NaNoWriMo Update Week 2

Week two is the hardest weeks in NaNoWriMo.  The euphoria of week one has worn off and the real world starts to rare its ugly head.  The work of writing can easily get overshadowed by the work of getting on with all the things that need doing; laundry, eating three meals a day, spending time with loved ones, showering regularly.  I thought I was immune to week two blues but I found myself struggling.

I wish it had something to do with my novel but that seems to be alright.  I have reconnected with the basic idea and although I know I am leaving gaps in my writing a Boeing 747 could fall through, I know I am getting the basic idea down.  I can patch up and pad things later on – that’s what December is for after all.  But even with such a wonderful feeling about what I’m writing I still found myself distracted towards the end of the week and lost two days to feeling overrun and overwhelmed.

There is a silver lining.  Because I was ahead on my word count, the loss of two days of writing has had not affected that.  I am still on target for my daily word count because I opted to do a 10,000 word challenge last weekend.  I only managed 7,500 but I wasn’t exactly sad about that.  But still...

Week two brings with it question – hard questions.  The most common being, “Why exactly am I doing this?”  I never thought to vocalise any of those questions before but when I look back at my old word count charts, it is clear that there is always a crisis somewhere between day 5 and day 15.  Somewhere in the midst of my literary marathon comes the desire to pack it up and move on to something else – something easier.  I haven’t done it yet – not in the 6 years of doing NaNoWriMo.  But when I stopped to ask myself why this year, I learnt something really important about Creativity in general and NaNoWriMo specifically:

“Getting through [a creative challenge] is not a matter of talent, great ideas or even divine inspiration (although they help).  It is about resilience, courage and the strength to keep going even when you don’t want to.  Art is created mainly because artists are too stubborn to quit more than anything else.  And I AM an artist.”

So I’m still going on and perhaps I have left the dark clouds behind or maybe I haven’t.  What does it matter?  I have a novel to write and I will write it until I reach my target.  But I am lucky enough not to be doing this alone.

I have come to appreciate the Forums on the NaNoWriMo page.  I hardly ever used to participate in them but I have increased my activity there slowly over the years.  I love the shout outs and the challenges and best of all I like the sense of comradeship I find there.  It is a place to find and give encouragement and keep track of the greater accomplishment of thousands of other people meeting their creative challenges same as I am.  Strangely enough, giving or receiving encouragements seems to work the same way for me – I get a little more enthusiastic about writing my novel and that’s always a good thing.

So week two might not be celebratory but I faced a challenge and came out on top.  If that’s not something to be grateful for then I don’t know what is.  I just hope week three is a little kinder to me.

Word count: 23,810

Mood: Tired :-p

Listening to: Michael Bolton – Only A Woman

Green

It’s raining.  It always rains in November and Nairobi and its environs are turned into cities of life; growing, green life.  Everywhere you look plant life that was lacklustre after the cold dry months before is thriving.  The jacaranda trees are in bloom and they drop their flowers to form a carpet of purple blossoms.  But purple really isn’t enough to describe the variety of colour all around.  Lilac and lavender so sweet they look good enough to eat.  Deep violet blooms stand out in the sheer majesty, pale and precious purple it takes your breath away.

But even the jacarandas cannot compete with the greenery.  Green is not my favourite colour.  I used to happily declare: ‘I have nothing green in my wardrobe’.  I can’t claim that any more; I have a green t-shirt.  It was a gift from my sister who thought it would, ‘Suit me perfectly.’  I’m still not sold on green as a colour to wear but I have a whole new appreciation for it.  All because I stopped to look and then truly saw.

More shades of green that I ever saw litter the city.  Trees differ from hedges, flowers differ from bushes.  New shoots sprout and have a different shade of green from the old and worn leaves that came before.  Yellow green, dark green, jade and juniper, blue-green, army green and various shades of khaki.  The green when sun’s rays break through clouds and glisten on rain soaked leaves or the dark looming grey-green in the pale glow of the moon.  Green is beautiful.

When the rain falls in Nairobi and the green things grow, one cannot think of green as anything other than the colour of life.  It reverberates with aliveness; with an inner knowing of just how powerful it is.  Duality dictates that balance be kept.  Green is life but it is also envy.  I do not see it in the delicate curve of a new leaf or the ancient spirals of a clinging vine.  But maybe it is true that green is the colour of envy because I envy the world such a glorious wardrobe.

When The Week Ends Too Fast

The week has flown by and it wasn't kind enough to give me a warning.

I usually have everything I need to do mentally organised by Monday and the week is spent doing it with plenty of time to spare. But this week has been a little different. I made the mistake of thinking the Illustration Friday challenge was 'easy enough' and didn't do anything about it - which unfortunately included not thinking of a suitable idea. I only just managed to post my, hastily done, Illustration Friday picture and I am waiting on some kind of inspiration to push me towards my story for this weeks Writing Challenge.

Ugh, to have some way of doing that automatically... :-(

It's the first time I'm coming to the end of the week feeling a little caught out but there's still time to make it...I think. I just have to work double time and hope the muses find my sudden rush as endearing as if I was working with them in carefully choreographed creation.

Weakly, Weekly Writing

I spend so much of my time writing that I rarely think about it any more. But it has come to my attention that the only time I ever write fiction is during NaNoWriMo or Script Frenzy. There was a time when writing fiction was my mainstay and I enjoyed it considerably. I miss it.

I miss writing silly titbits that have no redeeming quality then moving to something that is mentally and emotionally engaging. I like short stories but the best way to enjoy one is to write one and I haven't done that in a long time.

I guess real life has shown me.

But I am not willing to let go so easily. I have every intention of getting back my creative writing mojo and that's why I came up with a challenge for myself. I will write fiction amounting to 2,000 words or more every week. It simply means I will write several pieces that add up to the total word count or one long piece. I figured 2,000 words is a nice round figure. By the end of the year I will have over 100,000 words and if there are any themes I can compile a few sizeable anthologies.

I made this pact with myself before I decided I was going to do Illustration Friday but I guess it works out perfectly. My writing and drawing have always been in direct competition and my writing beats the crap out of my art every time. This will be a good time to get my art to develop some muscles while trying to harmonise the two processes. If I can write every week, then do a pic/illustration too, I will finally begin to live the creative life I really want. I am looking forward to that.

That I have successfully kept up with the last three weeks is extremely reassuring. At least if I write weakly it means I can get the whole job done without breaking anything.