I should be editing my book right now. I should be cleaning. I should be cleaning up the rest of the dinner dishes. I should be throwing on yet another load of laundry. Which, by the way, does someone want to explain to me how a family of five can make more than 2 loads of laundry per day? I find this really confusing. I should be going up to bed to read, or do more devotionals. But instead I am ignoring all the should be statements, and I am blogging.
I made a goal of 10 pages per week for editing my novel. Right now I am basically taking it from Nano status to actual novel status. Basically, I am content editing. Then I get to find some suckers out there to read it and give me feed back. You know you want to be one of those suckers! Turns out I am loving content editing. I have edited 23 pages in the last two days. At this rate I will be done with the first edit in record time, and I will have something to show for it. I just have to keep up the motivation. I don't think this will be a problem because I have already edited my least favorite part of the novel and I have moved on to the parts I like better. :)
I love that while writing I get so involved with my characters. If my main character is in a bad mood then so am I, if she is going through something emotionally then so am I. I love that the characters all come to life on the page as I am writing. I love that I am so invested, and that I can control it all! Who wouldn't want to be a writer. It really is amazing. I don't care if you think you can't write, or you find the task to be daunting. I promise it is a blast! Just don't take yourself too seriously and let it all go.
Speaking of taking yourself too seriously, it reminds me of the novel I wrote this year. (not the one I am editing right now FYI.) I was over 6 months pregnant. I had NO viable ideas for a novel and my husband challenged me to write a novel that was completely out of my comfort zone. Write something that will challenge you, and is something you never considered doing. At first he suggested that I write about the zombie apocalypse. This suggestion was a little too far out of my comfort zone. I wasn't even really interested. Instead I decided to write a fantasy novel. Yes, you heard me right fantasy novel.
The entire process of writing fantasy was amusing. I would be downstairs writing a chapter and I would have to come running upstairs to ask my husband super important questions. Things like is the leader of the dwarves called a king, and are there different kinds of elves? Having never read any fantasy novel except the Hobbit I was lacking tons of information. I researched online, came up with fantasy names, and had a fairy as a main character. I learned that the fantasy world as a whole was more important than almost anything, and the more details I could give the better. It was funny. Those were my important questions I had to find answers to. But my husband was right. I did learn a lot writing a fantasy novel. I don't think I will repeat the experience, and I don't think I will be a famous fantasy writer. I do think that writing that novel gave me the confidence to know I can write something out of nothing. I can have no idea what I am doing, no idea where the novel will go, and I can still do it.
That made it worth it.
Ok I give in...I SHOULD be going to bed!
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