nano_writers | Camp NaNoWriMo August 2011

Day 26 - 5 days remaining

If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write.
Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come.
You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.

- Louis L’Amour

It happens sometimes. You just get stuck. The muse says she's just going out for a short walk to get some fresh air and she's been gone... a while. What can you do in the meantime?

Try writing. Anything.

Often just putting pen to paper or fingers on your keyboard and free writing will jiggle something loose and the wall that stands between you and your story will crumble away. Here are some ideas to help prime the pump:

Write about your MC's favorite food - bonus points for the recipe and if you write about why.
Describe a game that your MC likes to play, including all the rules.
Make a list of words: nouns that begin with the first letter of your MC's given name and verbs that begin with the first letter of the MC's family name (or whatever works for your MC's name). Now write as many complete sentences as you can using one different word from each list in each sentence.

The idea here is to make writing fun again! Before you know it, the muse is back, knocking on your door. And she's brought doughnuts.

The word count today is 41,935. The end is in sight, Nano Writer! Questions? Comments? Words that begin with the letter F? Umm... I was thinking more of words like "fifty" and "finish" - but it's all good! So keep writing!