So I was sitting there, chilling, feeling all chill and cool for the upcoming month of craze. And I realized my plotline was kind of foggy in my mind so I pulled up my folder and realized ... I hadn't written one yet.

#oops

So yeah. As you might imagine, I was mildly concerned after this discovery. Nano is in just three days, after all. And ... I don't even have a plotline??

So not ready.

But, even though I made this startling discovery just yesterday, and when I started to grind out a plotline and realized there was a bunch of stuff I still didn't know, I still feel peace with the rapid approach of November 1.

You know why?

I will never be completely ready.

There are so many aspects to a story, because a story reflects life. Just think about your life for a second. There are hundreds of things, thousands of things, that have happened to you to shape you into the person you are today. There are tons of things that you believe, hundreds of people that you know, bunches of things that you've done and seen. It would take years to figure out every little thing that has happened to your character, and the world around them.

You could spend so long on trying to figure out everything, that you never end up writing the book. If all you ever do is plan it, and think about writing it, and ponder what will happen and what happened before to lead up to the now ... then you'll be old and gray before you're ready.

Nano is about taking a leap. It's about jumping into the ultimate abyss of writer doom and trusting the wings you have written to carry you up and out of that pit. It's about stepping out of our comfort zones. We might not feel prepared. But will we ever?

Last year for nano, I wrote the first draft of The Thief's Conspiracy. Since draft 2 of that project is giving me such grief, I think that's why I found myself struggling at the beginning of this month, when I started planning The Dream Walkers.

I was planning to make it perfect.

"Duh," you might say. "That's what planning is for. We all want to be perfect."

But it doesn't work like that. First drafts are supposed to be bad. THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BAD. Yet here I am, going into this thinking, "I can't mess this up. There's no way I'm going to spend seven months on editing the second draft of a book again."

I was failing at trying to write a plotline because I couldn't fit it in the three act structure. The middle was all hectic and I didn't know what to do. I was terrified of messing up again and having to edit it for months. This idea has so much potential. How can I risk ruining it?

And that's where I need to stop. If you're thinking this, just stop.

You cannot ruin your story.

You hear me?

You cannot. ruin. your. story.

It doesn't work like that. You can write a really horrible, wretched, messy first draft which you end up saving exactly 0.00298% of, but you can't ruin it. Heck - you can write five drafts, all of which you end up scrapping.

But still. You cannot ruin your book. You cannot fail. You can do badly. But you can always take that bad, and try again. You can work with it. You can make it better. You can't write a book so badly that there is no hope for it.

You learn the most when you fail, after all.

So ... nervous about nano? Why should you be? You can't fail. If you don't meet the 50k, you didn't fail. As long as you do your best and write what you can, you have not failed.
So do not fear! Go plan, but realize it's okay to change those plans halfway through. It's okay to plan a bunch. It's also okay to not plan much at all.

You're not supposed to get it perfect on the first try. Especially not when you're writing half the book in a month. Quality does not happen that quickly. Nano is about quantity, not quality. So, just for this month ... let quality flutter out the window.

Cut yourself some slack. Go make a list of what you love about this story, before you're in the heat of nano-craze and are despairing. Remember why you love this, your story, your writing. Why you love this thing we do.

Go forth, fellow writers. Be courageous!


Are you ready for nano? What do you have left to plan, or are you all set? 

Quick note: if you're on Facebook, you should totally join in on Abi's 5k1day event! I am co-hosting it with her on November first, and we're planning to do one at the midpoint of the month and one on the last day. Please come and join us! (You don't have to write 5k - you can write 3k, or 1k, or 10k. Whatever fits your pace the best!)

Four years ago, right around this time of the night, I finished my first book.

I remember it vividly. I was sitting at my desk in our school room. It was relatively late at night and everyone was asleep except for my older sister and my dad. The lights were dim. My big purple binder sat on the desk before me, open and ready for the last words that would dub it "finished". My hands were shaking so badly as I scribbled those last few words.

Since this was the first book in a series, I didn't feel like I could write "the end" but I had to write something XP

They were shaking because I knew I was close to the end. I'd been working towards that moment for almost two years. I knew each word that would form the story's closure. I'd had them planned for a very long time.

And finally I was writing it.

Hands shaking, I managed to scratch out those last few words. Then I set my pencil down, stared at the old notebook page ... and burst into tears.

I sobbed hard for probably ten minutes. Maybe longer. My sister and dad came in and asked what was wrong and I could just manage to croak out, "I finished it."

A year and eight months since I'd started writing this story, I wrote the last words. Why did I sob my eyes out? (I was twelve, by the way) I've never cried when finishing a book since then. I cried twice when I wrote my WIP, but that was during one really touching scene that always makes me almost cry, and while writing the very very tragic climax. Both really emotionally gripping and difficult scenes. But not the ending.

So why was my first book different?

It was my first book. And if you've never finished a book before, you'll probably sympathize with the point I'm about to make.

Up until that moment ... I wasn't sure if I could do it.

