NaNo - Day 26. A Light At The End Of The Tunnel.

Or rather, there's only light. Because there is no tunnel.

I've been taking all of this too seriously. This whole business of not finishing my Novel #2 was making me sad and ill, but since yesterday I've pulled back a little and gotten some perspective, courtesy of Stephen King.

Yesterday, upon Robbie's suggestion, I wandered into Borders books and picked up Stephen King's On Writing. This is a brilliant book. I started reading last night upon leaving work, around 9pm, and I'm about 160 pages in. It's only part memoir, chronicalling key events from King's early days as a writer, the crap jobs he's held, the triumph of the sale of his first novel, Carrie. He doesn't go too deep into his cocaine/drink addiction, but the reader is left in no doubt about its effect on his life. I'm only part of the way into the "technique" section, but I think I'll put the rest aside to devour after November is over.

There are some amazing quotes in this book, my current favorite is:

What you know makes you unique in some...way. Be brave. Map the enemy's positions, come back, tell us all you know.

Reading about Stephen King's journey has been tremendously inspiring to me.

He reminded me that a writer's life is not started and ended in a month. A writer's life is made of days and months and years and hours and minutes and seconds, put into the work. I don't read nearly enough and certainly haven't written nearly enough to be the kind of writer I'd like to be, but I am thankful for this book as a reminder: There is a tremendous amount of work to be done, but it *can* be done.

I'm a couple of days late for Thanksgiving, but I'd thought I'd take a moment to acknowledge the things NaNo has made thankful for, even if I don't write another word this month:

***I do love story.
I wrote stories before I wrote songs, as a young child and pre-teen. After a near two-decade lapse, NaNo reminded me why.


***There are stories that are mine to tell.
I'm sure I have found at least one story that will sustain a 90,000+ word telling. My job is to work on it. Not just until November 30th at 11:59pm, but until the story is *told*. In the best manner it can be told.


***I can sling words like the pros at my local deli can sling hash.
Stephen King writes 2000 words a day. Which made me perk up a little - I've had two 10,000 word days (so far, looks like there may be another one coming).

I am, in no way, comparing myself or my writing to Stephen King or his writing. Whether my words make an interesting, well-told story is another matter entirely. But it's nice to think I can at least fashion the marble from which a decent work of art *might* be chiseled.


***It's fun to convene with people doing the same thing as me.
The NaNo board and the blogs and the AIM chats and the meet ups have been great.


***It's fun to share this work with people I know and love.
And get them thinking about the stories *they* have to tell, as well.


So, I'm going to relax a little about not having completed a masterpiece in November. I do, however, want to get to 100,000 words by November's end. I have about 14,600 more words to write before I achieve that. That's doable. More than doable.

And nothing to sneeze at.


jules