Thursday, August 23, 2007

Finding Time to Write

Well, it's Thursday and I'm in my first week of education after a very lazy and yet eventful summer. Things will take a while to get insanely hectic, however.

I've read a lot of articles about "finding time to write." But I think what matters, in the end, is that you want to do it. If you want it enough, you do make it happen. Maybe you only write a page a day, maybe the weekends are your only time at all, but you do make it happen. There was a good quote from "Putting Your Passion Into Print," where someone said that the difference between authors that make it and authors that don't, is who wants it enough.

It's the same with finishing books. I am the not-so-proud author of about ten or fifteen books that have never made it past Chapter 3. However, I have also proudly finished two books (one was only 80 pages, but it was done) and am on the way to finishing a third.

The best novel-writing method I've ever come across is National Novel-Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org), where you write a 50,000-word first draft in 30 days. I've never actually done the "real" NaNoWriMo with thousands of other writers doing it simultaneously, but have applied the principles to a month that worked best for me. The creative rush is unbelievable; they are some of the best months ever. I had so much fun writing the first draft of "Charming" a year ago.

If you want to finish your book, I recommend NaNoWriMo whole-heartedly, or something like it. Something fun, creative, and so fast you won't have time to doubt yourself.

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