First draft tremors 

So back in October I made a commitment to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). My initial plan was a little like this:

• plan the story
• write it.

A nice simple plan. And something like NaNoWriMo is a great way to write a crappy first draft and understand your story. That how I finished my first draft of my manuscript that is now ‘resting’ like dough at its fifth draft stage. 

But I didn’t plan.

Life took over. End of semester assessments, edits on my previous manuscript, health issues with children, and an overwhelming number of migraines.

I have a mud map of the story, which I had thought may suffice, but today when I sat down to write I had this terrifying feeling that I DIDNT KNOW WHERE TO START. I knew what would happen-ish. Just not the start.

Then I got into this really unhelpful self-talk that I’m sure most writers go through: there’s no story in this, what the hell are you doing, get a real job, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? 

So to get me out of my writer’s slump that threatens to overtake and send me into a coma for a month instead of to my laptop, I’m looking at Plan B which is more like this:

• Have a mud map
• Write
• Wing it
• Freak out (this is where I am up to now)
• Eat chocolate (I’m circling the bar in the kitchen as we speak)
• Buy packets of post-it notes and more chocolate
• Plan the crap out of it
• Write more.

Then if all else fails (which is always a possibility) file it away and start another, reminding myself that no writing is a failure, it’s part of the journey*.

*this word is my most hated word of the year. Get over it. We’re all on a journey somewhere.