Sometimes you just have to write. And today I did. And it felt good. After weeks of fussing, reading, thinking, Googling, pondering, charting etc. I finally tackled my new novel. I thought I knew where it was going. I sort-of-do and sort-of-don’t. And I’m learning that’s okay.
All writers have some sort of process and after a number of years I’m beginning to understand mine. I have to allow myself the opportunity to just ‘get it down’. The editing, the chopping, the finessing comes later. After all, you can’t edit a blank page. I have to remember that writing can be fun. And it is. Sometimes. But most of all, it’s the most challenging enterprise I’ve embraced.
No one is making me write. I simply have to do it. So, keeping that it mind, I think I’ll revisit my work from this morning.
Jodie, thank you for today’s posting. It has something to say to all of us who write. No matter what gets in the way, we have to simply sit down and write. It is that easy–and that difficult. This year I tried Nanowrimo (novel in a month) for the first time, and it was exhilarating to just let loose and let the writing fly. I’ve written novels before, but never felt so creatively free to just tell the story without all the extraneous things we all tell ourselves we have to do. If you have never done Nano, you might want to think about trying it next year. Elizabeth Palladino