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To the left of all my posts, I link to the writers (who have blogs) from which I draw inspiration.  This is not an all inclusive list, and I add to it when I come across a post that resonates with what is going on in my writing life at the moment.

I have been following Johanna Harness, who writes the Claire Morgane series for YA readers, on Twitter for the past month or so.  She is the one who checks in with everyone at the top of the morning via the #amwriting hash tag, has pithy Twitter posts on her progress throughout the day, and blogs about her process.  In a recent post, It’s been one year, she memorializes her first year of establishing a writing habit.

For National Novel Writing Month, this is what I am trying to accomplish, and it hasn’t been easy.  You see, the word count goal is just the “ends” of the “means.”  As we begin the fourth week, I realize there is no way I’m ever going to meet the 50,000 word count.  I’m okay with that.  What bothers me is that I fell off the wagon.

Yes, there were family obligations, work to finish, and chocolate to eat.  But there were also characters who needed their story told. I failed them, or at least that’s what it feels like.  Worse – I’ve failed myself.  This was very important to me, but it didn’t seem to make a difference when faced with my laundry list of stuff to do, errands to run and family who needed my attention.  I know I’m not the only writer who faces this.

Now I have to decide what I’m going to do moving forward.  I still want to establish a writing habit.  I want to write a novel length work of fiction.  I actually want to finish this particular novel.  So, I’m picking up where I left off and pledge to write one scene every day this week, including Thanksgiving.  Then, in December I will participate in SuNoWriMo – Susannah’s Novel Writing Month – and see what happens.

Hopefully it will be habit forming.

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I’m behind.  It’s just that simple.  No excuses, plenty of reasons, but the fact is that I’m behind in my word count.  I should have approximately 13,000 words down, and I have around 3,000.  I can’t blame writer’s block, because I don’t actually believe there is such a thing.  It’s me, all me.

However, I had a major writing revelation this week.  I can write fiction.  You see, while I am a writer, I have never actually considered myself a fiction writer.  I write what is essentially promotional copy in many forms (grant proposals, white papers, fundraising materials, etc.).  It has it’s creative moments, and I enjoy “talking up” my clients in print, but it’s not storytelling.

At the end of this week, I told part of a story in approximately 3,000 words, and, boy, am I proud! This is fuel for me to go on.  I’m not going to worry that I’m behind, because there is still time to catch up, just as I’m not going to worry about quality right now, because there will be time to edit and revise in December. 

My plans for Week 2 are to continue to get the bones of my narrative down on paper – to continue building the story.  I’ll get there by November 30, but whether I’ll have 50,000 words or not is too soon to tell.  And I’m not going to worry about that!

Thank you to Debbie Ohi of Inkygirl.com for the use of the above cartoon.

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I wasn’t expecting today to be intimidating, because I’ve been preparing (fleshing out concepts, working on my story idea, outlining plot, developing characters) for the entire month of October.  But it was.  Last night I had a last minute panic attack and saved several Word documents with scene prompts as a contingency. Still, I experienced a bit of the dreaded “blank screen syndrome.” 

What surprised me most was that I seem unable to write my novel chronologically. (I’m curious if this is common – please tell me in the comments). I wrote a sad goodbye that happens later in my novel, and then moved backward in the story to when those two characters meet for the first time.  Eventually I wrote the scene I had in my outline as the opening, but now I think it may actually come right after the “real” opening.  Since I won’t be editing until December 1, I’m letting it stand as is.

Also, today’s quota of 1700 words was not accomplished in one sitting.  I started, stopped, took a break, did something totally unrelated to writing, started again and then repeated that sequence a few more times.  I have scheduled time to work on my novel before I start my day, so this does not bode well for the week day when I have paying work that I must accomplish. 

I’ll let you know later in the week how I handle that hurdle.  At least for today, I’m pretty pleased with my progress.

Thank you to Debbie Ohi of Inkygirl.com for the use of the above cartoon.

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Jodi Cleghorn in her post The 21 Days of NaNoWriMo « Write Anything  basically reveals what I think is the real benefit of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) – establishing a writing habit.  It is a lot like Self Magazine’s March Makeover (do they still do that?), which  helped to establish a healthy eating and exercise habit in the participant’s life.

I write for a living, so essentially I’m writing everyday.  However, it’s “reactionary” writing.  When I had a cubicle job, I wrote in reaction to the day’s goals and deadlines.  Now with my freelance clients, I write in reaction to the specific project deadlines.  This is great for learning how to circumvent “writer’s block,” but it is not conducive to forming a writing habit.

Since I’ve ventured into the freelance periodical market, I am training myself to research and write in the mornings and early afternoons, and market in the late afternoons.  I’ve established a routine, which mimics in some respects my cubicle days.  It gives a sense of structure to my day, and slowly the schedule becomes habitual – much like an actual job.

My responsibility towards my clients keeps me on track and motivated in my work.  I am hoping NaNoWriMo jumpstarts my personal creative writing projects – beyond journaling for three pages every morning.  I want to write towards a goal.

So, I’ve pledged to write a 50,000 word piece of fiction by the end of November.  I’ve set aside a few hours every morning before my “day job” to work on this.  I would like to reach the word goal by November 30, but regardless I’ll be a winner if I have established a writing habit by the end.

NaNoWriMo, What I've Learned & From Whom I Learned It fiction, NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month, novel, writing, writing habit