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Writer's pictureGina Greenlee, Author

NaNoWriMo Week Two of Four: How’s it Going?


National Novel Writing Month

Great?


Man holding thumbs up
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Sweet!


Woman holding face
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Not so great? OK. Inspiration is on the way. First, a story.








New Year’s Day 2014 a friend challenges me a to write a novel. This was January so NaNoWriMo had concluded two months earlier. I decided to give it a go and take up the challenge without too much self-inflicted drama.


My attitude going in:


Dog with glasses
Photo by Braydon Anderson, Unsplash




Have fun!








Woman Artistic
Photo by Jurica Koletic on Unsplash










Experiment.












I literally didn’t know what I was doing. I had, though, written about a half dozen non-fiction books at that point. So, relating to myself through the page was already embedded in my creative DNA.


My friend had given me a specific prompt so bizarre that the idea of writing a book based on it bordered on absurd. Then I asked myself a question: Under what circumstances could this (absurd idea) not be so absurd? What dynamic could give the idea sufficient legitimacy to sustain my interest over a few hundred pages and tens of thousands of words? The answer to that question came in the form of a single sentence. And from there I was stoked.


Man sitting on bench
Photo by Vale Zmeykov on Unsplash

I love playing with ideas. They are my favorite treats. Like a dog with a good meat bone, I dig in and don’t let go. I had a ball writing my first novel. And yes, I finished it.


“What dynamic could give the idea sufficient legitimacy to sustain my interest over a few hundred pages and tens of thousands of words?”

Here’s a tip for writing, well, anything – including your first novel. Try falling in love.


If that doesn’t work, try NaNoWriMo Pep Talks.


Don’t spend too much time hanging out on the Internet. That’s not writing. That’s a proxy. Writing is writing.


You got this
Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash

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