My journey on the NaNoWriMo has made me remember how to write again. I didn’t realise I had lost touch, as it has been nearly five years since I published my last book. So, I thought I might drop some things I have re-learned while on my writing adventure.
First, I was dragging out the words when I started the novel. I didn’t know why each sentence and paragraph was a chore. I listened to my writing music playlist, chewed chewing gum and even walked around the house to get my juices flowing. I was caught up not saying ‘he said’ or ‘she said’, so I found a few blogs to help me with alternate words. Even this didn’t help until I remembered a piece of advice from a fellow author, ‘Your first draft will always be rubbish, but you need to get the story out onto the page.”
So, with that, I changed my approach to writing the novel. Without needing to ensure I had the right words or concepts, I went into just writing. That made me go from barely keeping up with the daily quoter of NaNoWriMo to nearly tripling the number. In the last four days, I have written over 13,000 words, which isn’t my best speed but is much better than dribbling out the novel.
Secondly, I found that I was editing as I went. Some people do this, but I prefer something else to this method. Because I am getting back into it, I am obsessed with polishing the first draft as I go. That stops the creative process, as you are stopping and starting to make sure that everything is perfect or near perfect. This is fine when you do it once a week or something, but as you are writing, every hour is too much.
Lastly is simple passion. I didn’t have the passion for writing as I did with my other novels. With my mother dying a few months ago (And I being her full-time carer). Also, having to move because of her death and that I couldn’t afford the rent at my unit, it shook me. I am now scared for my future and don’t know what will happen.
So I decided to write the next book in the Journal of an Adventurer series. It was harder than I thought, grief, depression and need to be like you were before. Not only that, but the years of caring for my mother made me isolated, and I lost a lot of my support from friends and author colleagues. It makes it hard to have that passion for something when your method of writing includes interacting with the writing community. I was a part of the Gold Coast Writers Association and ran my writing group. This hasn’t improved, but I am working on this last hurdle.
So when writing a book, just remember it shouldn’t be perfect. Don’t worry about editing as you go, and find a great community to bounce ideas off. With that, you will limit your chances of giving up. Just remember that you are not alone.
Samuel Colbran 