Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Doldrums

It's nearing the end of camp now. Three weeks in, one to go. At this point in the game, it's easy to want to give up. You want to go "Eh, good enough" and throw in the towel. Declare moral victory. You got writing done, right? That's better than nothing, right?

You know what's better than writing?

A finished story. And here I am, barely begun and ready to say "okay, that's enough for this NaNo." I just hit 9000 words. I'm not even the equivalent of six days into a normal NaNo wordcount. There's a bit of perspective. 9000 seems like so much until you compare it to 50,000.

Damn, I don't even feel like writing this. I've been working on it since last night. Anyone have any advice for getting through the writing doldrums?

"Doldrums" always makes me think of The Phantom Tollbooth. Maybe I'll reread that and see if it helps. It's one of my favorite books from my childhood. Talk about a book that made learning fun.

I'm just rambling at this point. Having a hard time keeping a single thought together. I think I'll cut this one short before I say anything that I regret.

2 comments:

  1. I wondered if I should stop. Then I threw in the towel. Then I picked it up again. Then I threw it back.

    Ihaventwritteninthreedays.

    So, way anead of you. I'm IN the doldrums.

    So two things:

    1. Either you just need to start writing again, which will kickstart your muse. This is good if you already have a clear direcrion that's working, and if you've just crashed from a wave of inspiration -- which you have.

    2. You're in

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  2. Make it a game. What would your MC do? Would your MC throw in the towel or go just one hill further to see what's there?

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