Sunday, October 24, 2010
Writing
Over the time I’ve been here, I’ve had several people either in comments or in email tell me I should be a writer.
I have never had illusions that I’m good enough to be a writer so while the compliment was appreciated, I just figured you all don’t know what you’re talking about. My sentence structures suck, I always forget when and where to use a semi colon, I have dangling participles, I start my sentences with “And”, I write like I talk which means I have incomplete sentences, sometimes I use the word, “which” when I should use, “that”, I still confuse lay and lie....in other words, I’m certainly not polished enough.
But, I’ve decided, for the first time, to join up with NaNoWriMo this year. (National Novel Writer’s Month) The reason is because it will get me to write something and the only way to get better is to keep writing. The good news is, no one will see any of the utter crap I spew out, I just have to concentrate on making 50,000 words in a month, have some semblance of a plot and turn it all in. If I wanted, I could even have “them” look at it and decide if it might actually be a good story or not, when all is said and done.
Don’t count on that.
I do have an idea and I’m pretty anxious to get started but I’m certainly not expecting it to be any good. But, (see? I start my sentences with “but” as well), the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that I don’t have to worry about writing correctly or even anything interesting. I just have to write.
If I decide that it might be even remotely interesting, (which I do seriously doubt), I may put it up here, in increments, chapters, perhaps, and then you can be the judge of whether or not I have any talent at all. (And if I do put it up, don’t be afraid to say, “Uh...hmmm, well, no, I take it back, you really shouldn’t quit your day job” because I’m not expecting it to be high quality.)
I really don’t know if I’ll put it out here because I don’t seem to garner much interest in what I say on a day to day or semi weekly basis. Were I good and talented and wrote interesting things, I would figure I’d have thousands upon thousands of readers. I do not. I never have. I’ve had hundreds but never thousands. So, ya know, that kind of tells me something there.
I have a ton of ideas, I have a lot to say and 50,000 words is not going to be a problem. Will it be any good? It doesn’t even matter. There are no rules except to create a story starting on November 1st, get in 50,000 words, (or more), and have it done by the end of the month. I do not have to worry about my horrendous grammar or spelling or sentence structure. I don’t even have to worry about anyone reading it. “Is this interesting enough? Should I change this so that people will find it worthwhile to read?” Nope, that does not have to enter my head and it completely and totally frees me up to just write.
Usually, that brings out the best writing of all but again, I suffer no illusions of grandeur, I do not envision myself living in a neat little cottage somewhere, acres of land spread out before me, a nice little lake with ducks paddling around right outside my writing room window, typing away, feverishly, on my typewriter, sipping a hot beverage and creating the next masterpiece. I know some people who do. I’m not one of them.
I’m the complete opposite.
Do I write better than some people? Of course. Have you seen the way some people write? They can’t even write a paragraph that makes any sense whatsoever. But am I writer quality? I suppose one day I could be but I don’t think that day is now.
So I go in to this knowing all of this and to be completely honest, it feels liberating.
Anyhoo, I may not be around much in the next month. Or maybe I will. Maybe getting myself to churn out a 50,000 word story will get the creative juices flowing and I’ll actually start writing interesting things here. Who knows. But at long last, I will be writing something and not worry about what anyone thinks of it.
