Originally, my plan was to have the Mailman deliver a weekly blog topic for me to write on, but I don’t think the man is that prolific, or has that much free time. So I’ve decided to open it up the general public. I expect this democratic writing experiment to last no more than a four to six weeks, if at all, but hell, I’m putting it out there anyway: If you want to submit a topic for me to write about, go for it.
So the first topic, as you’ve already gathered from the title, is why I never completed National Novel Writing Month.
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It wasn’t a complete failure, I mean, don’t get me wrong, I failed. I didn’t complete the task at hand, but I did write the first fifty-four pages of a novel in about a week’s time. Even though the last fifteen pages could probably be completely cut out, there was still a small sense of accomplishment. I have a novel planned out, and the beginning started.
On one hand, I probably shouldn’t have attempted the challenge the same month that I started my job, on the other hand, I was already a few days behind before I even started the job. The challenge is hard, harder than you’d think. If you fall more than a day or two behind, forget about it. And that’s what happened. I thought I could play catch up, and I never could.
But it was a good exercise, and the novel’s beginnings aren’t half bad either. I’ve been going to a writers group once a week for the past month right above the Bronx, and the members got a taste of the first ten pages. Aside from a few punctuation mistakes (apparently I forgot what a question mark was for?) and the need to flush out chapter four, the reviews were surprisingly upbeat and enthusiastic.
I hope to finish the first draft of this novel sooner rather than later. Not by the end of the year, maybe before spring. But, my other writing goals currently are to keep this blog updated, and to write some letters to some babies.
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