Week 2, or Cheesy Inspirational Message #2

Hello Monterey WriMos,

How is NaNoWriMo treating you? By now, you are probably in one of two boats: you’ve either started writing your novel and you’ve grown to know your characters and things are moving along swimmingly, or you’ve put off writing the novel—you “forgot” to start, or it was too daunting a task, so you threw your hands up in the air and decided not to do it this year.

Let me talk to those in the later group first. If you haven’t started yet, it isn’t too late. I know that word count goal looks insurmountable, but really it isn’t. Once you start writing your story, your characters will suddenly come to lie and start writing the story for you. I really, really encourage you to pick up from where you gave up and give it a try this week. There is still plenty of time left to win this goal, and I know you have a novel somewhere inside you wanting to get out, or you never would have signed up in the first place.

To those who are tearing down the track with wild abandon, good for you. At the end of week one, I imagine that it feels like nothing can stand in your way between here and victory. While that is a possibility, I would like to take the time to caution you about the dreaded week two. The week may start off well for you, but your fast tracks are headed for a steep grade. At some point during week two, you will likely have some struggles—‘when is this thing going to end?’, ‘what the hell are my characters doing?’, ‘I wish I could just kill character X’.

My advice for this is keep plugging through it. The week two troubles are normal, but the struggles won’t last forever. The things your characters do to frustrate you and ruin your intended plot now might open up new doorways to a more interesting story. That character that you want to kill—kill him. I’ve got a shovel you can borrow to whack him upside the head. If it gets you writing again and helps you get through week 2, go with it. Whatever you do, don’t give up, or you won’t be able to see the recovery in weeks 3 and 4 when you really get on a downhill run.

If you have not yet made it out to one of our write-ins, I encourage you to do so, especially if you are feeling down in week two. There is nothing better than sitting around talking with other people who are going through the same struggles you are. Having a small group to bounce ideas off of also helps provide some inspiration. We meet every Wednesday night through November at Bad Ass Coffee in Seaside at 7:30pm.

If you can’t make the write-ins, but still need some encouragement or inspiration, drop by the Monterey forum. Even if you aren’t looking for encouragement or help, drop on by. I’ll be posting a thread shortly after sending this to start discussing the details of our TGIO party.

Go now. Write and feel inspired. I’ll see you all on the other side of week 2.

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Metaphors be with you
yangnome
Municipal Liaison
Monterey, CA