Writing as an Art

Today I signed up for NaNoWriMo dot Org. That stands for National Novel Writing Month. What it means is that I?ve created an account and a silent promise to pump out 50,000 words by midnight on November 30th.

Somewhere inside me a muse is crying. Or screaming. Maybe it?s all the same to those guys.

Writing is a tough job sometimes. There are times when the words are just not there. The dreaded writer?s block? Well, in my mind it?s a need to put things down in a certain order not to just get the damn letters on the screen or paper. I believe that writing longhand is much tougher than writing with a keyboard becuase of the instantaneous feedback. With a pen, you are more apt to try and work with what you?ve already got written, whereas in a text editor I can go back and erase hundreds of words with a few key strokes.

It makes me idolize the old greats, from Faulkner to Shakespear to Poe, for their perseverence. These guys perhaps had typewriters, but whenever you?re dealing in ink, there is a permanance there that is hard to overcome. Words that you don?t like can haunt you, and while that may be a benefit to some, particularly those who may like their work better after a time, I was never a fan of it.

I also have the privilege and good graces to never have to use a full-blown typewriter for any sort of writing assignment. I know that many pride themselves in never writing anything beyond email on the computer, leaving their ?real? work to the pen and paper variety, but I think it?s time to simply cast off those old coils and embrace the new tools we have today.

It feels like I?ve written quite a bit more than usual in the past few days. At least 3,000 words for Star Chamber, this blog posting and another on my company site. I also wrote a little puff piece for Ericka as she tries to sell some baked goodies (I?m a born marketer, after all), and I promised my sister Rhonda a few thousand words for one of her projects.

But a novel? Come on!

One of the best things about the contest is that they are not looking for people to write the Great American Novel in 30 days (or, in my case, about 27). Rather, they?re encouraging people that if you put one word in front of another long enough, eventually you?ll have a body of work to show for it. I?ve built my most precious creative endeavors through steadfast work, not blasts of brilliance. It?s nice to see that sort of thing be rewarded and encouraged.

But somewhere, alone in the back of my mind, my muse is taking anti-depressants.

A trunk full of coke, rental car from Avis
My momma used to say only Jesus can save us