I think we’ve all had a point during out writing when the NBI (next big idea) pops into our head and we want to abandon ship for a newer, sexier model. While I’m proud to say that the discipline beaten into me as a child won’t allow me to do that (I make up for this remarkable trait with many, MANY bad habits) Janet Evanovich has a solution that just tickled me:
"Q: I’m all over the place. I start a book, but then I get ideas for another and yet another; and then I begin those with the intent of coming back and finishing the first ones, which of course never happens. Do you have words of wisdom for a dreamer like me?
JANET EVANOVICH: How about this – you start a book and every time you veer off in another direction, you imagine me standing behind you giving you a good hard smack on the head. "
Yes, Janet slapping me upside the head would just about do it I think.
“Don’t fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it’s perfect. And don’t discard everything you write halfway through because you’re sure it sucks. Writing stuff that sucks is part of the learning process!”
-- Janet Evanovich
From what I can gather from our best selling authors if your rough draft doesn’t suck, you’re not doing it right!
Celebrate the horror of poorly constructed sentences, unnecessary scenes and character names that all sound the same with a glass of champagne (or maybe a few if you think you’re really going to need your senses dulled for the first read through) because you’re on your way to being the next Nora Roberts!
To do or not to do NanoWriMo? I signed up for a course in November and now I’m wondering whether I should have signed myself into a mental hospital instead because I’m considering doing NaNo as well.
Does anyone want to volunteer to scrape me off the floor when I collapse?
Show of hands, who else is considering NaNoWriMo?
