- (DONE)
Re-read what is written on Untitled NaNoWriMo 2011 Project - Finish first (and only) draft of Untitled NaNoWriMo 2011 Project
- 500 words per day except Fridays or
- 3,000 words per week
In the comments of the Week 8 update entry, Ryan King offered me a wonderful and helpful piece of advice: Write for five minutes, no matter what. Well, actually, it was more of an order than advice, but his heart was in the right place. It would probably have worked, too, if not for the fact that... yup, I'm gonna say it again... I'm not a writer.
My problem hitting my ROW80 goals isn't that I don't have the time. I'm a slacker loner with no life -- I have almost nothing but time. My problem is more that I don't have the interest or motivation. So what am I doing here? Well, just like 2011's Round 1, my attempt to convert NaNoWriMo enthusiasm and momentum into something more lasting just... fizzled out.
Last night, I attempted to follow the advice. Er, order. I opened up my document with the intent of writing for five minutes. No more, no less. I quickly retraced the last few paragraphs to remember where I was in the story and asked two questions:
"So then what?"
"Who cares?"
It's that second question that's the killer.
Thus far this week: 0 words of 1,500. (Or 0 minutes of 5.)
Sorry, Ryan.
These other folks need no apology.
Zing! That's ok. I admit it, it did come across more as an order. Sorry about that. Sometimes we need a good kick in the pants to get started. I'm glad you at least tried to open your WIP. Motivation and enthusiasm is a whole other issue to tackle.
ReplyDeleteYou're not a writer, eh? So, where did the NaNo enthusiasm and momentum come from? Why did you start NaNo to begin with? The answer matters. If you don't see yourself as a writer, you won't write. Even writer's who only write as a hobby are still writers. You had to have some kind of pull to write to begin with else you wouldn't have started something as big as a novel. Also, you probably wouldn't have joined ROW if you didn't have the pull to finish it.
Which leads me to ask, have you just lost your passion for the WIP itself or writing as a whole? To me, you appear to be a writer but one who's uncertain about their abilities and one who doesn't care about what they're writing. If the WIP isn't working for you, write something else. Not everyone is cut out to be a novelist. Some write poetry, shorts, etc. What's your heart saying? What about writing calls to you?