November has come and gone. NaNoWriMo has flown away with it. After three attempts (we won’t count those summer cabin excursions in between), I remain unsuccessful in my endeavor to write an entire novel in one month. I know people who accomplish this task, so I’m convinced that it’s possible. Somehow it escapes me each time and the questions of competency, ability and doubt plague me.
As if a struggling writer needs more of a complex. In my opinion, every writer has some kind of complex. My writing group once spent an entire evening discussing each person’s unique psychological affliction. Insomnia was a common theme. It can be hard to sleep with all of those voices in your head. Seriously, someone who hears voices in their head is typically sent to the nuthouse, yet writers get a pass on that one. It’s part of our creative nature. Right?!
So, what is it that prevents me from accomplishing this one goal? Well, to be fair, I have to admit that I have yet to actually finish any one of my novels. They dwindle out in the nether without reaching completion. My muse is fickle in her attention. She grows bored easily and flits over to the next idea. All the while telling me how terrible the previous story is going. Plot holes. One-dimensional characters. Bad dialogue. Too much description. Not enough description. Is that another adverb? You’ve used that one at least 3 times… I’m starting to wonder when my muse became my editor? Or maybe my editor is her crazy twin.
Sometimes it would be nice to silence some of those voices.
Perhaps for 2013, I’ll have to start my own tradition. How about NoWriYe? Novel Writing Year has a nice ring to it. Completion of one novel to silence the crazy lady in my head. Maybe then the next true NaNo won’t seem so out of reach. Onward!
S.T. Marie 