I wrote a novel last November (yup, I finished it!). It’s a huge mess — I haven’t touched it since November 31st. It’s 44,006 words long. NaNoWriMo was definitely a success. And then, big plans, right? “I can write another novel,” he said foolishly. Never mind that this was the first one in ten years of on-again, off-again writing. I can definitely reproduce that feat again two months later, with less preparation. Yep.
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Writer’s block is a lie, you know. What people mean by “writer’s block” is really “The right thoughts aren’t coming to mind at the moment.” That’s why everyone tells you to just start writing when you’re stuck – sooner or later, the wanderings of your mind make their way around to what it was you were really hoping to write.
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The first verse of this poem is actually over two years old — I wrote it back in October of 2016, and fiddled around with the meter and rhyme scheme until I was happy with it. But I was never able to finish the poem, and my poetry in general tailed off drastically in 2017. But, here we are, and I managed to finish this after I found a scrap of paper with the first stanza written on it.
I’ve always wanted to write a poem about Lucy Pevensie: her heart for Narnia are a big reason I loved C.S. Lewis’ stories so much. So, without further ado:
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All Right is finished – at least, the first draft is finished. It’s not the last I’ll see of it, but for now, it’s time to put my focus on a new project: and December is beckoning. It’s time for a new challenge.
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Well, November ends in 4 days (four days!). And that’s counting today, to boot! No, I’m not in panic mode — why should you ask? NaNo has been fantastic-ish. I may or may not be putting off writing the ending, but that’s none of your business! First, an update:
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A poem:
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It’s November 7th, and we’re officially into one week of NaNoWriMo. I’m reminded (again) just how ridiculous the assignment is: to write a full-length novel over the course of November. And I even cheated, by starting with about 10,000 words of pre-written draft. So how’s it going?
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Here we go: so it begins! November 1 is upon us and the official starting gun for NaNoWriMo fired 7 hours and 47 minutes ago. I’m already behind!! Here’s how I’m planning to stay focused and cross the 50,000 word finish line:
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Ever since I realized (last week) that All Right has been somewhere in my head for over two years, I’ve been a little bit ashamed by how long it’s taken to produce a draft of the story. After all, 10,000 usable words in two years is not exactly a blistering pace.
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I couldn’t believe it when I realized that All Right was nearly two years old. But thanks to the record here on Writing Life, I realized that All Right came into being during May of 2016 — over two years ago at this point. I wrote plenty of columns about it, too: here, here, here, and here. If you read any of these, you’ll recall some hilarious goals: finish a draft by December (of 2016!), for example. Which brings us to today. . .October 2018.
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