It's Not Going Well

Almost every year since 2003, come November, I have written a book. Well, okay, I have attempted to write a book. So far, I've never actually COMPLETED a book during November, but I usually attempt one. (Except the year I was working when the thought was even too insane for ME.)

For me, as a writer, NaNoWriMo is simply the single best writing exercise I've ever done. It's better than the Morning Pages in The Artist's Way. It's better than banging my head against a brick wall or imagining myself on Oprah. It's just...some kind of magic.

I'm a sloowww writer. Blogging has helped with this because it's such an immediate medium. But the best thing of all for this is NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo demands that I banish the highly critical editor who sits on my shoulder and pronounces my sentence structure dumber than a first grader's and my ideas banal and announces with great certainty that my Mother Would Not Approve.

NaNoWriMo EMBRACES the banality! It's all about quantity and not quality! I am spewing forth just execrably bad prose and you know what? That's the POINT. Yea for really crappy writing! The first year I undertook NaNo, I included recipes and song lyrics in my book --it was baaaad. It was REALLY bad. But it grew into a project that is still alive for me --my novel continually in progress called "Making Roux." I haven't touched it in a year and one thought is just to keep working on it, which is against the rules of Nano but since I'm probably not going to write an entire book anyway, I could mold the system to serve my own purposes, right? Only... well, part of the magic is starting some brand new thing and doing it incredibly badly... I'm not sure I can do that now that I'm all invested in my Roux characters and what I think is the actual plot...

But, see, THIS year, I probably have the best shot I've ever had at actually FINISHING a book in November because I don't have a social life up here in New York (yet) AND my kids aren't really signed up for tons of activities (yet).

Only, I got NOTHIN'.

NOTHIN', I tell ya.

Except these first sentences: "It occurred to her that she had spent much of her life looking for ways to keep her hands occupied. She stared at them now, wondering."

I've been staring at them (the sentences, not the hands) for four days now. And... well, nothing.

So, I'm announcing a contest. I'll send a book and or yarn (or something knitted OUT of yarn, although that might take a bit longer) to anyone who can get me on the Writeteous path. Write the next sentence or write a completely different sentence or throw me an idea... Because, last I looked? I was about 6,700 words behind. I need HELP!

(DK and Ei, I know I still owe y'all socks from the last time I did a contest. I promise they are coming. I had some issues...)

PS: I'm not officially doing the blog version of NaNoWriMo because it doesn't give me the same creative charge. And besides, I think my readers will start unsubscribing if I blog every single day. How much vicarious angst can a person take?