NaNoWriMo: Wall Week

For the first five days I wrote beyond my goal of 500 words per day. These were scenes I’d thought of for quite some time, and I was feeling so optimistic. I thought maybe I need to up my goal to 20,000 words.

I hit week two like a brick wall at 100 mph. I came to a scene I hadn’t thought much about yet. I stared at it for a bit and had nothing. I wrote and rewrote a couple sentences a few times. I stared some more.  I have been here before. My eyes bore holes in the screen, to no avail.

I suspected that it was a scene that is not necessary or needed to be woven into another scene somehow. My subconscious was telling me this scene idea was bad. I reached a moment in my writing where I question (again) why I write. No one wants to read this drivel. How could I possibly think even with years of practice, I’d ever be like Sanderson, Rothfuss, MZ Bradley, or any of my many writing heroes. Doubt consumed me.  From what I hear this is normal for all writers. Stephen King says there is one cure: the butt in chair method. You sit until words come to you.

I tried a new scene. I continued to write… or at least try to write. Mostly I stared at the screen and thought. I wrote hundreds of sentences in my head while my fingers lay lightly on the keys, waiting with bated breath for that electrical pulse from the brain. My husband asked if I’m okay because I’ve been staring at the screen motionlessly for so long.

I didn’t sit for one hour, one day. I sat for one, two, three hours night after night until I was literally falling asleep.

I tried another scene. Then something happened and the words start to trickle and flow. An idea came to me, and I wrote more quickly.  Just like this quote:

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” ~Louis L’Amour

The words began to flow again. I wouldn’t exactly call it a flood, but the faucet was on at a more normal rate than the drip that it was earlier this week.  I wrote over 1,000 words yesterday and 1,000 today. If I can write 6-700 words each day this week I should get caught up from Wall Week and get a little ahead for next week. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year, so I have lots of cleaning to do.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!