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Friday, October 21, 2011

Who needs a plot bunny when there is a Plot Moose?

NaNoWriMo is coming and soon.  NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) is every November.  I have only been celebrating it for three years.

The goal is for writers to complete 50,000 words in one calendar month.  No worrying about grammar, punctuation, plot holes, or concern about which Point of View is used.

So much for not planning ahead?  Huh?


I did it last year.  I mean I actually wrote 50,000 disjointed words.  All of them were the misguided openings for the next mediocre American novel.  It was kind of like getting to be Thomas Edison, so many problems getting things off of the ground hoping for that (forgive the phrase) lightbulb moment.








Because I have always collected people who are smarter than me, I have chosen to listen to their greater minds this year.  (If it works, I'll listen to them next year, too.)  I'm not waiting for the Great Pumpkin to show up in my front yard and deliver the Plot Bunny and his evil twists on a story.  I'm not waiting for inspiration in the form of a divine idea to come by way of paper airplane from above.

The plot moose crash landed last year.
Nope.  I'm taking the advice of a friend and several others who say you don't need to be creative.  Just do.  She is creative every day for very specific hours and has said the idea of the Muse is over rated.  It is fun to think about them and blame a lack of production on the muse who didn't show up (or in this case, the Plot Moose).  Put your nose to the grind stone and do the work.

Makes me think of the phrase attributed to Yoda in one of the first Star Wars Movies:  There is no try, there is only do.  

This year I have a much better idea of what it will take to do the challenge and to succeed at it.  It is a long and rocky path, Moose or no Moose, I will overcome!






I just need to keep my nose to the grind stone (or in this case, matate)!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful attitude! I can't wait to read the results , ciome December.
I sincerely doubt you could write nything mediaocre...but the plot bunny, I mean moose/ muse is cool. Good luck!

Not sure about Yoda but , to me, the opposite of Do...is Didn't...better to make the effort, as you always do!

love

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