For many, this is the infamous second week during NaNoWriMo when many drop out. Please don’t. This blog, though, is about my thoughts during my second week. I’m far ahead of where I’d hoped to be and don’t have any reason to be concerned that I won’t succeed in ending Riparia’s series before the end of the year (two books). I’ve been fortunate to have other writers encouraging and supporting me.
The biggest reason I discourage dropping out is the very reason that I’m succeeding. I know my process. So, yes, there’s a truth. Although my process continues to evolve, it always works for me. If what you’re doing is working, keep doing it. If what you’re doing isn’t working, make changes. Simple.
The ability to make changes while using my narrative outline is why I’m firm in my belief that it doesn’t kill inspiration. People are free to disagree. Because my overall structure is sound, I can weave and make changes as I go along, but I’m still following the original course. Averaging over 7K words/day tells me my methods work for me, and so I’ll continue with them.
That’s another truth.
I don’t talk about it much, not directly, but at this point I’m a full-time writer. That’s a truth, too. The advantage, I’ve discovered, goes beyond mere time. On average, I spend 6-7 hours/day writing, but that’s only part of the benefit. The bigger one, for me, is that it takes a certain amount of time to get my writing legs beneath me. That’s where a decent block of time comes in handy. Too, because I spend so much time IN the story, it’s always right there. It’s like my head is already booted up and ready to go.
Can someone write in shorter blocks? Ignoring for the moment that everyone is different (I can’t write in coffee shops, for instance), sure they can (a truth!). I’ve done it when I had to. A couple of those 7K days were hectic because I had commitments. On those days I was up extra early. I tossed my normal schedule out the window and wrote when I could. In a way, it was a refreshing change.
Maybe because I’m about to close out drafting Riparia’s series, I’ve been feeling the weight of the moment. Not because of the effort, but because I’m recognizing how far I’ve come. Looking back at my recent blog posts, I can see where I reference contrasts a lot.
Lately, though, my thoughts have been on who I am as a writer and how grateful I am that I’ve truly reached a point where that’s more clear to me than it’s ever been. It was a journey I actively undertook in 2015, but I think the turning point was when I drafted Protecting the Pneuma Key two years ago. Something clicked into place. A different awareness came over me while writing. Strange to think that, at the time, I was unaware that I was writing the last novel I’d draft while working a regular job.
Writing awareness. Is that a thing? I’ve no idea. I’m not even sure what I mean, yet it’s there. I guess that’s a truth, but with an asterisk.
There are moments when I wonder where I’d be now if I’d become more serious about writing decades sooner. Those are wasted thoughts, though. I couldn’t be the writer I needed to be until I became the person I needed to be first. When that happened, the writing fell into place, and so there’s my last truth.
Christina Anne Hawthorne 