In my last post for the #IWSG, I told you that there are only two things you really need to do to be a writer: first, you read, and second, you write. I also told you I was going to go more into how it’s not quite that easy, and so I shall.

I was looking through some old, old papers, and came across a list I’d written down while attending a writers’ conference a million years ago. (Or 20. More like 20.)

I vaguely remember the person speaking (male), and the room (smallish? Maybe 25 (?) of us), and I definitely know it was long before email and e-books and self-publishing were viable alternatives to agents and publishers and all that.

If you wanted to get your book published, you printed the whole entire thing out, mailed it to a publisher, or if you were lucky, you mailed it to an agent and they tried to sell it to a publisher, and you hoped for the best.

I remember the speaker had a copy of a manuscript he’d sent to a publisher, like the FULL manuscript, all hundreds of pages of it, and he showed us where the publisher had stopped reading – you could tell, based on where pages were bent and where they weren’t anymore – and he told us that was a hint that more work needed to be done in that part of the story. (Unfortunately, we don’t get that visual clue these days since we are expected to submit electronic copies of our manuscripts.)

But what really stuck with me was the list he shared with us, and that I’m going to share with you now, with apologies to that author whose name I (oddly) didn’t write down… especially considering I wrote down everything else he said, and I kept it all these years. (Note: I’ve made a few edits to remove things that are no longer applicable and added a few updates that are applicable and important.)

These commandment, my friends, are still VERY VERY VERY VALID. And important. (See? Writing… not really quite that easy.)

The Ten Commandments of Writing

1. Thou shalt write

2. Thou shalt write well

3. Thou shalt learn about the publishing business

4. Thou shalt not submit stories without following guidelines

5. Thou shalt revise happily

6. Thou shalt knowledgeably seek editors and agents – (dSavannah update) and/or cover designers and editors and formatters

7. Thou shalt learn to use rejection rather than be abused by it

8. Thou shalt not irritate editors and agents – (dSavannah update) or bloggers or reviewers or cover designers or editors or formatters or fellow authors

9. Thou shalt learn how to wait – (dSavannah update) and while waiting, work on the next thing

10. Thou shalt not get overly excited until the published book is in hand – (update) or on kindle or nook

It’s day four of #NaNoWriMo, and I’m…. doing what? Well, sadly, not so much. Two blog posts ago (on Monday, 10/25), I wrote about The State of My Health, a lengthy missive on how I’m dealing with all the crap life is handing me right now. (Oh, and MANY thanks for everyone who donated a little toward my health fund.)

The good news is: the biopsies on my endoscopy and colonoscopy came back normal, so I don’t need to worry about that. There is lingering gastritis (inflammation of the lining of the stomach) due to the severity of the GERD (acid reflux) I suffered my whole life until a doctor finally said, yes, there is definitely something wrong with you, and I had surgery to correct it.

(And I know, you’re wondering, what in the heck does this have to do with writing? With #NaNoWriMo? I’m getting there… in my round-about verbose way.)

On Wednesday, 10/28, I had a cervical ESI (epidural steroid injection), and was sedated for the procedure. (I chose not to be sedated for my other four steroid shots, but it was recommended that I be sedated for this one.)  For some reason, whether it was the sedation or the weather change (rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, grey, rain, gray, and me a little barometer), or my general tendency toward Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I pretty much have slept since then.

I only woke up on Tuesday (yesterday) because I had two doctors’ appointments, and those were complete and utter disasters that ended with me having panic attacks and tears and …. let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

BUT:

All last month I played around with my #NaNoWriMo2015 notebook. (Yes, that’s Grumpy Cat dissing me on.) (Yes, I luuuuurve Grumpy Cat. Just ask my students. I used Grumpy as an example alllll the time in my classes.)

My #NaNoWriMo2015 Notebook. I like color. I like Grumpy Cat. I like Hoops & YoYo. I like to write with a pencil, tho oddly, I don’t use the eraser – I scribble out words I don’t want to use.

And, as I am nothing if I’m not organized, I used post-it tabs to make note of where stuff is in that there notebook:

Yup. Post-it tabs. I gotta find where I wrote stuff. I’m way too impatient to flip through a bunch of pages just to find the one I need.

And I made a chart of how many words I need to write each day (and yes, I’m already waaaaaaaaay behind).

Ye old chart of progress. Or, not, as the case may be. If you can’t read that, I’m 4,882 words behind where I should be to stay on schedule.

BUT, I actually managed to scribble 179 words yesterday, despite the horrible doctors’ experience, and despite the depression, and the rain, and my tears. They aren’t necessarily good words, but they’re words. AND I finally came up with the name for main character. Cutting it rather close, wasn’t I?

Words. Words I scribbled. Yesterday. 179 of ’em. and I counted. Way more than I expected.

So, what’s my point in sharing all this with you, other than I’ve not gotten any sleep last night (and surprisingly, all that other sleep I got doesn’t seem to have taken the edge off my exhaustion)?

Well, the point of #NaNoWriMo is to silence your inner editor. (Which boy howdy, is waaaay difficult for me). The point of #NaNoWriMo is to follow Commandment One: Thou Shalt Write.

And to follow the additional commandment that I just made up on the spot: Thou Shalt Not Give Up.