Dodging you
Where have I been, Blogreader? These last couple of days, have I been avoiding you?
Maybe a little.
I'm wrestling with myself a lot about the novel—its characters and contents—and have fallen behind on my promise to pluck out 2,000 new words each day. I have not been eager to admit this. I am still working on it daily, and thinking about things almost constantly (which may or may not be part of the problem). I have some new directions to try to feel my way through, characters who are only slowly revealing themselves, plot lines that occasionally unravel completely while I am writing them. It's been slow going, and today I have decided to do some outlining to see where I am and what lies ahead.
Progress.
I still could reach the 30,000 words I'm supposed to have before I retire for the night. I'm not so far behind that it's an impossibility.
One of the problems I am having is that each tweak I make to the overall story seems to make the novel more ambitious. Ambition is good, of course, but at some point I fear I will be trying to tell a tale which is beyond my abilities as a writer.
So, yes, I suppose I have been avoiding my blog while I work through all this. I apologize for my silence.
11 comments:
Silence is golden, they say. Perhaps this will enable your writing to be, also.
Keep going! And don't worry about facing those who support you and encourage you (avoidance), when you've done less than you should. We'll only push you back gently in the right direction again.
Best,
Scarlett
Just keep writing :-) What ever you are writing...blog, novel or otherwise and don't forget to pop by the novel racers coffe at Kate's!
Go on be ambitious Maht. In the little snippets you've posted so far I'm hooked. You've also made me realise that I seem to have missed a few days this week! Where did they go?
I think 30000 words a day is admirable... I rarely manage 300, but then...I suppose I cannot really call myself a writer. Would like to be and would like to have the time. So, how do you chose your subject? Do yo search your own biography or do you pluck it out of the air and work at it?
I have put a link to you site in my last posting and added it to my blogroll. Your last few postings gave me food for thought.
Personally, I was reading your s and minx's writerly thoughts and finding them helpful.
I don't pretend to have huge experience in the writing world or any other but it seems to me that those moments when you expect someone to pop out of the undergrowth and say, 'Ha! I knew you couldn't do it!' are common to many. Didn't someone once say, 'you have to realise your limits and then go beyond them?' Probably just before they drowned or something! I'm rambling. I'll stop! :-)
I have writerly thoughts? Strange. I always wondered what those invasive ideas of grandeur were!
write it even if it feels beyond your abilities. You can always edit.
Go, Moob Bopples, go, go.
Your posts are always wonderful but we are all very glad you are writing, writing, writing, just as you should.
Way to go!
Seriously, no apology is needed. You do what you need to do to get your book written.
Wanderlust: Thanks. I know you guys are a very good group to have on my side through all of this, but the reminder was helpful.
Liz: Am I just the worst Novel Racer? I haven't been over there in ages. I feel sort of self conscious when I do.
Ver: I have no explanations for your missing days. Perhaps you fell into a coma? Happens all the time on television...
Seachanges: I thought at first you were mocking me with your mention of 30,000 words a day. But then I saw your post on your blog and realized it was simply a misunderstanding. I am a normal, mortal being. 30,000 words a day would almost certainly be impossible, even once.
As to characters and subjects, there's a little bit of everything you've described in most fiction, including my own.
Jon: Really enjoyed your comment, although I think the line between "writerly thoughts" and "unchecked naval gazing" (which could easily have been the title of this blog) is a fine one. The trouble with exceeding my limits is that I'm still not entirely sure where they are. I'm sure I'll post more about this in the future...
Minx: Yours are the most writerliest thoughts in all the land.
Seventh: I am attempting to do so. The trick seems to be turning off the editing portion of my brain while I am composing the words. This seems to be the skill I have the most difficulty with.
GT: Thanks. And how is your coming along???
Liz: I thank you, and I will. Nothing else feels this good when it's going well, or this painful when it is not. That right there is my sign to continue.
Post a Comment