Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Thass Alotta Words

Day two of NaNoWriMo, and it becomes ever more apparent: I cannot NOT edit. Seriously. There's a vindictive little critic living in my left ear, just a fraction of an inch beyond Q-tip range, who insists on having extensive debates about every little syllable. My writing buddies are breezing through the experiment, words piling up like the corpses of the valiantly slain, and I'm sitting on a measly 621 words, like an anxious mother hen afraid she's hatched a frog. I wrote an eight hundred word email last night without a second thought. The critic is not only belligerent, he's snobby, too. 

I guess it would be easier if I were writing a plot driven story. I don't know why I'm not; I have no shortage of ideas. I feel like I have something to say- something important (to me)- and it refuses to sit still long enough for me to sketch its portrait. I should probably take the recorder and talk it all out. I tend to be far less tetchy when I hear the words spoken aloud. For now, though, I think I'll take a little mental holiday and focus on something else. I have a couple of songs that could use final touches. I've got the Card project to finish- I mean, start (stupid Major Arcana!). And if all else fails, there's always turning pictures of myself into zombies, which is way, waaaay more fun than it ought to be.

Will Zombify for Brains.

3 comments:

  1. I was expecting more of a struggle with my internal editor. It doesn't show up until the next day because I'm just throwing words into the computer. Currently, it feels like I have two protagonists of different stories, as opposed to two characters who are going to fall in love.

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  2. As I mentioned earlier today, your excerpt makes me want to just GIVE UP. It's so beautifully crafted! I look at what I've written and I'm humiliated by the shoddy quality. And yeah, I know that the point (in this instance) is quantity over quality, but it's just... I really hope no one ever sees this crap I'm churning out, I really do. I shudder when I think what will happen when I go back to edit it in January. Will I burn it to rid the world of its toxin? Possibly. Probably. Ugh. Words piling up like corpses, indeed. Hideous, purifying corpses...

    As for my internal editor, she does try to take over occasionally. But then I find myself working on the same stupid paragraph for fifteen minutes and I realize I have to LET IT GO, or I will never get to the next paragraph. ::sigh:: It's painful, but I think I'm getting used to it.

    And as for YOU, Miss SCurry- you must admit that until two characters meet, they ARE the protagonists of different stories. It's not until they come together that those stories become one. =)

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  3. This photo is making me crave some Dots. You remember Dots, right? Those delicious gumdrops that pull your teeth from their fleshy homes. Mmm, Dots...

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