NaNoRuhRoh

Hi. I'm Seleste and I'm a NaNoWriMo addict.

(Hello, Seleste...)

It's November and that means a lot of you are probably writing your little heart out, chasing that elusive 50k. And sometimes, it can seem more elusive than others. One of my dear friends crossed 23,000 words today and her manuscript seems to be flowing out of her like water.

Then there's me at *cough* 13,861.

You read that right. I'm almost 3 days behind.

And I call myself a professional too.

But you know what? It's okay. Even though I'm 99% sure I'll have edits on a different book hitting my inbox sometime this week (which will lose me at least another day), I know I can make up the lost time. Why? Because I won't let myself not make it up.

One of the things I've learned about being a writer is you have to be good under pressure, because even if you are always solid about getting shit done on time or early, sometimes the world conspires against you. When that happens and deadlines loom, you can either buckle under the pressure or you can bust ass a little harder.

One of the things I've learned about myself since becoming an author is I don't like being told I can't do something. I can't possibly make up 3-5 days worth of writing when NaNo is close to half over and I have edits coming? HA! Sit back and watch me!

It's a good trait to have in this business. And it's a really good attitude to have during NaNoWriMo.

You can finish. I don't care if you haven't started yet. Sure, 3k days are tough, but they're totally doable if you really want it. Don't quit because you're behind. Relish in the challenge to make up those words and days. Then bust ass and make it happen.

In the end, if you don't finish your 50k, the only one you have to disappoint is yourself. Do you really want to do that?

(Also, a note: please remember not to send your NaNo novel to any editors or agents right after you finish. Let it sit for a while. Then edit the crap out of it, because no one wants to see your unedited crap...especially not editors and agents.)

When do you write?

With the baby, my life schedule has changed quite a bit. The first few weeks, it was weird, living on a 24 hour schedule - it didn't seem to matter if it was day or night, but we were up every couple hours to feed the baby. Then she started sleeping a bit more and it started to normalize back to day and night... But it's all gotten me thinking.

When do you write?

When are you most creative? When do your mental wheels kick into gear and get moving?

Now, I'm not talking about the sitting-down-and-writing-because-it's-a-job-damnit writing, because you have to do that, no matter if inspiration strikes or not, but when do you feel most inspired. It doesn't even have to be when you write, it could be when you come up with your best ideas, the greatest plot twists, the genius title.

For me, I've always been a night owl. I'm at my best late at night, when the world is quiet. But weirdly, I wrote my first book by getting up early and writing first thing in the morning. It seemed like the words just seemed to flow best then. So I think I brainstorm best at night, laying in bed in the dark, but I write best earlier in the day.

What about you? What part of the day causes you to leap into mental action?

I know a lot of you have jobs that you have to work around - you carve out precious time for writing. Do you pick the time of day that works best for your creativity or your schedule?

Once I go back to work, I'm going to have even more to juggle besides writing, baby, and family life. Guess I'll have to start getting into practice squeezing those words in somehow...

And like Julie says - set an alarm for the kid - it's awkward to get caught up in a scene and forget about them :)

Skye
p.s. I'm thinking about writing a recurring series about lawyering stuff - would anyone have any questions or interest in that? It's a little awkward because of the whole not-wanting-to-offer-real-legal-advice thing, but I could chat about interesting topics...