by Rachel Smith
11 October 2013
A special section of my bookshelf has been growing quietly but steadily over the years. It’s dedicated to my friends in the bizz – talented journos who’ve not only managed to carve out decent careers but have also published books. Sometimes several. (Waves to Pip Harry, Kathy Buchanan, John Burfitt, Joanna Hall…)
I’m not in their camp – yet. I did just collaborate with Pip on a non-fiction e-book for the blog we started years ago, and that was fun and easy. The pressure wasn’t on my shoulders alone. But the novel I’ve always wanted to write, and stupidly keep telling people I will write, has so far eluded me.
I can put this down to several things: fear of writer’s block, fear that while I might have a great idea it will dribble off into the ether, fear that my characters will misbehave and I won’t know how to reclaim them, fear that I am good at writing 1500-word articles but not at writing entire novels, fear over the fact that the last time I actually wrote proper dialogue was back in 1992 in a creative writing class at uni. And, let’s not forget the blind, white-knuckled, wake-me-up-at-3am terror that anything I write won’t be any good.
This is all a very long winded way of saying I have signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) because a) I’ve basically run out of excuses and b) I need a giant kick up the bum.
The idea is that between November 1 and 30, you knuckle down and pen a 50,000-word novel. I have no idea how it’ll go, but I’m going to give it a crack.
Let’s just hope it won’t be like the time I signed up for Dry July and vowed, online and publicly, that in giving up booze for a month I would also be losing 5kg. Because I actually put on weight. Awkward.
Any of you signed up to NaNoWriMo? If so, I’d love to hear your
fearsthoughts in the comments. And if you’re already an author, please tell us the books you’ve written, and share your tips on how the hell I can write 50,000 words in a month on top of all my other work. I need all the help I can get.
Yep, I’m in 🙂
I’m in too — although I took the commitment one step further and booked in for a session with an editor from Random House through the Shire Writers Festival. Why? Because it gave me a deadline to get the synopsis and chapter one written! Was the perfect kick up the butt, especially when my maths went haywire yesterday and I thought I had to have ALL 70,000 words done by this coming Wednesday with a starting count of zero! Today I pumped out chapter one (3500 words is much less stressful than 70,000) and got clear on my characters & chapter structures. One down, 25(ish) chapters to go. You can do it, Rachel. 3500 took me a day; so same pace would require 14 days. GO!
I’m in too and I know exactly how you feel. It’s going to be a white knuckle ride!! Go for it.
And when you need a great editor, you know where to come 🙂
Thanks everyone. It’s good to know I am not alone in this!
An ex pat friend of mine in Asia recently joined a writers’ group program and they had to commit to writing 5000 words a week of their novel, and then they would meet up every Tuesday night to discuss what they had done / not done / discovered / changed etc. Sure enough, at the end of two months, she had completed a 40,000 word draft that she is now onto a second edit of.
Anyone know of any groups like this in Sydney where you commit to completing the project and then have a group to check in with every week to discuss ideas with? Instead of staring down the whole 40, 000 – 80,000 word project, I think working it through in sections like this sounds very do-able.
I need a group like that NOW!
I am down with a group like that too! I am a new author of Young Adult fiction and my second novel is due to my publishers at Harper Collins shortly. I keep telling my agent that I am not far off but I have lost faith in my abilities. I wanted to sign up to NaNoWriMo but it started at the end of a really frustrating working week and at the beginning of a weekend wedding where we had bridal party duties, and I just didn’t have the time or energy for it. The reason to sign up was to make myself more accountable. I think a writer’s group would be just the ticket!
I’m like Lofty from Bob the Builder. When the others say “Yes we can!”, I squeak, “Umm, yeah, I think so…”
How? That’s what’s getting me. HOW???? I gave up sleep years ago so I don’t even have those hours to bargain with.
I tell you what, I’ll try. Would love to know how you’re getting on throughout the month 🙂
oh and good luck!
Hehe … I hear ya.
Pip Harry told me it works out at around 1600 words a day – I did space maths so I didn’t even try to figure that out myself, but it actually sounds kind of doable when you break it down to that! I may try and make 7-8am my 1600 word challenge for the month of November…
Promise to do a mid-November blog post at the tearing-my-hair-out stage 🙂
I bit the bullet also and signed up – figure I have nothing to lose but the nagging sense of guilt over the half-finished novels in the ever-deepening bottom drawer. If I can churn out multiple thousands of words a day for advertorials, surely it is do-able when the only person I have to please is me and an imaginary reader. And it’s a chance to work all my personal socio-cultural peeves into prose!
good on you Rachel!
You too Willow! I’m actually getting quite excited myself about the whole process, itching to get started 🙂
I’m in! I’m currently experiencing the journey you described above and having the 3am terrors that actually last well into the day. I’ve written 52,000 words but have to get this mo-fo up to 70,000 words.
I have an agent and potential publisher waiting but I can’t get this thing over the line. Arrrrrgh!!! This manuscript WILL be finished by December 1 if it kills me. Which it might…
Wow – good luck! You are SO close!!