NaNoWriMo-Day 10

Current word count: 12,197

I didn’t get any NaNo writing done until 10 o’clock tonight. I worked on my internship and web design class earlier. Theresa Hegel from The Intelligencer newspaper (http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer.html) interviewed me regarding my participation in NaNoWriMo. I’m excited she’s going to plug my blog in the article. Since I waited until the end of the day, I only wrote about 800 words.

Fear kept me from writing today. Fear of the words needed to get back on track. How silly. I am truly enjoying the writing experience and the creation of my novel. Fear shouldn’t be able to wiggle its way into my psyche. One attempt to block fear: I place index cards with statements and words of encouragement around my writing area to spur me on. It still finds a way to paralyze my fingers and confuse my thoughts.

My inner editor has been whispering through the cracks in the box its been locked in, too. Apparently my characters are in service to my plot, when the plot should be in service to the characters. What?!?! Basically, my characters are the main attraction in a novel, and the plot should reveal details and provide insight to them. It should lay the path the characters will grow, evolve, learn, or remain stagnant. Right now, the characters just decorate the plot.

The whispers continued, exposing more flaws. I need more internal monologue from Lexi, my main character. The setting needs development to ensure my words will create images of Willow Hill in the minds of my readers. I can hear wind shaking the stubborn yellow and orange leaves on the trees outside, but weather is almost completely absent from the novel’s existing pages, not so realistic. Currently, my novel takes place in a forgettable two-dimensional world. Crap. Unfortunately none of these problems will be fixed until the revision stage. Ahhh! Where the hell is Nov. 30th?

I’m tired and my eyes won't stay open. Tomorrow is another day.

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