Captain Obvious strikes again. For those of us who do that whole write a novel in a month thing, we know it’s the middle of the month. We have two weeks to go. Some have room to experience writer’s block because we’re ahead. Some of us are sweating because we are behind on our word count. 50,000 words is a lot more than it seems.
I am a little behind but not because of writer’s block. I keep finding other things to do, mostly to do with turning the pedals on a bike. Last week, I took a few days off to ride the dirt singletrack trails of Brown County State Park in southern Indiana with a few friends of mine. Guy trips must take priority over writing a NaNo novel. If you are a FB contact of mine, you may have seen pictures and video from the trail. We had a blast.
This year I was not real sure I wanted to NaNo. NaNo feels a little silly now that I have participated and ‘won’ a few times, but I resist the urge to actually call it silly. It is motivation to write, a good thing, and it’s actually the type of motivation I need to get writing again. The words are flowing freely, my voice sounds good to me, and it feels good to me to be writing again. There is one aspect of writing NaNo this time that I do not like, however. I did not plan to write, went into the month without a single planned character, no real plot. Strangely enough, the story is writing itself nicely, although unplanned writing tends to lead me into dark places, dredging some memories from inside of me that I probably should not be writing about.
One old friend calls me ‘COD’ and this NaNo.justifies that nickname (it stands for ‘Creepy Old Dude’). I guess what I am writing does not qualify as totally creepy, but it is having its moments.
My daughter is writing NaNo again this year, another motivation to write. She asked me on October 31 if I was writing this year. How could I say no? Also, my old friend, the one who gave me the COD moniker, also announced that she is writing.
So I write. And I ride, even in the cold weather we are having here.
Happy NaNovember!