C.T. Charles

Commentary on closing in on word count, writer’s block and writing through it, and increase in creativity with daily writing.

I am very proud of myself right now. Between yesterday morning and this afternoon, I have written a total of 6,198 words and I’m not even done for the night. I am now just 3,764 words short of where I should be at this time in the National Novel Writing Month in order to complete 50,000 words by the 30th. At this rate, I should be caught up by tomorrow night at the latest. In terms of word count alone, I’ve actually passed Chris Baty, the inventor of NaNoWriMo. It’s not a contest, but by comparing my word count to Chris’s, knowing he always ‘wins’ NaNoWriMo, it’s a psychological boost to my ego, as it reaffirms the idea that I will ‘win’ NaNoWriMo too. Whoohoo!

I’m taking a couple of minutes to break away from my novel right now just to complain. I had a great morning of superb inspiration and the fingers were flying and the word count was rising. Then I reached the end of that chapter and

I left that last sentence hanging because, well, that’s what happened.

Right now the word count is coming at a snail’s pace – a snail on valium. I just can’t seem to recapture that rhythm. Arggggh! And what I have written out of sure force of will – so, so, so bad. Never will it make it into the final version.

So, I end this rant with an appropriate quote that describes my feelings at the moment:

“The first draft of anything is shit.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

Now, off to try again…

Commentary on Week Two progress – being behind in word count and efforts to catch up – and multiple methods for backing up your novel (why doing these saved my a** when my computer crashed last Saturday).

Today marks the beginning of Week 3 of National Novel Writing Month. I haven’t posted a video blog entry for a few days again, not because I’ve stopped writing, but because I’m busy writing away – and I had a computer crash (damn the Mac blue screen and ’spinning beach ball of death’!) – but that’s a whole other story.

Last week I managed to fall behind on my word count, but I have spent the past few days writing feverishly to catch up. It seems to be working and I should get to 50,000 words just in time to finish NaNo. It won’t be easy, in fact I’m kicking myself for not keeping up the 1667 minimum words per day so that I wouldn’t be in this position, but it’s still doable and I will do it.

Each week since this year’s NaNo started, Chris Baty and friends at NaNoWriMo HQ have been sending out ‘pep talks’ in written and video form, and this week is no exception. So far I’ve enjoyed them very much and look forward to finding them in my email in-box. Each one seems to speak to just the exact situations I’m finding myself in at the time. They also have just the right amount of encouragement right when I need it most and they’re incredibly crazy and fun to read and watch. Obviously, they’ve done this before.

Week 3 Pep Talk (I just love Chris Baty’s sense of humor!)

I recently found this on Write to Done, a writing blog I subscribe to and highly recommend. Today’s article has some excellent insight into why just getting the words on the page, regardless of quality, is so important to being productive – very appropriate post during NaNoWriMo month.

Why Writing Rubbish is Productive

I found this TED talk by J.J. Abrams, the man who, among his credits, created the television show LOST and produced the latest STAR TREK movie, very motivating. Abrams is so passionate about what he does and he’s incredibly funny as a speaker. His comments about writing, the importance of investing time in developing your characters, and the importance of mystery in storytelling are things I, as a writer, can relate to and find very inspirational. This may be directed more towards script writers, but novel writers will find nuggets they can use as well. Watch – I think you’ll enjoy it.

“Eat, Pray, Love” Author Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

I found the following TED talk (video below) to be incredibly helpful to me in the middle of my writing my NaNoWriMo novel this month. Perhaps you will too. Too often, we writers write in a vacuum. Most of us, I think, are loners who toil away on our computers without much outside understanding. It thus becomes easy to believe that what we experience during the process of writing is something unique to us alone. Every now and then, we hear or read another writer’s lamentations about the process they go through when writing and we realize, “Wow. I’m not so alone after all.” All of us need to feel that connection sometimes. For example, about fourteen and a half minutes into Gilbert’s presentation, she says:

“When I was in the middle of writing, “Eat, Pray, Love” and I fell into one of those sort of pits of despair that we all fall into when we’re working on something and it’s not coming and you start to think this is going to be a disaster, this is going to be the worst book ever written – not just bad, but the worst book ever written – and I started to think I should just dump this project, you know…”

Oh, how many times have I thought those exact thoughts these past couple of weeks!

And about twelve minutes into the video, Gilbert also says:

“That’s not at all what my creative process is like. I’m not a pipeline, I’m a mule. And the way that I have to work is that I have to get up at, like, the same time every day and I have to sweat and labor and, like, barrel through it really awkwardly…”

“sweat and labor and, like, barrel through it really awkwardly” Uh, yeah. That’s EXACTLY what my creative process is like! Nice to know I’m not the only one.

Take a look at the video. I think you’ll enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert’s unique perspective on the creative process. And remember, you are not alone.

Commentary on being behind in word count, making progress, the importance of describing your characters’ looks, dress, and mannerisms fully, and Fan Fiction vs Regular Fiction.

Boring commentary on procrastination and perfectionism and
not meeting my daily word count goal for the last several days.