Category Archives: Bits, Bobs, and Pieces of My Life

Silencing the Inner Editor is Easier Said Than Done

I was three weeks into writing the second draft of my current novel when I’ve already started mentally plotting my next draft–namely, what I’m going to cut out of it. Now I’ve given in to temptation and stopped writing what I thought was going to be the second draft of this novel, and actually started planning this draft of my novel again.

Everyone who’s ever said anything about writing says you’re supposed to silence your inner editor; let me tell you, it’s harder than it sounds. Every time I write something–even if it’s a first draft–my inner editor is working overtime. It’s hard for me to remind myself that nothing is ever right the first time–or the second or even third time–and to just finish the draft. My inner editor is screaming in my ear, nitpicking every detail, telling me everything that’s wrong. Regardless of where I am in the process, my inner editor’s voice is hard to shut off.

I’m now realizing that writing is like gardening, in that anyone who engages in the activity has to do quite a bit of weeding–that is, in the case of writing, cutting out all of the scenes and plots that don’t serve the story. For the project I’m working on now, I need to boil down what the story is, and plot out plots and scenes that serve it. After I’m done this draft, I’m sure I’m still going to do a lot of weeding before writing the next draft.

Now I’m going to have to concoct a strategy for silencing my inner editor–but it’s going to be difficult.

Now, i understand quite a few of you other writers find it easy to tune out your inner editor while you’re writing, and only let them have the floor when your project is done and you need to revise it. But I can’t be the only writer in the world who has to endure the presence of my own inner editor during the process of writing any draft of any of my work.

Making a Deal (Or More) With the Future

It’s a new day, a new month, a new year, and I have so much on the ball this year: seeking a new career, writing a novel, various other projects in the pipeline, and trying to restart new good habits and maintain others. I still have to create a schedule for it all–as we all know, that’s the easy part (please note the tongue in my cheek).

In several areas of my life, I’ve really let myself down last year, but I don’t plan to repeat that this year. That means not being so lazy; if that means waking up before the roosters on some–or most–days, then so be it. I’ve always wanted my life to be different from what it is; now it’s time to do something to make that happen.

Looking beyond myself and my own stupid life, I have, within recent weeks, entertained fantasies of things I can do to help those less fortunate than myself, and using whatever resources I have, and get my hands on, to give people who are struggling a hand up; this year, I start making those fantasies a reality, in one way or another. Also, I plan to give my take about issues at the local provincial, national, and international levels more often than I have in the past.

One thing I’ve learned within the past year–articulated for me by the Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher–is that a resolution is a deal you make with the future, and that keeping resolutions requires resolve. So this year, I resolve to find, and maintain, my resolve, and achieve all of the goals I can.

Spring Cleaning: Some Reflections

I’ve just finished spring cleaning–my first time ever–and, if you’ve never cleaned your home in its entirety in one day–as I never have until today–let me tell you, it’s hard, hot, sweaty work. But I did it–though I’m sure I didn’t do it well–and, right now, I’m satisfied.

I began my spring cleaning by organizing boxes and bins containing my belongings, which further hammered home the point to me to consume more mindfully and intentionally, as opposed to being so impulsive with my purchases. After today, I will at least try to consider all of my nonessential purchases.

Another thing I will attempt to do is make spot cleaning–beyond washing dishes–a habit, so I’ll have less work to do with next year’s spring cleaning.

I will say that my home–especially my living room–looks a lot better than it did this morning before I started, and with that, I’m happy.

National Novel Writing Month: Finally at the End–and a Lesson Reiterated

I am finally finished my entry for National Novel Writing Month; I didn’t want to, but I rushed to the end just so I could finish this project, and be done with it.

But, all through the last week of my writing this book and trying to finish it, a lesson was reiterated for me: I and my book would be in a much better position if I had taken the months I had–during which I had planned my NaNoWriMo entry for this year–to outline the story…even a rough outline would have sufficed. But, because I didn’t outline my story, the first 50, 000 words are dominated by fluff, and I rushed the ending, just so I could (finally) finish.

Reiterated lesson and regrettable ending aside, I don’t regret participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month, nor the project I chose to work on for this year’s event–even if I would have done one or two things differently.

