November 19, 2003

  • I'm tired ...


    My NaNo novel this year is one I don't think I could ever publish - at least not if I want to be invited to the family reunion.  I'm calling it "The Year of Behaving Badly" and I'm drawing so much from my real life and the lives of my sisters that the lines between memoir and fiction are getting beyond blurred.  Its a book I have to write.  But, up until this week it's also been the book that I just can't write.  I've been eeking out thin sentences and paragraphs of less than 200 words in a day when the goal is to write 1,500.  Last night I had a dam burst.  I started writing and couldn't stop.  At 2:30 this morning, I finally quit because I couldn't stay awake any longer and the words were so misspelled that I didn't think I'd be able to decipher them this morning.  I wrote almost 5,000 words. 


    I still may not make the goal of completing 50,000 words in the month of November, because even last night's storm didn't catch me up.  But I'm writing again. 


    My friend Mary sent me a book last week, The Writer's Book of Hope, by Ralph Keyes.  In one of the early chapters, in fact on one of the first pages of the book, I found this portion of a sentence, "we should always be writing the story we can't."  There are a lot of reasons I can't write the story that I've been working on.  Too emotional, too private, too painful, and too uncertain ... but then again, those are all the same reasons that I have to write this story.  Whether I finish it in time to be certified a winner in the NaNoWriMo write-a-thon is beside the point.  I'm writing the story that I can't.  And that makes me a winner. 

Comments (18)

  • Ah yes.  I have the story-that-can't-be-written floating around somewhere inside of me too. ::sigh::

  • You write this book because you need but for the publication , it is another story . But at least you are relieved .

     Love            Michel

  • It'll be good to have done it whether or not you make the goal or not by the end of the month. Kudos for working so hard on it! 

  • Kudos and applause... I have started that story - it is slow going but it is going and as you say, that makes you a winner!!

    I have a book by R Keyes... I can't think of the name though, a friend gave it to me , it was about not being afraid to write - good book!

    I wish you much luck in this writing adventure!!

  • Almost 5,000 words!??! Oh wow! Yeah, I'd be exhausted! Great job! You are writing a story that you can't, but, since you are writing it you can and I really admire you for your courage to do it and for not giving up. Oh yes, you are most definitely a winner.

  • You have inspired me this morning, thank you so much.  Love, Cathie Jo

  • id be tired too..good work

  • 5,000 words in one sitting?  I bow to the master.  Getting it written is the important thing.  You can always publish it under some seedy sounding pen name later.  Of course if it makes you fabulously rich, you might have to come clean.  

  • Congrats and good luck sweetie. I have one of those as well. You're braver than I!!

  • I know that story...been trying to write it myself...for about a year now.

  • o/

    God Bless - Dale o/

  • The eternal writer's struggle. I recently read Ralph Keye's The Courage to Write and want to read his Book of Hope soon, too. He says, "If you're not scared, you're not writing." "We all keep things in a zone of privacy. The bigger the zone, the worse the writing." "Gripping writing [often] grows out of crisis;... when we no longer care how we're coming across and just write." "It's not the most gifted, but the most determined who succeed." And "'Facts' can be easier to hide behind than [fiction.]... The facts are less demanding to write about then are the feelings." I bow down before those who have the patience and ability to write fiction. Keep it up.

  • I love the title!  It sounds like something I'd pick up at the book store (I first judge a book by it's title!  It's got to grab my attention.)  Good luck!

  • Shah!  Of course you're a winner! 

  • Gotta love those 5000 word rushes. You feel so writerish the next day

  • Wow. 5000 words. And I can't even manage to get 10 into my blog. You're a winner, anyway. Mike

  • I knew you were a winner anyway -- but this is yet another confirmation. You GO, girl!!!

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