2009-11-16

Welcome to Rebellion

So, as of today, I've written 21,908 words. I'm not horribly behind, but I'd like to be a little further along so that I'm not spending my Thanksgiving break in my darkened living room pounding away on my laptop like some demented little gnome, surrounded by plates of half-finished green bean casserole and pie. (Although, who are we kidding - there would NEVER be half-finished pie.)

I would not even be this far along had I not made a drastic, dramatic decision about 6,000 words into it. So much of what I was writing was stuff that, in fact, happened. All I was doing, really, was changing names. I felt that I was being disingenuous in that regard. If what I wanted to write was nonfiction, then why couldn't I just write nonfiction?

I had been operating under the assumption that since this was called "National NOVEL Writing Month" that I absolutely had to write fiction. Actually, this is no assumption. It is, in fact, what I SHOULD be writing.

nov⋅el [nov-uhl] � noun 1. a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.

But I knew that if kept going the way I was going, it would not get done. Because I don't enjoy writing fiction. Never have. I have HUGE respect for people that do. Especially now, boy howdy, since I've pretty much proven to myself that I can't even manage 6,000 words of made-up stuff.

Feeling defeated and mildly weepy, I started poking around the NaNoWriMo message boards and found a little nook called "Welcome to Rebellion."

People who are not doing NaNo "right." People who are writing "researched non-fiction." People who are finishing novels that they already started. And people who are writing memoirs.

Technically, I guess this means that I've failed. I've written 21,908 words describing events that have actually transpired. But I'm going to keep writing.

Because I'm a REBEL. Hellz yeah.

lisamcc at 6:41 p.m.

5 comments so far
Lynette
2009-11-17 04:56:18
You live on the edge. And that's why I love you. Write what you want, babe. I'll read anything you write.
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voodoo
2009-11-17 22:43:00
You are doing well unlike someone else I could mention, *cough*me*cough* who forgot about it!
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Katie DeBonville
2009-11-18 16:02:22
Look at you, gettin' all mavericky...
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Kristin
2009-11-20 21:53:25
I read this kind of quick and thought you were wildly meepy. One can be that, right?
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Toddlington
2009-11-24 04:50:31
I don't want to read your novel any more. It sounds a little too upstarty, disestablishment and subversive for my conservative tastes. You'll come to a bad end.
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