Another week, another three thousand words. I thought about signing up for NaNoWriMo this year, but chickened out at the last minute. Fifty thousand words in one month (or 12,500 words a week) sounded more like setting myself up for failure, and I didn't want to do that with people watching. But, I have met the intent which is to "just write". I'm still curiously watching as my process unfolds with this second novel. With this three thousand words I didn't really lengthen the story, that is, add in anything new to the storyline, but I did make a lot of good progress with digging deep, getting into the corners of the house so to speak. I'm also taking some lessons from two of my favorite artists, Georgia O'Keefe (painter) and Paul Strand (photographer), whose art came from deep within their psyches and which also represented the depth to which they looked into (notice I didn't say at) their subjects (more on them in a later post). I also started reading Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes to help with structure. I know, these are not the usual places a contemporary author might look for cues to the writing craft, but that just seems to be part of my process. In one of the podcasts about literature I frequent, the moderator and his guest discussed the waning value of Don Quixote as required reading in school (I recommend checking out the History of Literature with Jacke Wilson, by the way). I never read it in school, but I'm thoroughly delighted with it now. So, Jacke, Mike, I'm sorry but I can't agree on this one. Anyway, I'm going to call this progress and keep working toward Stephen King's recommended goal of 1000 words per day for six days a week. I wonder what he would say about NaNoWriMo. Maybe I'll have a little more confidence in myself next year.
National Novel Writing Month is a project for writers held each year from 1-30 November. Basically, the internet provides a forum for writers to establish, track, and be accountable for a writing goal.
Reflection of the Prague National Theater (1883) in glass walls of the
Czech Communist New Scene (1983)
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