Camp NaNoWriMo: Day 9 – Don’t stop me now…

 

…I’m having such a good time I’m going slightly insane!

 

Life, as it invariably does, has a pesky habit of getting in the way, and even an ubersuperdudeawesomeguy™ like me can’t escape the clutches of work and other things giving you a swift kick in the writing balls (or literary lady parts). I’ve been slipping behind on the Camp NaNo word count since I started this month’s challenge, which is made even more annoying by the fact I’ve completed a NaNo before so I know I can do it!

 

If I’d never completed a NaNo before I might be tempted to say “Balls to this! I’m obviously not cut out for it.” But I know I can do it, I know I can write 5,000 words in a day if I have to, 10,000 if I really push it!! Alas, it’s not the case this time.

 

Work has left me cabbaged by the time I get home and I usually end up schlomping on the sofa just in time for a decent film before I wake up dribbling, realise it’s morning and go right back to work! I keep trying to catch up, I’ll sneak in some words at work or manage to scribble some down by hand on the bus/train, but every time I check my count I realise I’ve only done the daily word count. I need to work twice as hard just to catch up.

 

Some people will be lagging behind because they lack conviction, for some it might be their ideas are wearing a bit thin, and others might just be lazy bastards…like me.

 

For those of you that are lacking in confidence, I think you need to ask yourself why you are completing this challenge. If you’re doing it just for bragging rights, just so you can prove you’re a ‘real writer’ and your going to scrap the project when September comes around, then may I suggest you give up now? It’s not worth the hassle if you only want to prove something to others, you don’t win by writing 50,000 words unless you do something with them after the challenge – sharpen them up, add another 50k, submit to a publisher, publish it yourself…whatever.

 

If you want to continue with this project, if you are going to do something with your work, but you still lack confidence, then the only advice I can give you is to keep at it. There are no magic ways of gaining confidence with a NaNo novel. If you’re lacking belief in your work then you probably won t look down one day and say “wow, this novel is bloody awesome!” The good news is not many people will do this, even if they are brimming with confidence and self-assurance.

 

It’s a first draft! You have permission to write badly…licence to suck (isn’t that the tagline for the erotic version of the James Bond films?)

 

For those of you that are stumbling through your novel, assuming your ideas are a pile of crap, now is not the time to think “hmm, maybe I should sit back and plan this a little better”. By all means plan as you go along, but don’t STOP to plan. Yes, you’re writing a novel, and yes you want it to make sense, but the whole point of the challenge is to blast through 50,000 words in a short period of time. Think of it as a painting, if you concentrate on the tiny flower in the corner then you might have a near perfect rendition of a red rose one month later. So realistic that bees try and land on it and nature walkers try and pick it, but, and it’s a big but, the rest of your canvas will be blank.

 

BLAAAAAAAAAAAANNKK!!!!!

 

Which is no use at all.

 

But if you allow yourself to suck at painting, if you splodge paint on the canvas left, right and centre, apply it with reckless abandon, then by the end of the month people will be able to stand back and say “I recognise that, it’s a forest scene with a wobbly unicorn fighting a strange looking dolphin.”

 

Fair enough, your unicorn is wobbly and your dolphin looks a bit strange but at least you have a full picture! You can add details and paint over the mistakes later.

 

For those of you that are lazy bastards (ooh, ohh, me sir, me! I’m a lazy bastard!) I have one tiny piece of advice: