Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Spasms Have Stopped

The spasms have stopped finally...
Exactly a week ago, I finished NaNoWriMo for the fifth time and was lachrymose when I was done this time. This time I was not sure I was going to be able to do it. The last three times I was pretty sure I was not going to be able to get it done. One of them I wrote about 35000 words in one week. This time I wrote about 37000 in less than a week. I dodged family for Thanksgiving so I could churn out 8500 words a day for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The time after that was spent knowing every time I had a spare moment I was either in front of my MacBook (pictured) or on my iPod touch where I edited in Google Docs and saved additionally on Word at home to Dropbox. Losing the file was not an option!
The spasms are reoccurring.
After NaNo, there was still the confusion every time I had a spare moment that I should be writing. Thinking to myself I can write now and then remembering I am done. I did it. Again. I was told I must work well under pressure. This one was hard to finish and was done for the deadliest of sins.
Pride.
After doing it the first four times I would have felt like a failure. I am asked constantly what did I get for completing NaNo? People do not understand it is the accomplishment. When writing is in the blood, it is like a poison that cures you. When I am writing there is nothing that can make me happier or more at peace. I love creating, coming up with the ideas and the process. There were parts of my NaNo story--that interconnected about five different stories--that I loved and am planning on revisiting. I thought when NaNo was done I would not want to write anymore. It is not true, I was at a concert and thinking about a story about a woman being played like a cello. But I do not write yet.
The spasms still reoccur every time I write for a prolonged period. My hands need a break, and I slept only about 12 hours in three days in that last week . My body needs a break too. It is starting to hurt to do this post but after my hand is over the trauma of all the typing it did, I will be back to my usual tricks.
I did it; am ready for next year.
I am also ready to be RWA PRO. It is not a New Year's resolution though, it is a promise...I do not believe in resolutions, I believe in doing like I did NaNo.
Hardcore.
Photograph by F. Solomon

2 comments:

  1. This post so completely captures the NaNo experience, Fidencia and, like you, I found myself feeling guilty when I woke up late on Dec 1 and wasn't writing! I had to mentally smack myself around and remind me that I was finished- at least for Nov. Too, my wrist and elbow of my right hand were (still are) killing me because of the amount of hand-written words I generated. But regardless of the dogged determination that kept us sleeping fewer hours, eating fewer meals, vacuming less, and so forth, meeting the challenge is a wonderful thing. And especially if you are a procrastinator, or someone who'll dawdle around, having that deadline, and working in the company of others who are also striving for it, is a terrific experience. The aches and pains are all worth it!

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  2. Or you could keep writing! (I happened to see this post and this around the same time. Seriously, one of the things that I think NaNo is really good for is forcing the habit of writing every day.

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