jumping in to cheat

so you know all those nano posts i've written where i said i wasn't going to do nano this year because i was working on finishing my 2nd draft of Blackheart? and i said i was going to encourage my friends who *are* doing nano?

well, now i'm one of you. but not exactly. and i'm cheating, big time.

that used to bother me, but i found out i'm not alone. i found other rebels on the nano forums. but even if i were alone, i wouldn't care. i just want to finish this sucker and move on to the 3rd draft. i'm willing to do pretty much anything to get it done, including sign up for nano to finish a novel, not write a complete one.

ok, so my novels are never 50K long. more like twice that. and this one has about 20K to go before it's done, give or take a few words. 20,000 in 30 days. that's just 666.66666666666666666666 words per day.

for those of you who know me and the speed at which i write first drafts, 667 words is nothing. but this isn't a first draft. it's a second draft. and i hate second drafts like i hate root canals. but they're necessary. they just come REALLY SLOW.

first drafts are where i let the words just spew out, not caring what they sound like or where they take me. that's why i like nano. my inner editor goes on vacation and i play with words.

second drafts are where i slow down like a snail and think about every single word i write because i don't want to have to delete so many. but i end up deleting them anyway so i can re-write and re-write and edit, etc, ad nauseum.

that's why i signed up for nano. i'm tired of my editor. i'm tired of crawling along. i want to spew words out like i do in a first draft (and really, because the story has taken a new direction, i'm writing first draft stuff anyway, just not spewing.)

so for the next month, i'm going to jump into the sea of crazy writers who try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. i 'm going to send my editor away, let myself write like a first grader -- "Arathor was mad. He was really mad. He frowned. He clenched his fists. Tiana told him to get over it."-- and finish the 2nd draft.

to be honest, i feel like i'm sticking my neck out by telling you. i might fail. i might have egg on my face if i don't finish. but as my writing friend Kristal said, "if we don't try we won't get anywhere." (or something like that. it was late when she said it.) and as you know, if you don't write it, there's nothing to edit.

so that's why i altered this nano button for me. grab it if you want, that is if you're willing to admit that you're not really doing nanowrimo; you're doing nano-fimo (finishing month). i'll be right/write there with you.

if you want to be my nano buddy, my user name is just michellegregory. i know. very original.