NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 22

[ladyseishou]

Day 22 - 8 days remaining

Write even when you don't want to,
don't much like what you are writing,
and aren't writing particularly well.

— Agatha Christie



There comes a time when almost every writer develops a dislike (read: loathing) for their story. The causes are as varied as the writers themselves but most common is a certainty that the writing is substandard and/or the story itself is trite/overdone/stinks like yesterday’s garbage. This mind set leads to an intense desire to abandon said story and to (a) start over, (b) stop writing , or (c) drown one’s sorrow in strong drink.

But guess what… your story? Just as good as when you started writing it a couple of weeks ago. Really it is. This is not to say that it’s ready for the New York Times Best Seller list (that won’t happen until it’s been through one or more rewrites) but it’s not time to hit delete or haul out the paper shredder either.

What you need to do is finish your story. Even if you don’t want to or don’t like what you’re writing or you’re absolutely sure the writing could be done better by a chimp banging randomly on a typewriter. Finish your story. Then let it sit a week, a month, let it breathe and then pour yourself something good and read it - start to finish. You'll be surprised to see how much there is that’s really good and the love, the enthusiasm, the respect will be back.

Of course this will only work if you don’t give up!

The word count today is 36,674! Questions? Comments? It’s all good - really! Keep writing!

Comments

[cheyinka]

Thanks! :D