I was all prepared this year to actually suffer through a Camp NaNoWriMo. I had a great idea, even if it was just in its infancy. I thought I had set my standards sufficiently low enough: just get to 10,000 words and call it good – just in time to finish college finals. No one said it was a good idea, but it was mine, and I’ll be the first to admit it failed. I managed a little of 2000 words and then got lost.
I’ve discussed before how I feel that the obsession with “writing every day” is the best philosophy. Trust me, I completely understand how the stress of life can eat at you from just about every direction. However, I will say that the concept of editing a crappy page is easier than a blank one works wonders on research papers…
Anyway, I digress. The fact of the matter is here it is May. Finals are over. Camp NaNoWriMo is over. I didn’t succeed, and somewhere in-between trying to start a new idea that I love and standing (or sitting) where I am now, I got lost on a detour of unfinished stories.
I’ve never been able to determine why some ideas stick with me like a nagging toothache – to where I can’t put them aside until they are finished. Then there are those that woke me in the middle of the night, forced me to pour out over 5000 words in a single sitting, and then sat in a corner waiting…and waiting. With an entire summer break ahead of me, I had a plan, I was prepared to plot my way through the more completed ideas running amok in my head (even my characters are on summer break, apparently), but if there is one thing I’ve learned about writing, it is simply to never plan anything. My characters all have minds of their own, and the sooner I realize that, the happier we will all be. One can hope. Let’s hope this plan works out better than the last.
Anyone out there with a similar tale? How many unfinished stories do you have haunting the cobwebs of your mind? I think I’ll count and get back to you.
-L.E.
Ramblings of a Would-Be Writer 