Heather Foeh

It’s here! The clock is ticking…I have the next 30 days to write 50,000 words.

One of the joys of NaNoWriMo is that the good folks there do a wonderful job of encouraging you along the way. And not with vapid little comments like, “You can do it.” Nope, they really know the insanity and so their pep talks truly do pep you up. For the kick-off today we received a pep talk email from Tom Robbins. I won’t quote the entire thing here (that might be against the rules?) but I will repeat of few of the things that really stood out to me:

You need not have your ending in mind before you commence. Indeed, you need not be certain of exactly what’s going to transpire on page 2. If you know the whole story in advance, your novel is probably dead before you begin it. Give it some room to breathe, to change direction, to surprise you. Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure.

And I love this bit about the rapids:

…you simply pack your imagination, your sense of humor, a character or two, and your personal world view into a little canoe, push it out onto the vast dark river, and see where the currents take you. And should you ever think you hear the sound of dangerous rapids around the next bend, hey, hang on, tighten your focus, and keep paddling—because now you’re really writing, baby! This is the best part.

So, here we go. I’m packing my canoe today and getting started.