Posts
Children, I just passed old Hemingway. He was cussing up a storm.
I asked why.
He told me of NaNoWriMo or NoNoNanettes as he called it.
Children, I have to humbly ask you ...
HAVE YOU TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR GOOD SENSE?
What would you think of a a National Brain Surgeon Operating Month, where we all took a stab at poking around in the innards of our friends' heads?
NoNoNanettes denigrates the writing profession, when they say, "Oh just sit down and start writing."
The fact of the matter is that most books worth reading have been thoroughly researched and outlined before the writing process has begun.
NoNoNanettes don't bother with that step—
which is a shame because first-time writers need the structure of good research and outlining to keep their attempt at writing a novel on track and away from meandering.
Just start writing, folks. Don’t worry if you don’t know where the narrative is going to go. Don’t worry if you haven’t puzzled out the intricacies of the plot.
Just write and fix it all later. Just get to your word limit for the day. There are NaNoWriMo sites that will sell your their editing services. I weep, children.
Don't you kind people know that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between LIGNTNING and LIGHTNING BUG?
That kind of striving for the right word takes ...TIME.
Being a ghost, I just heard one of you wail, "It allows you to meet fellow “writers” both online and in person!"
Oh, silly backward Missouri hayseed that I am!
Everyone knows that writing a novel is not a personal and spiritual journey one undertakes on their own, it is a social experience! A "group hug" affair as Hemingway calls it.
I bury my head in my hands.
This NoNoNatte thingy is just AMERICAN IDOL for those who think if they want to bad enough, they can overcome the lack of talent.
Except there are folks offering you poor children their various writing-based commodities ... for a price.
I know, you are unsuspecting dreamers who just want to write like your favorite author and make your living doing it.
If you want to write a novel, then, by all means, do it.
Read the masters. See where the seams are. And if you can't spot them, see how those writers managed that.
Write. Write. Write.
See what type of story sings to you, what person you excel in writing, what prose style flows from your pen.
If you need NaNoWriMo to write,
you are not ready to write your novel.
If you need the feedback and criticism of strangers,
then you are not ready.
If you need the structure in order to keep and maintain a writing schedule,
then you are not ready.
If you need to be patted on the back for reaching your daily goals,
then you are not ready.
Writing, like cooking, must be done alone. But have fun with it, please!
You need not expect to get your book right the first time.
Go to work and revamp or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention.
These are God's adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.
You want to know the time to begin writing your book? It ain't in November, friends.
The time to begin writing a book is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...
Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.
Write without pay, but with ever-growing craft, until somebody offers to pay.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you did not do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
And children, never doubt that I am your friend!
I asked why.
He told me of NaNoWriMo or NoNoNanettes as he called it.
Children, I have to humbly ask you ...
HAVE YOU TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR GOOD SENSE?
What would you think of a a National Brain Surgeon Operating Month, where we all took a stab at poking around in the innards of our friends' heads?
NoNoNanettes denigrates the writing profession, when they say, "Oh just sit down and start writing."
The fact of the matter is that most books worth reading have been thoroughly researched and outlined before the writing process has begun.
NoNoNanettes don't bother with that step—
which is a shame because first-time writers need the structure of good research and outlining to keep their attempt at writing a novel on track and away from meandering.
Just start writing, folks. Don’t worry if you don’t know where the narrative is going to go. Don’t worry if you haven’t puzzled out the intricacies of the plot.
Just write and fix it all later. Just get to your word limit for the day. There are NaNoWriMo sites that will sell your their editing services. I weep, children.
Don't you kind people know that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between LIGNTNING and LIGHTNING BUG?
That kind of striving for the right word takes ...TIME.
Being a ghost, I just heard one of you wail, "It allows you to meet fellow “writers” both online and in person!"
Oh, silly backward Missouri hayseed that I am!
Everyone knows that writing a novel is not a personal and spiritual journey one undertakes on their own, it is a social experience! A "group hug" affair as Hemingway calls it.
I bury my head in my hands.
This NoNoNatte thingy is just AMERICAN IDOL for those who think if they want to bad enough, they can overcome the lack of talent.
Except there are folks offering you poor children their various writing-based commodities ... for a price.
I know, you are unsuspecting dreamers who just want to write like your favorite author and make your living doing it.
If you want to write a novel, then, by all means, do it.
Read the masters. See where the seams are. And if you can't spot them, see how those writers managed that.
Write. Write. Write.
See what type of story sings to you, what person you excel in writing, what prose style flows from your pen.
If you need NaNoWriMo to write,
you are not ready to write your novel.
If you need the feedback and criticism of strangers,
then you are not ready.
If you need the structure in order to keep and maintain a writing schedule,
then you are not ready.
If you need to be patted on the back for reaching your daily goals,
then you are not ready.
Writing, like cooking, must be done alone. But have fun with it, please!
You need not expect to get your book right the first time.
Go to work and revamp or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention.
These are God's adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.
You want to know the time to begin writing your book? It ain't in November, friends.
The time to begin writing a book is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...
Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.
Write without pay, but with ever-growing craft, until somebody offers to pay.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you did not do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
And children, never doubt that I am your friend!
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