brilliant plot overload that I generally reach in the middle of a really good first draft. It starts with "I have no plot!" and evolves into "Oh, writing gods, what have I done? There are far too many subplots to even know what the main plot is!" Eventually, after several rewrites, that gets boiled down into a single main plot and, maybe, a handful of subplots. I did it with Savior; I do it with every good piece I write. So I suppose it's a good thing that it's happening here.

But it's so frustrating! Dang you, characters! Why must you have lives of your own?! *Shakes angry fist*

Anyone else participating in NaNo and having the Week Two Blues? Or anyone else have major plot disorders in anything they write?

It snowed again today. Rather a lot. So I am cuddled in bed with two cats (definitely makes for a crowded bed), working diligently on my novel for NaNoWriMo. My goals for this year:

• To write every day, no matter what, to kick start my daily writing again.
• To write something that's good enough to actually go back and fix up later, instead of being so terribly dreadful I can't look at it again without cringing, like all of my other NaNo manuscripts. 
• To finish the story (and, if I'm lucky, hit something in the range of 75-100k words). 

To all those bopping through your first week with me: you can do it! Don't give up! NaNo is about getting something written. Anything. It's something I've been struggling with lately. 

To all those laughing at the crazies trying to write a whole novel in a month: thank you for being more sane than I. 

Carry on. 

Snow Day!

Bam! It's winter! It was such lovely fall weather all week last week, and then the snow hit last night and hasn't stopped yet. It's a heavy, wet snow that's weighing down all the poor trees with their leaves still attached. And I'm not entirely sure where my snowboots went, so running out to whack the snow off the branches as best I can in my hiking boots without socks has definitely proved to be an experience. But I'm too short to get the bulk of the snow off, which has be a little anxious. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I'm a worrywart.

The good news, I suppose, is that all the snow has somehow messed with the internet (or, you know, the internet's just being weird and slow), and the cable, so it's definitely a writing day. Huzzah for getting rid of distractions! My plans? Make another cup of cocoa (my mother makes the best homemade mix, and with a peppermint, it's absolutely delicious!), cuddle up with a cat and try to pound out a chapter or two.

Also, NaNoWriMo starts in five days and eleven hours, as of this writing. Eek!

Planning Between the Coughs

You know what the worst time to get anything done is? When you're sick. Sniffles and coughs and aches abound, but you're still expected to get into the office and do your work, or sit at the computer and write your daily word count. Needless to say, I've been terrible about that daily word count thing when I can't focus. Oh, well. It should be over soon.

Just in time to start planning for NaNoWriMo! This will be my seventh time participating, and hopefully my fourth win. For those of you who don't know, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. That's about the size of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm hoping it'll help get my writing habit back on track this year, but I'd also like another rough to work on. I lost two of the three 'winning' manuscripts when my hard drive crashed a few years back, and I haven't had the desire to go back and fix up the last one yet. Eventually, maybe. For now, I'm planning something new and different, set in a world I'm already familiar with. It'll be an interesting time working on three different manuscripts at the same time, certainly, plus work and social time and, you know, being a human being.

I'm sure it will be worth it, though. Anyone else want to try with me?