Writing a Novel

It's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

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.

There is a reason I turn off my Wi-Fi.

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.