Done but not finished

I reached 50,000 words for my NaNoWriMo novel six days ago and I validated it two days ago. I am a NaNoWriMo winner!

I am mentally exhausted. I spent almost an entire month smashing away at the keyboard and pulling out the ends of my hair because I wanted so desperately to reach the goal as soon as possible. And I did it.

Me!

The best part is, I continued writing after that and my novel is now at 68,000 words and it's not even close to being finished. I think it'll reach 80,000 if I flesh out the dialogue, make awkward movements less awkward, tie together dangling threads and fill in the gaping plot holes.

I am so excited! Once I've finished the first draft, done about a dozen revisions (probably closer to fifty, knowing me) and edited the life out of my novel, I'm going to try and find a literary agent. I know it's a big step but I'm determined to take this all the way. My novel has the goods and I want to get it out there, hopefully before my next birthday.

We shall see!

Fingers doubly crossed

I became aware of a student-run magazine in my area and decided I should submit a piece. My writing mentor has been urging me for years to get my work out there (without success) and my friends have been hinting (not so subtly) at submitting as well, so I thought: Why not? Might as well give it a shot.

I wrote a short story a few months ago about an encounter I had with a schoolboy on the train and for the past few days, I've been re-working it. I sent it to a few friends for their opinions and criticisms (I type so fast I make typos and rarely catch them) and when I revised and edited as much as I could bear, I sat back and exhaled.

I just worked up the guts to send it to the magazine this morning. Fingers crossed and doubly crossed it'll be published early next year. If it is, it'll be my first published piece!

NaNoWriMo

I have never finished a piece of my writing. Never. Ever. Ever.

Once an idea pops into my head, no matter how big or small it is, I will write it down because I can't bear the thought of losing those precious gems that could one day become the next best-selling novel. And as soon as those ideas are down, they begin fleshing themselves out. The characters find their names, their agendas and powers, if any. This leads to the start of the plot, so I dive straight into it without planning or outlining.

At first, it's great. Words flow from my pen. Jubilation bubbles in my stomach, make me giggly and full of pride because I'm convinced I'm writing the next bestseller. But tragedy always strikes. My brain falls flat and my pen stops moving. I don't how how to move the plot forward in a believable way and the characters, which seemed so life-like at first, appear stale and two dimensional. I'm crushed because I invested so much time on it.

Then I get another seed of an idea, abandon all previous engagements and the cycle starts again.

So if I'm dreadful at finishing novels, why am I doing NaNoWriMo this year?

Because I'm on a deadline and there's a monumental goal to reach: 50,000 words by the end of the month. I assure you I've never written on this scale so I'm trying my hardest to stay on top of the word goal and I'm wasting away, what with being deprived of sunlight and familial warmth.

On the bright side, I didn't dive into NaNoWriMo without preparation. In October, I wrote paragraphs of what I thought should happen in my novel. Ideas formed, collided and propagated. Paragraphs turned into scenes and scenes turned into an outline of 16,000 words. I know where my story goes and I know how to get there. I've been keeping up with my schedule and I've never felt happier.

I know I have the potential to write a novel and I'm doing NaNoWriMo to prove to myself that I can finish a novel. Right now, it's looking good :)

Procrastination

That’s how this blog was born.

I was procrastinating from my studies and, surprisingly, my writing. There comes a time when sitting in front of your laptop and a pad of paper for five hours straight just becomes too much.

So instead of doing what normal people do and going outside for a walk, I sat at my desk for an even longer period of time and messed around on the Internet. My sister, who was also procrastinating, urged me to start writing a blog to prepare for the BIG day I receive an acceptance letter from a publisher.

This blog will be a record of my journey from an aspiring author to a big-time novelist.

Fingers crossed!