Everyday Canvas

October and NaNo Prep

Prompt: October is approaching, what are your plans for the month? Writing, personal life, work life?

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October is the prep month for NaNo. In the earlier years, that is 2009 and on, I used to start thinking about the novel from months earlier, which, I believe gave much better results. Unlike last year and now.

Last year and this year, it is nada, zilch. I had and have no character, no genre, no idea, nothing. My only consolation is that last year I did okay with 64906 words at the end of November; although the novel was less than satisfactory. Last year’s novel is faulty mainly because I ended up feeling friendly toward the main character and didn’t let her have a bad time in the end.

Here is a writerly advice: Don’t ever like your main character or feel as if she/he is your friend. This advice is mainly for me.

Consequently, I’ll think, drink, and eat writing in October. At this point, it isn’t a good idea to even think about November, let alone make the 50K with the word count. While writing this, another idea occurred to me. From the onset, I’ll give to the main character a personality flaw that I hate in real people. How’s that for planning!

The work life and the personal life, whatever is there, I’ll have to deal with. When things spring up, I go ahead and deal with them, and make the time for writing in some way. This October I have a whole bunch of appointments, which will be a pain, but I can survive. I just hope I can do this NaNo thing, again.

In short, I’m excited about October and at the same time, I’m terrified.