Yesterday’s writing was… well, abysmal. Lots of ideas, but I couldn’t put them into any kind of coherent order and I kept going off into weird sidetracks and getting stuck. Imagine being lost in the woods, where every path circles back to the same clearing where you started. Yep, that was my writing yesterday. Seriously, seriously annoying. But I went to evening yoga and it was great. I think evening yoga is just a little bit harder than daytime yoga, and apparently I’m at the place where that feels good. When I got home, I tried to make some order out of the words that I’d written including ruthlessly deleting all the ones that I truly hated. It’s a bad NaNo strategy but it felt great.
I had some shred of story thought in the middle of the night, something about why I’m going wrong, but I can’t quite grab it now. I think it had something to do with kayaking. Like I’m getting caught in the weeds, and I need to remember to steer toward the current? In the middle of the night, it felt profound and revelatory but then I went back to sleep.
I like what I’ve grasped of it, though. Today I’m going to try to steer toward the current. Aiming for 2K words to make up for yesterday’s lack. It can be done!
Absolutely, you can do it! I was telling my husband this morning that I’d just finished Day 3’s entry and he said, “Do you start with one topic and just write about it or do you wander all over the place?” And more importantly, he asked, “Why did you decide to do this ?” I said yes, I pick one topic and run with it. Why do I write?? If you’re a writer, you just have to write–it’s an urge within you that can’t be denied. If you aren’t a writer, the thought of putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard never wouldn’t occur to you. I told him that a lot of people want to document their life–it’s cathartic for many people who have health issues. Putting your thoughts down on paper is a form of healing. Then I tell him about the fiction writer’s challenge — putting 5,000 words to paper in a month. I tell him I can do 300 or even 500 with no problem, but 5,000? LOL I don’t think so. And then I thought of you pushing for 1-2,000 words per day and knowing that I eagerly await each episode of your writing.
I hope that nugget of wisdom that came to you in the night returns to you. I sensed that because you kept returning to that one point (i.e., going in circles and winding up back in the same spot), is the key–there must be something about that scene/situation that needs to be changed. Find out what it is and you’ll be back in the current of your story.
Carol (aka Tehachap)