You have the month of November to write 50,000 words.
Many, many people participate, and many, many people finish their novel in a month. The goal is to finish the novel; not to write a perfect novel.
The rules are simple. Do not write a single word before November 1. You can have an outline, character profiles, and research done, but not a single word can be written.
I'm not participating because I don't want to stop working on my current novel to begin a new one.
I can read three novels at once, but I cannot create three worlds at the same time. There are way to many voices going on in my head.
Yes, the voices.
Chris and I will be in the car, and he'll ask me what's wrong.
Nothing is wrong, I'm just listening to the voices in my head have a conversation and trying to keep up so I can write it all down when I find a computer or a pen and paper, whatever comes first.
Chris is used to losing me to fictional people.
He came home one day from work and I was sitting on the couch crying as I typed on my laptop.
"What's wrong?"
"Grady Died."
"Who?"
"A character in my novel."
"Don't kill him then."
Yeah, I have no control over my characters. They do what they want, and I'm just lucky enough to get it on paper.
Writing isn't hard. It just takes a lot of discipline to sit at a computer and type on Word and not on Facebook or Twitter.
Soooooo, why do I write? One, there isn't anything else I really want to do. And because of this:
Focus on the "technically."
There are the jerks who make fun of you writing, and who say stupid stuff about it not being a real job. And stuff that makes them look like ass holes.
It happens. I just try not to let them get me down.
So how do you help a writer? Don't be Gabriel.
Unless if you want to be the villain.
