NaNo and Modals

Well, it's been quite some time since I've actually had something to say here. Okay, that might not be precisely accurate. I always have something to say. Whether it makes it out of the hamster wheel of my head onto paper is another matter entirely. I guess the world wide interwebs doesn't really constitute putting anything on paper, but what can I say, I'm an old fashioned kind of technophile. Back to the point that I promise I do have. I decided about a week and a half ago to man up and participate in NaNoWriMo this year. For those of you unfamiliar with this wacky acronym, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. This literary marathon began a decade ago in San Franciso in 1999. I first heard of it a couple years back, but always had an excuse for why I couldn't participate. And in my rationalizing little brain, it was always couldn't, not wouldn't. It's amazing how the simple choice of a modal can convey a completely different state of mind. In case you were wondering (and I know you were, you curious dickens), today I like the English language. It's been playing nicely with me over the past week. Which naturally makes me suspicious of what linguistic high-jinks and tortures lurk in my near future.

But I digress. Shocking, I know. This summer I had a revelatory breakthrough with the fantasy series I've been developing for the past six years, called The Children of Men. I had great momentum this summer and was cranking out the drafting in a steady pace. All was glorious in writing land! Then. Then school started and as the responsibilities of my chosen profession began to demand more and more of time, The Children of Men were left waiting around a campfire. I tried to find time for drafting, but it was a pathetic attempt that involved a lot starting off into the distance, sipping coffee, and occasionally poking at some keys until I stopped trying to find the time again. Again, another school year had come upon me and my writing had gotten kicked to the curb.

But this year, instead of just plowing ahead with my teaching, I continued to feel the tugging from my characters who were really getting angsty that they still sat by that same fire five months later. Then I remembered that NaNo lurked around the corner and I decided that despite dozens of good and legitimate reasons why I couldn't do NaNo again, this year I would. I would not try to find the time this year. This year I would make the time. And you know what? It's working.

While I'm not to the finish line yet, as of Day 7 of drafting I've produced over 12,000 words of new drafting. I have never been so productive while writing in my entire life. I know that the old cliche says that if you want to be a writer write. But it's true. Make the time in your life if you want to write. Fight for the twenty minutes to draft another 425 words. You'll be amazed when you start analyzing how you spend your time, how much time you waste during the day that you could be writing. And if writing is as important to you as you claim, then why wouldn't you log off facebook to sit down just you, a mug of tea, and a blank page?

No matter how bad the writing is, just write. Don't let yourself agonize over word choice or just the right image. Just get the words on paper. You can clean it up and flesh it out later. But if you don't first get the words down, then you've got nothing. If you're doing NaNo and you're behind, don't despair and give up. Just pick up a pen or dust off your word processor and start writing. It doesn't have to be beautiful, or profound, or even spelled correctly. Just write something. You can do it if it's what you really want, if it's really a priority. So, let go of whatever is in your way and get to the writing.