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| November can make us feel imprisoned by not only our own writing goals, but sometimes someone else's |
Happy November, everyone! I'm sure a good portion of you are out there sitting at your desks, coffee in one hand, plot outlines in the other, plugging away dutifully at your WIP. I am there with you guys, I can tell you that! *sips coffee*
I haven't participated in a NaNoWriMo in almost a decade, as I temporarily stepped out of the writing world. But this year I decided to this month it as a catalyst to jump back into the craft and work on my writing practice. Because my goals differ from those of the typical NaNoWri-er, my plan is looking a bit different than you might expect. The typical goal of November is to exit the month with a novel draft, or at least most of it, completed and ready to edit. My goal, as I mentioned above, is to jumpstart myself back into the writing world and re-learn how to write excellent prose that keeps my readers engaged. It's alright if I don't end up with a novel. In fact, I'd be pretty damned surprised if I ended up with a novel because I've decided to focus on short fiction this year.
Yep, you heard me right. For me November is NOT novel writing month (NoNoWriMo!), but rather National Short Fiction Writing Month...NaNoShoFiMo anyone?
As you may have noticed from this blog, brevity is not my strong suit. My first novel manuscript started as a 120,000 word draft. It's now a hair above 90,000, but it took a lot of work to get it there! In my high school and college days, I used to write short fiction for fun, only for myself. I had almost forgotten until my mom was cleaning out her storage and came across a lot of my old writing. She scanned and sent them to me and lo and behold, some were quite captivating! It got me thinking that maybe I need to step out of my comfort zone to hone my craft. I need to challenge myself to write, not more, but better.
That's not to say there's anything wrong with taking this month to focus on your novel. But for those who want to do something else, it is okay to step out of the box, and maybe out of your comfort zone, and write your own November goals.
So, let's hear it, what are you all working on this month?
And send me some of your favourite short fiction recommendations as well! I recently read this flash fiction piece and was completely in awe.
Happy writing!!
Well, it has certainly been awhile. But I am back! And I promise I wasn't doing *nothing* in that time. Yes, I left the writing world for almost a decade. I didn't open my main work in progress for at least five years. And the few times I did open it, I floundered, not knowing what to do. For awhile I thought I'd never be back.
It wasn't because writing had faded from my hobbies list or because I'd grown discouraged. It wasn't because I thought my works weren't worth my time. It's just that now there are lots of other things vying for my time. If you saw my last entry (which I have no memory of writing by the way. Eep!) you know that I had a New Years Eve baby back in 2012. Well, I also had a Midsummer's Eve baby in 2015. And these two girls, one a firey redhead who loves to read even more than I do and the other an energetic blonde that sprints everywhere, take up a LOT of my time. But they're not the only things I've birthed. I've also created a business where I get to help other kids experience the joy of communication and language. I'm so passionate about helping kids learn to talk and communicate more effectively. You can check out that side of my personality here.
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| My two main time sinks counting tree rings |
So, if I have so much going on, you might be asking why I'm back now, all of a sudden. As with so many things, a good editor friend of mine helped get me back on my path. She took my WIP and told me to whip it back into shape. And I did! And it has revitalized the writing drive in me. DROWNING is now fully edited and ready to go.
A note to the agents (if there are any of you reading this), I want to emphasize that, though I left the writing world for awhile, I am absolutely committed and reliable as a person. If I have a project, I will finish it. If you send me edits, I will get them back to you on time. Though I had shifted my focal point and energies for awhile, I am 100% back now. Well, still running my business, so we'll say 100% of the half of me I've dedicated to writing is back!
Time to run off to my day job now, but stay tuned for more frequent posts here soon.
