Waiting for the Starting Gun?

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning was INTERIM

Here we are, almost the middle of October, which means NaNoWriMo starts in eighteen days and ten hours. Which means I’ve got two weeks to think of some brilliant plot if I hope to take part in the Great Event. For those of you who haven’t heard, Nanowrimo is a month-long event where hopeful biographers, memoir and travel writers, novelists and poets all around the world sit town and hammer away, aiming for 1500 words per day, give or take.

In the interim — these October days so swiftly passing by — participants will need to get their ducks lined up in a row. And here I am without so much as a feather of an idea!

I enjoy the challenge of trying to write 50k words in November. Just the thought of it starts my blood rushing through my veins, ready to pour out onto the pages, as one writer put it. I’d be delighted to sign up and outline my project — but at this point I’d be like the writer who said, “I’m writing a novel. Today I did the page numbers.”

October is when we’re supposed to do the research, fix the era, verify the dates, outline the plot, determine the objectives, envision the characters with their qualities good and bad. Would any of you readers like to suggest a title and some characters for my potential Nov. tale?

I have this e-book where the writer claims anyone can write 5000 words in an hour, and his claim is quite believable. I’ve done a thousand words in ten minutes myself. BUT… you have to know when you start to type exactly what you’re going to say. No mulling, no research, no rethinking or rewriting. This kind of writing takes serious planning before and between sessions, unless you’re a really good “pantser” who can start with an opening scene — like Snoopy’s, “It was a dark and stormy night…” — and just go wherever the characters take you.

One thing I will say about Nanowrimo: it’s worth a try. It’s an exercise, an encouragement to write. Even if a person writes a short story instead of a full-length novel, you still have the satisfaction of accomplishing something. However, like any other journey, you need some idea of where you want to end up and the route you need to take to get there, or you may just wander around in inky circles, lost and discouraged.

Kind of like life, right? Life coaches encourage everyone to set goals. They warn us that if we just drift through each day without clear goals we’ll end up nowhere — and find the trip unsatisfying.

So here’s wishing you inspiration and clear objectives, if you’re among those who intend to join the Nanowrimo crowd. Should my muse deliver a semi-load of inspiration before Nov 1st, I’ll sign up, too. 😉