Just Read: BILLY SUMMERS by Stephen King--A fun story, another about a writer but this one with a kind of unique twist that inspired some ideas in my own writing.
Reading Now: LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS by Joe Abercrombie
One writer's thoughts about writing, stories, and life.
I've come to think November is my favorite month for writing.
Lots of reasons--first, it's NaNoWriMo and the writing community is alive and energized. I've completed NaNo twice, and have two novels that I love because of it. One day I will come back to them. They read like early attempts at novels, but I still think the stories are good.
But something in the air is different in November, too. Maybe it's the changing seasons, how the weather gets colder and the days darker, that sparks some creativity. Something about the changing of a daily rhythm, perhaps, that gets the thoughts flowing. When I walk outside, the air seems more magical in November than any other month, and I find myself wanting to capture that feeling in a story.
Along those lines, there's something creepy about November. It is heralded by Halloween. Life all around is dying slowly for winter. Heat escapes from my area of the planet. Every year I want to read Stephen King stories this time of year. (I'm catching up on some of his early work.) He's been one of my favorite writers my whole life, and reading him always makes me want to write.
So I've been hard at it, usually while holding my newborn son (YAYYY!!!!) and have been submitting a few stories, as well. I also have some good publishing news to share soon! It's the kind of news I hope to have more of before long. Hope your writing is going well, too!
As part of my class on leadership this semester, we've been reading this book called Deep Change by Robert Quinn. Basically, it's about undergoing a (frequently painful) major revision of culture or self in order to accomplish growth and improvement, and to get off of a slow death spiral that ends in misery or collapse for yourself or your organization.
It's made me think about this concept of inertia--an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force, and the same is true with objects at rest. Does the concept apply to people as well? I definitely go through fits and spurts of productivity, with writing and lots of other areas of my life. I sometimes realize I have been stuck at rest and need something to act upon me and give me a jumpstart. Usually it is something I read that inspires me, like a particularly good story or novel that I want to be like, and then I'm off again for a while.
So as the new year gets underway in earnest, I'm trying to think about how I can make productivity a habit. I might have to undergo some deep change to do it, like giving up staying up late and eating and drinking unhealthily, and instead wake up early and exercise and write when I'm the most energized. I've never been a morning person, but I've always wanted to be--maybe this can be the moment. I'm off to a good start so far, and if I can build some inertia, I think I can produce some good stories this year.
Congratulations to all you NaNoWriMo winners out there!
I've won NaNoWriMo twice, and both times were amazing experiences. I loved the feeling of being submerged in the story, thinking about it all day for a month, and writing writing writing alongside so many peers. The community on Twitter was inspiring and really helped push me to get to 50,000 words.
This November, I had to focus on my doctoral project, so I didn't have the time to dedicate to NaNoWriMo. But following along on Twitter made me remember sitting up late at my desk, listening to music from a hundred different film scores, and typing from one plot point to another. For me, it was a magical time, when writing felt more like play and less like work than ever before.
What was really amazing, though, is how much NaNoWriMo taught me. Maybe it was just by virtue of word count--I've heard that your first million words are just practice, and I think more and more that that's true--but I think it was more than that, too. It taught me the skills you need to write a novel, such as how to construct it, how to foreshadow, how it can be broken into different acts (or beginning, middle, and end) and what those parts need. I had written novels before NaNoWriMo, but they were a different kind of fun. This was like being a part of a masterclass, with all the Nanoers as my fellow students trying to accomplish something together.
My program is finished next August. Who knows what next year will bring, but I hope I can do NaNoWriMo again in 2022.