Longing for Poetry But Still NaNoing

Just over half of my way through NaNoWriMo, and my heart is longing for poetry, for the concise sweetness of sounds capturing a single, simple moment.

Last week, I longed for three other fiction writing projects, and even spent some time writing some notes for them, either notes for writing, or notes for revising. I dreamt of other stories and woke, longing to write them and not my NaNoWriMo novel.

This week, it’s poetry: rhythm, language, haunting soul-binding moments of perfect clarity. That's what I have been longing to write. Never mind that when I actually write poetry I fight for every nuance and word choice to come close to the image in my heart.

So, I write notes for five to ten minutes on my distractions, and then force myself to write the next sentence and the next sentence of my current WIP, and after four or five sentences the story begins to flow again . . . at least for a while.

Sometimes, however, allowing myself even a few moments with my distractions adds up to a major problem.

I fell behind over last weekend with NaNo and had two mega writing days to make up for it. Yesterday I wrote 4,000 words over the course of the day - and whenever I felt distracted, I closed my eyes for a few moments, thought about my novel and plugged myself back into the writing. I couldn't afford those few sentences here or there.


So, my advice for all my fellow writers: just keep writing.



Thankfulness:
1. 4,000 words in one day!!!

2. Getting my word count in this morning already!

3. Finally, a fight scene. (It took my 25,000 words to warm up to it this year)

4. I "get" my characters better in this year's NaNo novel.

5. Writing is on my mind, and I am fully immersed in my novel writing.

6. Many cups of caffeinated tea.

7. Writing through the "junk" moments and finding a good writing rythm again.

8. My cat, who often tries to grab my attention with all claws while I'm trying to write, let me play with my PC instead yesterday. Then after I finished she demanded a game of pounce, chase, claw, and scrabble. (This involves hands, string, and her favorite washcloth or sock)

9. My kids have their own NaNo goals to fulfill, and they are working at it every day. Their work, plus the work of the students at our co-op totally inspires me to keep writing.

10. This crazy little hamster toy that we purchased at Target a few years ago. He is just this silly little singing toy that waves a set of nunchuks and sings "Everbody was Kung Fu Fighting" in a high pitched voice. He moves from our house to my husband's office and back on a regular basis, and currently he is sitting by my PC. Don't ask me why this helps me keep writing, but it does. He is the mascot of anyone in our house who needs a laugh, or an extra push in the right direction.


11. An extra dance rehearsal last night for my daughters . . . for a dance for our church.

12. Having a wonderful friend who is passionate about faith and dance, and who is one of my daughters' teachers this year.

13. Toby Mac's new Christmas CD - yes, I said, Christmas.

14. Listening to Christmas music for the sole purpose of planning the Kids Christmas Pageant and some of the Music for our worship services for the next month. Really, I don't like the canned stuff they are already playing in retail stores - that kind of Christmas music before Thanksgiving is just wrong.

15. Thanksgiving is one week from today! Wow!

16. Looking forward to seeing friends and family over Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend!

17. Awesome homeschool friends.

18. Seashells on the windowsill.

19. A ceramic rabbit painted by my oldest daughter. It's sitting on the windowsill, looking out towards the green grass.

20. My youngest daughter's drawing of a young woman with an expression of determination. She thinks she's "not that good" at drawing, but I am impressed by how she captures the personality of her characters.

21. My husband is awesome. He brings home chocolate. (and he's just awesome anyway)

22. My daughters, my mom, and I all filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, and we love doing that each year - it is a source of joy for us. (and I'll write more about it tomorrow. There's a few more days left to take part in that project)

23. The convicting scriptures in the book of James.

Scripture Blessing:

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." James 4:10