Chapter 1

I officially began writing yesterday!  As of June 29, 2010, the first 2,263 words of the first chapter of the first draft was written.  When it comes to writing my first novel, I will enjoy the little things as much as possible. 

It took me about 4 or 5 hours to write a little over 2000 words, but with time comes more speed.  I will say it was nice to know that because of my index card exercise, I know exactly what comes next and where I am going with it all.  Once I got over my anxiety, the words began to flow and I never had trouble keeping my ideas in order and constantly streaming outward and onto the page.

The nervousness is still there, but it is not crippling like it was yesterday.  I think it's nervous excitement now, as if I were getting married.  I can't wait to start writing some more down.  I am eager to see where I end up and what new things I will discover in my novel.  Part of the fun of writing is that you can know as much about your story as you want, but as you write, there is still more to discover.  I forget this when I plan things, and perhaps that is the reason that I reigned myself in to keep from doing too much planning. 

I will say that what I did plan, however, has already helped tremendously to keep me on track, as it should be used.  Create for yourself a a map and give yourself a compass, then you can wander through the forest. 

The beauty of blogging about this process is that I am revving myself up to move forward even more.  It's becoming part of my writing warm-up.  I cannot believe that I never thought to do this beforehand.  In fact, I've always been a bit curious about how everyone else gets their mind in that place, to write.  What do you do to "warm-up"?

I normally turn on some music, put myself in a content mood, then begin to change the music to suit the emotion I need as I try to wipe my mind clear of anything outside of the room where I write.  Then I play with some quick little writing exercises and when I feel it, I go.

So off I go now, to write some more words on a page.  Before that, I will leave you with a few quotes from authors, about writing:

I love being a writer.  What I can't stand is the paperwork.  ~Peter De Vries, novelist

[Writing is] the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. ~Mary Heaton Vorse, journalist


What no wife of a writer can understand is that a writer is working when he is staring out the window. ~Burton Rascoe, former literary editor

Happy Writing!


*[Image: Bill Waterston, "Calvin and Hobbes" (1985-95)]