Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

NaNo 2012

It is Baaaack!

And we start tomorrow, but according to NaNo countdown in the NaNoWriMo site, we still have five hours, forty minutes to wring our hands and pull our hairs.

I am eager, hesitant, excited, and apprehensive, all at the same time.

If my history with NaNo will repeat itself, I'll probably finish the 50 K words by the end of November, but in December and maybe through January, I won't be able to write much else, as I go through an aftershock every year.

Shall I keep to 1,666 word schedule? Nope. I worry about any 666. So I'll probably write a little under or a little over that word count.

Shall I write like a nut and not look back? Nope. I always check my writing after I'm done, even in my blog, here, thanks to SM for putting in the "Preview Entry" button. But does my checking on me prevent me from making mistakes? Nope, again.

I guess I'm a big Nope person.

Talking about nopes, I came across an advice on the web, which says nope to what I do. Who says I do the right thing anyway!

Here it is:

“Just write the next word”

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Scott
“If I could say anything… it is to keep going. Don’t go back and fix that first scene. Don’t go back and fix that dialogue. Write yourself a little note saying, ‘Put in first scene such-and-such,’ if you happen to think of something, then get a little stickum and stick that somewhere on the wall. But don’t go back, because going back is a trap. It keeps you from going forward. It keeps you from going ahead. Your first enemy, of course, is yourself. Yourself is also that little critic that sits on your shoulder that says, ‘This is terrible’… You have to wipe him off your shoulders and keep going. He’s the one who says, ‘Go back. Go back’… You must get it down on paper…. you must sit down and write with no attachment to outcome. Try to distance yourself from what’s going to happen to this… No attachment to outcome. I don’t know where I ever heard it, but I put it on a little piece of paper, and I had it framed. I have it right in front of me. When I get bogged down I say, ‘No attachment to outcome. Don’t worry about what’s going to happen to this. Just write the next word.’”

This is a quote from screenwriter Anna Hamilton Phelan whose film credits include Gorillas in the Mist and Girl, Interrupted. And yes, it is yet another bromide in this series of posts about the first draft, which is to get the damn thing done."

From:

http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2012/10/just-write-the-next-word.html

Happy NaNoing to all WdC writers who are eager and masochistic lovers of novel writing through the dramatic NaNoWriMo way!

Added later:

Just think how electrifying this year's NaNo is. It's placed in between two big storms.
1. Hurricane Sandy 2. Presidential elections.
I hope those of you in either storm's way have made it out all right. Sending good vibes to your way...