National Novel Writing Month: In the Winners’ Circle–But Still Not Done

I wrote 3,024 words today, putting my total National Novel Writing Month word count at 52, 338 words, thus putting me in the National Novel Writing Month winners’ circle. However, I’m still not done the book itself. And with eleven days to go…

This isn’t the first time I’ve gone over the 50, 000-word word-count goal when participating in National Novel Writing Month, but I have a feeling this is going to be my longest NaNoWriMo entry yet–and I’m still going to be leaving out a lot of what I originally planned to put in.

I may have met the word-count goal prescribed by National Novel Writing Month, but I’m still have a ways to go before I’m actually finished, so I’m not resting on my laurels yet.

National Novel Writing Month: One Lesson Learned…So Far

I’ve cranked out 2, 470 words today, and my overall word count is now 45, 596 words. But having said that, I have learned at least one lesson about writing and story planning during this experience…and that lesson is, to have an outline before starting a project, especially one of this magnitude.

At this juncture, I believe I’ll actually write over 50, 000 words–especially seeing as I haven’t fit everything into it that I wanted to, and I still have quite a bit of this story to tell. I know that, seeing as I didn’t take the time to write an outline for this story before this year’s National Novel Writing Month started, this version of my story is going to be a huge mess. But I’ve come across some unexpected pleasant surprises while writing this story as well, so I guess it isn’t all bad.

November is over half over, and I’m still working on not being so hard on myself over this project. I may not have been fully prepared for this experience, but, regardless of what happens with this story, I’m determined to see it through.

National Novel Writing Month: Rounding the Bend–And Some Realizations

Well, here I am, having worked on my novel during National Novel Writing Month for exactly two weeks; in terms of word count, I did much better, yesterday and today, than I did last Tuesday and Wednesday. I am now at 40, 916 words altogether, meaning I am 9, 084 words away from 50, 000 words.

But I’m afraid I’ve focused so much on word count that I’ve more or less put the story aspect on the back burner; I’m still thinking about the story, but I’ve left out so much that I’ve planned to put in–that’s actually my biggest blunder for this year’s NaNoWriMo entry. Even now, I know I’m going to have a lot of work to do to make this story workable, much less marketable. But this is the first draft of this particular story, so I should know better than to expect too much–even if I’m still not feeling too good about the story.

But there are fifteen days left to National Novel Writing Month, so I’m going to make the best of it, and focus on the story aspect of my entry as well as the word count.

National Novel Writing Month: (More Than) Halfway There

I’ve just updated my word count (3, 861 words) on my National Novel Writing Month website account dashboard, and my overall word count is now 26, 961 words, meaning I’m slightly more than halfway finished my novel–and this challenge.

Even at this point, I know there’s a lot of this book I’m going to have to rewrite to make it make sense, much less make it good–but this is the first draft, so I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

We’re barely halfway through November, but I’m more than halfway through my National Novel Writing Month entry. As always since I got started on this project, I’m excited to continue…but, right now, I need a break, so I’ll pick this up again tomorrow.

National Novel Writing Month: Back On Track

Exactly one week ago, I joined who knows how many people all over the world in the insane challenge to write a 50, 000-word novel in thirty days. It is now exactly a week later, and, despite some gaffes, mishaps,, and me not being able to restrain my inner editor, I’m still growing strong.

Just as I predicted, I did do better today than I did yesterday, and got back to work on my manuscript after work and thus updated my word count twice today; I cranked out a total of 2420 words today, which puts me now at 18, 018 words altogether. So yes, I’m psyched, and excited to see what happens next.

See what happens when you get up, dust yourself off, and get back on the track?

National Novel Writing Month: One Week In

It’s been a full week of National Novel Writing Month, and, I admit, today wasn’t my best writing day: despite my best efforts, I only managed to crank out 778 words. But my overall word count on my NaNoWriMo website account dashboard is 15, 598 words (despite question marks over my word counts for this past Saturday and Sunday–I don’t remember how many words I actually wrote, then entered into my NaNoWriMo website account update function), so I’m still doing well–I’m five thousand words away from reaching 20, 000 words, and ten thousand words from being halfway through my novel. (That reminds me: I need to find, and bring out, my Bon Jovi CD, so I can play ‘Livin’ On a Prayer’ when I reach or surpass 25, 000 words.) But, because of today’s turnout, I’ve decided to extend my daily workday writing time by ten minutes, to give myself a better chance of getting to at least one thousand words a day.

OK, so I had a bad writing day today–well, bad compared to what I managed to accomplish within the last few days. I’ve just had to adjust my strategy to increase my chances of doing better for the rest of the month, and I know I’ll more than make up for today this weekend.