Janowrimo 2010: Day 26 Every work is an opportunity

Writing is a marvelous occupation to embrace because it's lifelong learning. It doesn't matter whether you've won a Pulitzer, a Nobel for literature, or any other award. There is always something new to learn, always something different to try. Each novel or nonfiction book comes with its own set of challenges. The beauty of writing is that you can even choose the set of challenges you want to tackle. There are so many parts that make up a good book that a lifetime can be spent mastering the subject. 


I have a lot of challenges within the pages of my current project. It's hard enough to capture the vision and wrestle it to paper, but then there's all those small opportunities to take things to another level that I've planned or that suddenly present themselves for yet another "opportunity." I've set a very high bar this time and there are days when I wonder if I can even jump the first hurdle let alone the one after and the one after and the one after. It can be daunting. But then I remember that even if fail to reach perfection, my work will be so much better simply for having tried. How about you? Do you find that you work in challenges when you envision your books?

Another day, another bunch of words

Okay, posted my wordcount for Day 2: 1189. Worked on the same scene as yesterday. I also spent quite a bit of time working on the scene's dynamics and am pretty pleased with the results. There's still more to do but the great thing is this is a brand new scene that I hadn't realized before. I also have a new character, too. So I can already tell the difference from having a concentrated focus on this scene.

NaNoWriMo Begins

Okay, I actually completed the first day AND posted my wordcount: 590. I know, it's not that much but it is a start. I had to deal with a lot of unanticipated distractions, and as you know, as soon as you announce to the world your intention the world responds back with a whack of negativity to test your commitment. So I feel pretty good that I actually did follow through yesterday.

One thing I did yesterday was to revise a scene storyboard technique I learned from Robert Ray's Weekend Writer. Over the years I found a few things that intensify the focus of my first draft and included them. My template is a tool I use to drop me into the scene. By the time I've finished filling it out, I usually am hearing dialogue, hearing movement, and entering deeper into the novel. Once the inital blast of energy is over I copy the actual scene content into a word file and off I go to finish the first draft. It generally works every time. Since I plan to use that process every day this month to move along, I wanted to upgrade it so I'm working off all the items from the beginning.

So how did your day go yesterday? Ready for today?

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