Nano Day 3 & 4

[frea_o]

True to form, I got three days into the month and forgot to write a Nano update. I’m surprised I made it past the first day. I am flaky about all things but the need to write. I’d say I’m not flaky about eating, but everybody in my life would laugh at me and point to the hundreds of stories they have about that time I accidentally nuked the same meal five times because I kept forgetting it was by my hand while I was either writing or editing video. Anyway, I’m using the excuse that it’s a weekend and I didn’t realize a birthday dinner with my sister was going to turn into a full night out of seeing Brave with my other sister and so on and so forth. I also went to a comic book store and learned how to shop for comics.

But anyway, writing. Right. Yesterday I woke up feeling kind of crappy, but at least that inspired me to take my cold medicine before four or five hours had passed. I sat on the couch (we have a dual reclining couch that we bought for five bucks at a yard sale) with a netbook and pounded away until I finished the seventh chapter of The Abbey, which is such a massive relief to have done.

That said, I tried starting the eighth chapter today and while I like what I have, my writing senses are telling me it’s about to back me into another corner, so I’m going to end up scrapping all 800 words or so. This isn’t a big deal (I’m grateful I caught it so quickly, actually). I know there are people who are just *gasping* at me because 800 words, no, that’s half a day’s word count and editing is for December and don’t delete, never delete!, but rules like that are dangerous.

Here’s the thing: If you need to delete, delete for crying out loud. Rules becoming absolute, nine times out of ten, will damage a writing career more than they will aid it. You have to do what’s right by you when you’re writing, which is why I can sometimes find Nanowrimo to be a major pain in the ass. I have to remind myself that everybody has a fair chance to be a writer and to play nice when sometimes it feels like people who only write for 30 days out of the year are shouting writing advice at me when I write pretty consistently year-round. And that’s also a dangerous attitude to have, but I’m trying to be better about it.

Went to the library today and walked out with an arm full of science fiction and fairy tales. I meant to do research on the 18th century. Whoops.

And now it’s back to writing because this fic isn’t going to write itself, no matter how awesome that would be.

- Frea

Word Count: 7451 words
Current Project: The Abbey 08
Project on Deck: Greater 11

Comments

[andersenmom.livejournal.com]

I still say never delete...

But on the other hand, I CAN show you the discards file from past nanos and they are HUGE. Keep the words, you own them, but you don't have to use them in your story.

Congrats on getting it done, and even more congrats on catching the corner before you get trapped in it! I wish I had a sense like that!

[frea-o.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have discards files a-plenty because word documents are smallish and don't take up much space. And the nature of my nanowrimo project means I can actually just throw the words into my "tally document" and keep them there, but other people aren't doing it like that and therefore might need to delete. It's about the stresses that this puts on you, you know? I watch people unravel every year and it's like, "No, don't do that to yourself! If you learn to enjoy it, you can write all year round!"

And the 'catching the corners' thing really just comes from lots and lots of practice. I back myself into corners regularly, so I have discovered a habit of seeing it coming and learning to sidestep. It's one of those practice, practice, practice things. Also, talking about it with a beta reader you trust can help you learn to spot those sorts of things.