Dedication to the Craft

"There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."
W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)




There has been a lot of chat out there recently about NaNoWriMo2009 coming up in November. The great debate, now, is whether or not to dedicate the time to the project. I am thinking that it is more than just giving up an hour a day to throw together a few words. Realistically, it will be more of a lock yourself in the office after supper, work until 10, go to bed, get up, work, write again, etc.

I question, at times, if I have what it will take. The j'en sais quois, the magic elixir, the brass monkeys...whichever one you best think describes the job, even if there were 10 months instead of just one. Today, over at A Broken Laptop, Mercedes M. Yardley has some excellent point on this very topic. She notes that she had wanted to write a novel for years but considered the task too daunting. She also makes an excellent observation in noting that "there isn't any magic involved." Those that did write a novel had finally made a commitment to do so.

I have always been the sort of personality that works best under pressure. Say 3 weeks are assigned to do a book report, I would wait for the last 3 days. My job works on a strict schedule to produce drawings to provide the manufacturing plant work. I took (ie. payed for) two night school classes in creative writing over a few months because I knew that there would be weekly assignments to force me to produce work. Perhaps I should look at the NaNoWriMo as a forced work project that lasts a little bit longer than a three hour class, once a week. Hmm... I guess that I'll mull it over, for just a little longer.