{"id":4483,"date":"2015-12-02T14:28:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T19:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsavannah.com\/blog\/?p=4483"},"modified":"2015-12-02T14:28:28","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T19:28:28","slug":"want-to-write-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsavannah.com\/blog\/index.php\/want-to-write-4\/","title":{"rendered":"#IWSG – So you want to be a writer…. (pt 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"InsecureWritersSupportGroup\" Well, it’s that time again: I said I’d participate in the Insecure Writer’s Support Group<\/a> blog posting (first Wednesday of every month), so here I am. Post #4.<\/p>\n

Sadly, I haven’t really got anything to say. Or much to say. (For me, same thing.)<\/p>\n

Which is weird, as I am<\/strong> a writer, and have always considered myself to be one, ever since I was a wee lass and could hold some sort of instrument of torture<\/del>. Erm, writing. In fact, because I considered myself to be a writer, I had a difficult time considering myself to be an artist and to do my painting, drawing, etc.<\/p>\n

Anywho, last time<\/a> I told you I was going to participate in National Novel Writing Month<\/a> (or #NaNoWriMo, but because I’m lazy, #NaNo).<\/p>\n

\"NaNoWriMoWell, I did and I didn’t.<\/p>\n

I wrote 179 words on that particular day, and I haven’t written anything since. Partially because November has been a particularly horrid month for me, health-wise (a topic for another post). Partially because…. who knows. Fear is definitely one of the things… specifically, fear of failure. (Self-fulfilling prophecy? I’m afraid to fail, so I do?) What got me was the email from #NaNo that said that only 17% of participants “won” (aka wrote 50,000 words). (PS It might be more or less than that; I can’t seem to find the email with the exact amount.)<\/p>\n

Of my thirteen<\/strong> #NaNo writing buddies, only four<\/strong> actually succeeded in breaking 50,000 words: AJ Aalto<\/a>, Leona Bushman<\/a>, Robert Pruneda<\/a>, and\u00a0Jessica McHugh<\/a> (who wrote 81,660<\/strong> words on her novel, The Hares in the Hedgerow<\/em>!). Woo-hoo to them!<\/p>\n

The other nine wrote a total of 134,218 words. Which is pretty impressive, if you think about it. That’s more words than those writers had before<\/em> November.<\/p>\n

Do I beat myself up about not succeeding, not winning?<\/p>\n

Of course I do.<\/p>\n

Even tho my pal Gareth S. Young<\/a> tells me that’s not what #NaNo is for. That I’m not to beat myself up. That I started a story, and I have a good idea, and it’s not like I can’t write it in the future. Or, like, today.<\/p>\n

In the most recent email from #NaNo’s executive director,\u00a0Grant Faulkner, titled “Your story has just begun.”, he writes:<\/p>\n

Sometimes an illness or the demands of life can sidetrack a creative endeavor. Sometimes a story just isn\u2019t quite ready to be written. But don\u2019t despair. A novel travels the same labyrinthian and nettlesome path that its main characters do\u2014overcoming setbacks, facing down gnarly antagonists, and then moving forward toward the light. You built a cocoon for your novel this November. A butterfly will emerge.<\/p>\n

So I urge you to keep your creative fires burning…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, that’s what I urge the rest of you to do as well. Keep the fires burning. Write. Write anyway. Write 179 words, every time you can, and eventually, it’ll be a book.<\/p>\n

Just not in November 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s that time again: I said I’d participate in the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog posting (first Wednesday of every month), so here I am. Post #4. Sadly, I haven’t really got anything to say. 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