Marsha Maung:: Freelance graphic designer and writer

It’s only the fifth of November, you can still make it! Check out this site www.nanowrino.org to join in the challenge of writing a short novel in a short period of time. This challenge is designed to push those who want to write a novel, have been dreaming of writing a novel, wish that they can write a novel, very damn well should write a novel to actually write a novel.

 

You know, I think this concept works. No novel is written in one shot. I mean, let’s face it, the biggest challenge is to get past the 3 chapter mark. If you’re a writer, write for a living or have been writing for fun, you know what I mean. You start out gung-ho about everything thinking that you have the funniest, greatest plot in the Universe, thinking that you’re going to get that Pulitzer prize next year…and 3 chapters down, you think it all suck and they all don’t tie together. The characters start to dull down and you lose track of all the characters you introduced and….worse…you run out ideas and no longer have any inkling what you’re writing about.

 

That, my friend, is the classic symptom of writer’s block. Every writer faces this one. (Back me up here, writer friends).

 

So, the only way to go…the same advice I gave a friend…is to go on, go on, go on, push yourself to go on. Don’t look back, just write. Whatever it is, write. No plot, get that extra caffeine push. No more characters to introduce, look back into your photo albums, you’ll find some funny characters that’ll fit right in. The point is to continue trudging on till the end. You’ll have plenty of time to edit, proofread and re-edit it.

 

And trust me, the bulk of the time, you’ll spend editing it, not writing it.

 

So, this challenge makes sense to all you budding writers out there. Just go on. Write that 50,000 words. I mean, I write about 10 articles a day, each article containing 400-500 words. That makes 4,000, at least. Don’t tell me I can’t push myself to write 1,600 words a day. And if I lag off one day, I still only have to write 3,200 words a day….nothing compared to what I normally write anyway, right?

 

So, go on to www.nanowrimo.org now and sign up for the challenge. I already did and have passed my 5,000 mark. It’s still far off the target but the amazing thing is that I am actually moving along with my storyline.

 

So, all budding writers, go push yourself and write now!