NaNoWriMo and That Previously-mentioned Rut

Well, it turns out that the rut was deeper than I expected. No sooner than I had two great ideas and a method for my approach to the writing of both projects that I began to second guess myself. Not a good things for a writer to do.

My biggest obstacle was doubting the connection in my main story, the Houston crime story with my female detective. There were scenes and events that, to *me*, seemed coincidental. When I brought that up with my author friend, Victoria Graydale (see links), she commented that come of the things I deemed coincidental or too easy were not. Wonderful encouragement. Makes my original story ideas seem okay.

So, how to start again? Well, why not join NaNoWriMo? Two of my friends are signing up and I guess I got swept up in their enthusiasm. Granted, I have already started writing my second novel so I won't be starting from the proverbial blank page. But I will be complying with the spirit of the game if not the letter of the law. Whatever word count number I come up with, I'll basically write 50,000 words beyond that. So, I'll end up with a 50,000+ book but I will have written 50,000 new words this month.

I expect NaNoWriMo to accomplish two things for me. One, I expect to complete my second novel in 30 days. Then, I can begin editing it. Two, I expect to get back in the habit of writing something, anything, every day. This blog will be part of that. That will make this blog more fun to visit as I'll be blogging about the NaNoWriMo experience.

Then there is this other thing. I fancy myself as a wanna-be crime novelist and that does include the pulp fiction aspect. I just picked up the latest Hard Case Crime novel, Mickey Spillane's last novel, "Dead Street." (There's a nice review here at Entertainment Weekly). Back in the day, writers churned out short stories in days and novels in weeks. And they kept doing it over and over. It enabled their job to be writer rather than something else. Even modern writers such as Charlie Huston have commented that the pace of their writing enables their career. I finished my first novel in June 2006 and I have yet to write my second. It's infuriating because the only person to blame is myself.

Now, I'm taking charge again. I want to be a professional writer. To do so, I need to write. To date, I have not. That changes. Today.

And I'm off...