Well, friends, November is upon us. All that planning you did (or didn’t) do during October, all the excitement and the anticipation…and now it’s time to go.
Don’t get bogged down in the beginning. We’ve talked about beginnings here in the past, but the simple fact is that most people never get past them. You’re excited, November comes, you sit down to write that scene you’ve been picturing in your head and…it’s terrible. It didn’t come out the way you wanted it to. Your characters are flat, your plot is asinine, if you have one at all, and you know no one will ever want to read your book.
It’s really easy to get stuck right here, trying to get your first scene to work. Ignore this urge. No matter how bad you feel your beginning may be, keep going. The story will eventually start to flow, but only if you push on.
If, on the other hand, your beginning is great, your story is flowing, you feel amazing — good for you! Keep it up!
Each book is going to be different. Some will flow from your fingertips so fast you wonder if someone was channeling it through you. Some you will have to fight every scene. If you get ahead here in week one, don’t sit back on your laurels. You may run into difficulties up ahead. If you’re behind on word count, don’t panic. You can catch back up.
This early in the month, it’s important to remember to keep writing and to try to get some writing in every day. Scope out your local write-ins, make some writing friends. This is going to be a fun month.