A lot of people "write stories" after all. Pretty much all of my friends had at least started a story at one point in their lives, but they didn't usually make it past page three. So when people heard I was a writer, they just assumed I was like them. Not really serious about it. I made it past chapter three pretty quickly (thanks to my cousin) but I still wasn't sure if I was really a writer. I wasn't sure if I had it in me to write a full length novel ending in "The End."

But I did. (you could argue that I didn't, actually, since I didn't end with "the end" but we'll not go into that right now)

*dumps a couple more pictures on you just cause*

I had a hanging bed for several years around this time, and I developed this ritual of sorts where when a big thing happened, I'd write under my bed. And so, obviously, I wrote under it that night. XP

I am way too sentimental but this is the calendar from that year (forgive my atrocious handwriting ICK)

I also felt like no one believed I could do it. This belief is probably really wrong, but it was there, wedged in the back of my mind. No one takes you seriously, it would whisper. No one believes in you. You should just give up. You're not good enough to write this, anyway. 

But I did. I wrote the book. I pushed through and ground out all four hundred and fifty-three pages of it.

*sniffles* my little baby

I didn't give up.

If you haven't finished a book yet, let me tell you this. You will. You will if you don't give up. So don't give up.

No one believes in you? Who cares. God believes in you. That's why he's given you this passion. This gift. Now it's time for you to believe in you. Believe in yourself. Trust that God knows what He's doing with your life, and plunge in head first with everything you've got.

God believes in you. I believe in you. Now you need to believe in yourself.

Don't give up. Keep writing.

NANO IS COMING! It's approaching on swift wings, flying down and upon us. Soon, we will be consumed in the craze nano brings: buckets of coffee, bars of chocolate, sore wrists, aching fingers, burning eyes, late nights, fists banging against the keyboard ...

It's easy to forget that November is still a month. A month of life that is precious and meaningful.

So, we as Christians must ask ourselves ... what about God?

It is so easy to forget, even when not in the Nano craze, that God is our rock and He is who we live for and strive to serve and please. I get so consumed with writing, I forget who gave me the gift of writing in the first place.

"I don't have time for God." That's such a tempting thing to say. Gotta get the words, gotta get them down. We only have 30 days and 50k is a lot. Those words aren't going to write themselves. If we take our minds off our task, we won't figure out that gaping plot hole. We've got to think about writing and our characters and the story every single minute or an idea might escape us.

...right?

I'm not saying you need to sit down to an hour long bible study every day. That's not really realistic. Not if you want to hit that 50k. But I am saying that you don't need to forget God. November is still a month of life. And, as Christians, we have pledged our lives to God.

So how do we keep our eyes on Him?

I went through a time last year when I was terrified I was going to have to give up my writing. I wasn't sure if that's what God had planned for me. I was afraid that it consumed me too much. That it was an idol to me.

And, for a time, it was.

Writing had consumed my every waking moment. Thoughts of my plot and characters drowned me daily so that I couldn't see the world around me, couldn't focus on anything else, couldn't give my whole attention to my friends and family when I needed to.

But how do you let go? How do you separate your story from yourself so that you can live?

Here are some things that have helped me.

This seems like a given, but it is (in my opinion) the most important thing you can do, especially during the busy times in your life (like Nano). I don't like to make a schedule for when to pray, because when I do that it becomes something just to "check off my list" and I don't ever want God or my faith and the things that will build it to become something that I need to "get done" so I can move on to other things.

That being said, I do try to pray in the mornings when I first wake up, and at night before I go to bed. If I don't have any sort of schedule at all, I can easily forget to pray. I really encourage you to get up in the mornings and pray. Go outside for a walk, pray while you go make coffee and breakfast, or pray at your bedside, on your knees. Pray while you watch the sunrise. If you start your day with a prayer, it reminds you of who you are and whose you are. And that is very, very important.



This also is a given, I know. But spending just a few minutes in God's word will really help orient you and keep you in a constant state of spiritual growth, which is what we as Christians strive for everyday.

I want to post on bible studies soon, but I'll briefly summarize my thoughts for you here. When I say "read the bible" I don't necessarily mean pick a book and read a chapter every day. If you do that, once again it becomes a chore or a thing that you just "check off" your extensive list of to-dos. The most meaningful studies for me have come from embarking on topic studies.

What weighs on your mind? What tugs at your heart? What do you struggle with? What fascinates you? I'm doing two topic studies right now (sort of). One on kindness and one on self image / beauty / self-esteem / etc.

Immerse yourself in the word for just a few moments. Look for a new perspective in God's word on something you're struggling with. It will help you grow and bless you.




We can never be perfect. We all know this. But keeping your mind on Christ-like behavior, being conscious of how you treat others, will keep your mind and heart on Christ.



This is sort of on the prayer spectrum, but you can praise Him in other ways too. Put on Christian music in the car and sing along. Put your heart into worship. You might find the break from writing-thoughts and all-things-books-and-nano will help freshen your mind for when it is time to write.



Nano is a wonderful thing. It is such a blessing to me in my life, and my writing and I cannot wait until November! But let's do our best to remember who made us and gave us the ability to write, to create. Thank Him, for He is good!


Do you struggle with separating your thoughts from all-things-books-and-writing? What are some things you do to keep your eyes on God?