My Nanowrimo novel continues to limp along. It’s up to 38,547 words now, or 101 paperback pages. If I were to choose one word to describe it, it would be “flaccid.” Lacking vigor or energy. Weak. Soft.
When you know your book is irredeemably bad, it’s hard to keep putting in the time and energy each day to make it longer.
It’s not that every single thing in it is awful. Some of the language is okay. Some of the characters have potential, especially the ones based on real people. (By the way, Robin – you have 14 cats now.) But I’m not just being modest when I say the book is bad. It really is.
But I take comfort from the fact that I did not decide to write it online where everybody could see it. Because then I’d have to maintain some minimal standards of quality control, and that would seriously impede my word count.
And I take comfort from the fact that I only have 11,453 words to go, which means I should be done on Monday or Tuesday.
And I take comfort from the knowledge that my next book – which is already waiting in the wings, full of energy and potential – will be So Much Better.
My plan is to hit 50,000 words with this one, wrap it up badly, write The End, and then immediately start the next one. With a little luck, I’ll have two books by the end of November: A bad one, and a not-bad one. Wish me luck.
I only hope you haven’t depicted Robin as flaccid — because that would just be cruel.
Robin’s full of vigor and energy, and he’s a soft-hearted cat collector. (Speaking of which….Robin, is there any chance you would consider taking in Karen’s homeless friend? In my novel you adopted him and it worked out very well.)
Whenever I write I always know the first, and sometimes even the second, draft are dreadful because I’m so busy trying to figure out what to say that my writing lacks control and finesse. Don’t give up until you’ve rewritten it at least once!
Luck! (heaps and piles of it!)
They say your first book always sucks…. so now you’ve gotten that out of the way you can move on and write wicked best sellers!
You are RAD.
It did cross my mind when I saw Karen’s cat, but in real life I’m down to two counting Pilot and sometimes Minou comes to stay. I think I’ll leave it at that for awhile.
good plan, Zoom!
[…] of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo)? Remember how all I could blog about all month was how crappy my novel […]