NaNoWriMo Update

When it came to writing a novel in a month I did everything right this time. I plotted the entire novel just before November 1st.  I super cleaned the house and warned the family of my tendency to day dream during this busy time. I stocked the freezer with easy meals and taught the kids how to cook them. (No judgement people!) I was ready.
My book was about roach people taking over a town. Yes, it turned out to be as stupid as it sounds, but by day eight I tucked myself into bed with almost 15,000 words already finished. Yay me!

On day nine I didn't feel like writing. Day ten was the same, and by day eleven something had to give. I knew it was breaking the rules, but I started writing something different.
The roach people were getting boring, just chasing each other around the laboratory, so I sat at my desk and typed the following words,
"It was a nasty business cleaning up after the dead."
Not a perfect sentence. I'm not in love with the "was" in there and it doesn't paint much of a picture. Even after this first sentence I ramble on quite a bit about cleaning up body parts. It started to get a little bit twisted, and I considered going back to see how those roach people were doing.
In the end I decided to stick with the "cleaning up after the dead" business just to see where it would take me. And guess what? I really like it.
I'm 12, 758 words into it and not bored at all, and I have NaNo to thank for it.
If I hadn't been writing and creating so well for so many days in a row, I would not have been in the zone (cliche). I would not have been able to come up with anything new. My mind would be stuck on roaches, roaches, roaches, and I would have kept on with that book even though I knew it wasn't turning out that well.
It was Maya Angelou who said, "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."
That statement is more true to me today than it was when I Tweeted it a few months ago:)
I have been writing regularly since Camp NaNoWriMo in July and the more I do it, the easier it gets.
So, not to beat a dead horse (cliche), but just keep on writing!
It does get easier if you stick with it.
Now, the big question. Will the books I'm writing get better? Only time will tell.

Building a Mystery

If you read my last post you know I haven't been writing. I've been making excuse after excuse and I'm sure I'll fall back on that every now and again. In fact, at this very moment I feel like I'm going to throw up, but I'm not going to use it as an excuse today.
No, today I want to talk about writing. I want to tell you that I've figured out what my problem is...or was.
I knew there was something wrong with my book, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
I'm writing what I would call a paranormal fantasy for YA, but it turns out it's not that simple.
The problem, the reason I've been neglecting it for so many weeks, is that I didn't realize it was also a mystery.
We all know how a mystery works, right!? There has to be a red herring, clues dropped like breadcrumbs so that the reader can decide what's going to happen. Or better yet, not know what's going to happen, but then in the end have that "Aha! moment" where it all makes sense.
None of this is revolutionary, but that is the very reason I had to blog about it. By simply changing the definition of what I've been writing, it suddenly seems to make more sense.  Why is that?
I'll tell you why. Because we have to know where we're going to know how to get there.
It's because our sneaky, perhaps out of shape, brains like order. Chaos does not generally build a novel. Our mind wants a map, or at least an arrow pointing out the right direction.
And the best news, and if you read my blog you won't be surprised by this, is that I've actually read a book on how to write a mystery:)
Now that I have defined the fact that I need to "lay out the breadcrumbs" so to speak, it's going to be so much easier to move past this hurdle.
No, this is not the king of all writing advice. And yes, it may seem very obvious to you (give me a break here, I think I have the bird flu), but it was news to me. And it's helped me see my novel with fresh eyes.
So, if you're stuck in your current novel maybe try looking at things differently. Maybe what you're writing isn't chiklit after all. Or if the drama you're writing is actually turning out to be kind of funny. Don't make yourself crazy trying to fit it into it's original packaging, change things up. Look at it in a new light. It might make all the difference!