Marathons

NaNoWriMo is a marathon in the writing world. People wonder why we do it. We do it for a variety of reasons. The first time I did it, it was to see if I could. I found that I could and that it was fun. It’s the same reason other people run marathons. It’s a personal challenge and it feels good when you pull it off. Some people who run marathons become famous for doing it, most do it for fun. NaNoWriMo is like that. Some people get their first drafts written and then they edit it and shop it out for publication. Some make it into print, others don’t. I have my first NaNoWriMo effort in a form that I could send out for publication, but I am too much of a coward to try it.

I need to shed that cowardice and see if the work can break me into print. I think I am aware that it isn’t in the popular genre. It’s science fiction, but there are no horrible people-devouring monsters and there are no vampires, falling in love with humans or not, and no werewolves ripping their victims to pieces. It’s more in the style of Andre Norton’s work, a nice story that would be a quick read with some adventure and a little gore, but I didn’t take it into detail. That’s not the point of the story.

I do NaNoWriMo more for the fun of it than for glory, which is good, because most of the world knows nothing of NaNoWriMo. As I have stated I think only one of the three NaNoWriMo novels I have written is suited for publication. The other two need work – a lot of work. They were fun to write though. I have to admit though that the third one is more of a short story that I stretched into a novel. I suppose I could edit it down and see if I can make it a series that I could publish here on my blog. I might do that.

To me, NaNoWriMo is the Boston Marathon. I run it because I like running it. It’s a challenge that I know I can meet, having done it before, and it feels so good when I pull it off as I have the last three years. This year will make my fourth run and I am looking forward to it. It forces me to create a rough draft of whatever story is kicking around in my head. What I do with it afterward is only what I feel I can do with it. The Accidental Colony, my first attempt, is in a form that could interest an agent. My second attempt, The Forbidden Zone, is not. it would take a lot of work to get the piece into a condition where I would even think of letting family read it, much less a writing professional. The Christmas Book, my third attempt, is ok, but I am not sure that I want to invest more time into it. It’s lackluster and I know it. Maybe I could make it better, maybe I couldn’t – I don’t know. Maybe I just prefer the fun of the run to the work of the results.

WordPress Tags: Marathons,NaNoWriMo,genre,science fiction,fiction,Marathon

About pebblepup

I am not one who is comfortable talking about myself but here goes. I enjoy writing, family history, and reading. I decided to do this blog because I wanted to try something new. I decided to make it a weekly blog because I wasn't sure that I could keep up with a daily one, and monthly seemed like I was writing a magazine. I think I did ok with my choices. You'll notice that there are not a lot of graphics on my site. That's because there are graphics plastered everywhere on the Internet and those sites sometimes take forever to load. This blog is a place where you can kick back, relax and be ready to be amused. At least I hope I willbamuse you. This blog is on a variety of subjects from my ficitional cat agency, the FFL, which is monthly, to instructional blogs to editorials, which are my opinions only. I admit that I don't know everything and could be wrong -- I frequently am. Now, stop reading about me and read what I have to say!