It all started on Thursday night. Hubby was at work, I was hanging around Twitter and some blogs, and suddenly, the first line of my novel entered my head.
I tried to push it aside, as I REALLY wanted to finish reading the post I was on, but it kept pushing its way back into my head. I got up, poured a glass of wine. Sat back down, checked my email. The line was still there. I wandered into the livingroom, sat down, strummed my guitar a bit. Still there. I sighed, walked back into the office, sat down, opened a Word document, and typed the line. Then another line. And another.
I don’t know if I even want to do this, but I feel like I don’t have any choice. I wrote 800 words on Thursday night, and now I can’t stop thinking about it. The story is floating around in my head, and I think my only option is to get it down on paper.
Of course, I’m procrastinating. It’s a big commitment, writing a whole novel. I’m not even sure if I’m going to be any good at it. I write for a living, sure, but that’s proposals, creative treatments, TV shows, web sites. Not NOVELS. I might completely suck at writing a NOVEL. And the subject matter isn’t even something I know much about! But it’s here, in my head, and I don’t have a choice.
Well there, it’s out. Now that I’ve shared this with the blogoverse, I guess I really have to do it. If anyone has any tips or advice I’m wide open for suggestions. Because as I said, I have no freaking idea what I’m doing.
4 Comments
love the blog! and definitely get that first novel written. did you notice I said “first”? you’re an excellent writer. and yes, you need a good first paragraph, as nancy suggests, but most importantly reveal your voice and tell your story honestly.
So exciting!
At least you are on your way.
Do what’s important. Don’t do it halfway.
Only you can really determine what is important. Once you’ve determined that, do it as well as you can. That may be some of the thinking behind Hugh MacLeod and the recent twittercide event.
I suggest that you read a good book on novel writing before you get too far into your story, and definitely get your ideas down before you forget them.
i wrote a post (Hooked on “Hooked”) on a good book for short story and novel writers called “Hooked”; the premise being that if your first page doesn’t interest your agent or editor, the remaining pages will probably not even be read.
Stop by and check out the post of you get a chance, and good luck with your story!