Nanowrimo: Day 25

Nanowrimo: Day 25
Current Word Count: 38,476
Today's Goal: 41,675
Words to write today to meet today's goal: 3,199
Words left to meet total goal: 11,524

Let's be honest about what's happening here: yes, I am blogging instead of getting started on today's Nano. This doesn't mean that I'm disenchanted, or that the honeymoon is over (as it were), or anything remotely anti-Nano. No, this is what I do. Hello, my name is Kristen. I'm a writer, and I procrastinate.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I mean, we as writers claim that all we want to do as our careers is sit down and write, yet when it comes down to it, we do other things. For instance, I sat down to write this morning, and got stuck at researching Ukrainian mens names. Other things I've done this morning include browsing Facebook (big surprise) and looking up synonyms for "awkward." Before you claim I should get that app that blocks Wifi for a set amount of time, I also found myself drinking a whole pot of coffee while watching the dog play, and texting my friend about a funny dream I had. And, yes, now I'm writing a blog about wasting time not writing. Mmmhmm.

This was my game plan: write a mystery novel without knowing whodunnit. This is James Sallis's technique (the guy who wrote Drive which was later a Ryan Gosling movie): "If the writer doesn't know whodunnit, the reader doesn't know whodunnit, and if the writer is interested, the reader will be interested." Today's procrastination has nothing to do with interest. In fact, I'm very interested to see what happens to Constantine now that the cops think that he's the murderer.

There's no anecdote to this story. There's no "hey, just make your story more interesting." It's interesting, thankyouverymuch. This is just an errant thought on a day when I realize for the 6,743rd time that a writing practice requires work and dedication. It doesn't mean that writing isn't worth it, but writing isn't easy. That's why Nanowrimo is excellent: it's training wheels for the real thing. Nanowrimo reminds you that you need to make a commitment to your writing...

...and then stick to it.