tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364217674966246086.post9129458179016862902..comments2023-07-26T01:41:17.165-07:00Comments on Peacefield Homestead: November is...Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15011933323385968448noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364217674966246086.post-78109060040761822362011-10-09T19:44:43.397-07:002011-10-09T19:44:43.397-07:00I definitely am going about nano this time around ...I definitely am going about nano this time around as play. Ever since my hard drive died a couple years ago, I've been kind of discouraged (I lost EVERYTHING, other than a couple short stories and four chapters of one of my six novels) (yes, I was very VERY stupid and did not have things backed up--a problem I IMMEDIATELY remedied). I lost so many years worth of work, I can't even describe how I felt. It's hard to decide what to do, if I should move ahead with all new stuff or if I should try to re-create what I had before. It's kind of frozen me, I get so much anxiety over it. But I really am looking forward to November as a time when I can set myself free. So I would say that prior to the HD incident, things were rolling along WONDERFULLY, but after that, I think I just crashed and burned. Though getting the honorable mention for WOTF was a good pick-me-up :). <br /><br />Your dad was correct about Hemingway--1,000 words a day, every day. And two hours a day of fun is exactly how I want to look at it.<br /><br />It's funny, generally I don't think of myself as a real "cute" person (though I often want to be...), but doing these baby clothes is really fun. I guess it can be my cute outlet.Melaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15011933323385968448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364217674966246086.post-33958838104585464912011-10-09T18:12:04.761-07:002011-10-09T18:12:04.761-07:00When I think about me and writing, I picture a sma...When I think about me and writing, I picture a small woodland creature, perhaps a rabbit, tentatively sticking her nose out of her burrow, sniffing the air, inching her way out only to scurry back in and have to start the whole process over again.<br /><br />Viewing writing as "play" is the only way I've been able to give myself the courage to do it. If I think about it as a business or a potential path to financial gain (or at least break-even), that little woodland creature dives down her burrow in a jiffy.<br /><br />So for me, for now, NaNo works. Or at least it works for the month of November. Maybe if I get into a writing groove during the rest of the year, I won't feel a need for the kickstart that NaNo provides. I don't really think of NaNo as a way to write a novel that I'll eventually publish. It's like a writing vacation, a time to play and indulge and get to know characters. Of course, I think that if I thought of NaNo as a way to write a publishable novel, the spell would be broken.<br /><br />I don't get the impression this is necessarily your problem. You've been a lot more productive than I have over the past 8 years.<br /><br />When I was in high school, my dad told me that Ernest Hemingway (his literary hero and the inspiration, I think, for his mid-life crisis) wrote 1,000 words every day, regardless of whether he had an active project or not (I've never verified the accuracy of my dad's information). My writing prof in college said that I should be writing for 2 hours every day, about anything. I guess I've always just suspected that they must be right. I have faith in so little, that's something I can cling to. And if I can somehow combine the two ideas and have 2 hours of fun, playing at writing each day---wow. That would be pretty cool.<br /><br />And by the way, that baby set is stinking ADORABLE!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com