Despite the fact we’re only at Day 4, being a Friday I just feel
the weeks drawing to a close. I had planned on doing a few posts before Nano
had started, but clearly time got the better of me.
This year things are going well. Having set out to write TWO
after the success of last year’s achievement of getting over 186,000 I wanted
to really start stretching myself.
For the past few months I’ve really struggled with getting
my own writing done, writers block and an emotional over load just got the
better of me and I found myself saying ‘it’s ok, you’ve got Nano’
Nano means a lot of things to different people:
- I think it’s a chance for people to give themselves permission to focus on something they love to do (or would rather be doing)
- To others it’s a chance to play out an idea we might not give more than a passing thought to
- To prove that you can actually write 50,000 words
- That you can take a story past a basic concept to a narrative
- Or simply to just tell a story
For me it’s a chance to meet some new people and to ‘talk
shop’ writing is an incredible lonely experience a lot of the time, and not one
that everyone wants to hear you talk about every time they see you. No a lot of
people can really have a conversation about pacing, char arch’s or just ‘that
one damn scene’ that’s got you stumped.
I think because this month for me is to change things up a
bit, to go play in another world for a while. Rather than stay in the one I’m
currently working on, in a way that my short story projects don’t really allow.
I take this month off my ‘normal schedule’ to have some fun,
which is way I’m cramming two stories in this month.
But even though where still in early day’s (and this did
come up in a few October meetings) a lot of people seem to get bogged down in
word counts, now I’ll admit I managed to get 30k out in three days, more out of
experience, lots of planning, and pretty much have A LOT of spare time. And
while the ‘advised’ daily count is satisfying I think people often forget the organic
nature of storytelling, not a lot of people ‘grow’ at a steady rate, we have
growth spurts, and the same thing happens in stories. One day you’ll get 500
words the next, you’ll pull 5,000.
And maybe I can pull a more relaxed attitude about Nano being
about the ‘story’ about enjoying the journey… after all that’s what we all have
in common, we’re all story tellers.
And keep in mind this is a marathon, not a sprint. Remember to breathe and keep up the fluids!
