A strange decision

[jacquelineb]

So yesterday I came to a slightly odd decision. No fiction writing for a month. Planning, plotting, a bit of research, yes, I will do that, but as to fiction writing, no.

But hang on, some might think, isn’t this Nanowrimo month? Where all the world’s would-be writers get together for a gigantic word producing mass of fun, stress, and creativity?

Well, yes. And I wish anyone doing it the very best of luck with it, for I do believe it is one of the most invigorating, draining, and creatively stimulating things you can do as a writer, particularly when you are starting out and are just not sure if you can even produce that amount of words.

So what the hell am I doing by taking this time to not.

There are a few reasons for this. I didn’t have the greatest of Octobers (several personal things happened which I won’t go into here). On Where the hell my writing is going has been weighing on my mind for a while now, both in relation to what the hell kind of writer I want to be and what on earth is going on with the publishing industry and where will I fit into all of that. Trying to just bloody well focus on one project at a time, rather than heading off into several directions (and then, by extension, not completing things. And that really doesn’t feel great.) And to be honest, part of me gets a bit of a kick out of doing something a little against the grain. 😉

Ultimately I think what I want is a bit of a reset. See if the act of ordering myself not to put pen to paper (and that’s fine for the mid-week now when I’m working, but I suspect come the weekend I’ll get a little more angsty and want to do so) bears some of it’s own fruits. In the meantime, I’ve got books to read that I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and various little bits and bobs to do about the place. Am going to be posting various links about writing and Nano on my tumblr for the month, things for others to read that may be of use, stuff to get me thinking as well. And maybe blogging and writing reviews. But no fiction. Will be intrigued to see how this plan will work out come 1st December!

Photo by moriza under creative commons license

Mirrored from jacquelinebrocker.esquinx.net.