The WriMo Journals: Day 1

November 1^st, 2012 - Day 1
November is come. The calendar is changed. The computer is booted. The coffee is brewing.

NaNoWriMo has begun.

So, it's the first day of NaNo, which means one of two things: a) I've begun my novel and am haring down the road to an all-but inevitable victory, or b) I've realised how truly terrible my idea is and have collapsed in front of the first hurdle. I'll give you a clue as to which I am experiencing right now. It's not a).
Yeah. My idea collapsed as soon as I started writing. This is rather a worry, seeing as my novel was pretty much planned and I spent three hours yesterday consorting with Wikipedia over how to generate names for Chinese characters. I think what went wrong was this: I woke up this morning and realised it was NaNoWriMo.

NaNo jitters are as simple and common an ailment as hiccups and the common cold, but they are the Black Death of the novel-writing universe. There is a simple truth at the centre of the universe (well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but you get me): if you doubt your own work, others are likely to doubt it too. I doubted my work. Therefore, I doubted myself. And when you doubt your work, you realise that it is difficult to motivate yourself to continue. So I did the only thing possible at that moment in time. I printed off the work I'd done - all 400 words of it (that bad, yes) - and set it on fire.

The ensuing debacle is not something I wish to share. This is, after all, a journal about NaNoWriMo, not about how I happened to set off the smoke alarm and burn a hole in the carpet when I spilled some obscure chemicals on the burning sheets. So I shall skip to my point: if one doubts their work, there are two solutions. First, you can do a rewrite, or even just reconsider your idea and run with it. The alternative? Destroy the evidence and get in trouble with the parents for almost committing unintentional arson.

Rest assured, I now have an excellent idea running - I'm continuing my novel 'Through Those Dark Doorways' and adding another 50K to that - and it's going swimmingly. I broached the first K-mark (i.e. I passed the 1,000 word milestone) and have the next 10,000 words planned in my head. My message to you: if it seems to be going badly, it's probably just the kind of day you're having. You just need to stick with it, and you'll make it. Trust me: this will all be worth it. You'll be glad you took part by the time December arrives.

Keep calm and novel on,

NaNoWriMo fanatic Professor Pisces, signing out.