Get Writing Yourself!

So, since I have attempted to get some people to write with me during November in lieu of participating in NaNoWriMo, I am finding it quite hard to get writing myself. At work, I spend all day in front of a computer editing and typing text. When I get home, I have marvelous Munchkin and wonderful Wifey to keep me occupied. I try to sneak some blogging in before I go to bed, but beyond that, I don't really care to write.

I am using this work week so far as a scapegoat. I have had one of the busiest weeks I can remember, as well as one of the more stressful ones at work. I have projects that aren't getting done on time, computer systems that aren't cooperating (making deadlines seem even more out of reach), and more items waiting in the wings for when I get these ones done. All in all, I have had to decompress quite a bit on the drive home so that I don't let my frustration affect Wifey and Munchkin.

So far, so good.

And today helped out a bit. I was able to take a walk during lunch while the weather was wonderful. It has been unseasonably warm here, the sun was shining, the leaves were falling, and there was a gentle breeze. It felt like a nice spring day with a hint of the bite of autumn. It was enough to make me not want to go back inside and work, but I did anyway.

But back to writing. I have about three paragraphs so far. I have already reworked a few of them. I can watch the video in my head, but at this point am getting too caught up in creating good prose to get the story fleshed out. After taking multiple courses in writing, I realize that this isn't the way to go—there is always time for revision later. But I still find myself wanting to write a first draft that is the final draft. You would think that I would know better by now, but I don't.

I take that back. I do know better. I just have a hard time remembering that while I am in the thick of things.

Now I need to figure out what I want my characters to say. They are still a bit nebulous at this point. I have some defining moments mapped out in my brain as well, but I don't know my characters enough yet to know how they might react to such situations. I want to spend time with these individuals, but need to make room for it in my thinking time.

So I am off to go drafting again. I can capture at least this snippet of a character's life. It will probably be cliche and trite, but at least I am writing.

How are things going for everyone else? Updates help to motivate me.

Get Writing!

For those of you who think that writing is for weirdos, you can stop reading now. Either that, or just accept the fact that I am a weirdo, along with a lot of other people in the world. If you didn't know that, you probably didn't know that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short).

I have been wanting to write something creative for the past little while, but am not ready to write a novel in November. I just don't have the time to devote to that at this point, and it is much easier to play with a cute little Munchkin than it is to ignore her smiling face when I haven't seen her all day. To do my small part, I have decided to take a bit of time to set up an important point in a story that occasionally flashes into my head. It comes from a lyric that has been running through my head from a Sara Bareilles song called The Light. It goes a little something like this:

In the morning it comes—heaven sent a hurricane. Not a trace of the sun, but I don't even run from rain.

While some of you might be thinking what a downer and rolling your eyes, I immediately start thinking what in the world would cause someone to get down to such a level of despair? And I don't have an answer at this point. So I thought I would try to write a piece of fiction to see if I could figure it out this month. My only rule was that I use the lyric as a prompt.

To encourage a friendly internet neighborhood writing, I am tagging Daily Characters and Did You Have Juice to see if I can't get some more writing churned out. I would love to tag more people, but have yet to find other writer friends online. If you would like to be such a friend, feel free to leave a comment in the appropriate location. Everybody knows the Internet needs more writing. And if you don't know this, you should.