Pondering NaNo

It has been years, probably over a decade, since I have written more than 50 pages of fiction in one story, and the process is newly strange to me. Part of the problem is that as I'm writing, my inner critic is whispering in my ear "you can turn a phrase, but nothing's happening. Get the story moving, chica", or "that is some seriously dull dialogue you've written there". But since this is NaNo, I'm very cautious about backpedaling or re-writing, so most of the stuff that will probably be pulled out at a later date is sticking. And then, of course, my innate honesty gets in the way. I'm writing about stuff I know, so I'm wanting to get overly technical, like about the classes waiters and bartenders and kitchen staff are required to take in Jackson County, which is irrelevant to the flow of the story and thus should be left out.

And I still have a great deal of trouble writing villians. I have known too many people in my life that were believed to be truly bad, irredeemable people by others, but who have reached out to me for help and did, in small and large ways, change their lives. There are evil people. After all, I was married to one once, but writing about those folk triggers me, so that's difficult, too. And I have a Victor Hugo-ish way of taking a good, long time to lead to action before the story gets really interesting. Sixty pages in, my characters are out of Faerie and in Kansas City, but the biggest action they've seen is a soccer game, job hunting, and a somewhat scary scene on a city bus.

I hit the halfway mark last night, over a week late, and I'm beginnning to wonder if I have what it takes to finish. Oh well, it's 7:46 am Central time, and I have roughly 12 hours of uninterrupted writing time to make a push. Talk at you later.

Daily Attitude of Gratitude

I am grateful for an innate gift for words so that I can share thoughts with others swiftly and fluently.