No Plot? No Problem!

Well, as I've mentioned (as mentioned, and mentioned-- I know!) I recently completed the challenge of writing "50 Songs in 90 Days" for my 3rd year in a row.  I was really happy during those 3 months of concentrated creativity.  I was ready for it to be over after 90 days though.  But now, almost a month later, I think I'm up for a new creative challenge.  Something I've never done before. Something that scares the poo out of me!

So I've been kicking around the idea of participating in NaNoWriMo, a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month.  And the chosen month just happens to be November, which is less than 2 weeks from today! 

I'm an avid reader, and I've read a lot of novels, but I've never written one, or even thought of an idea for one. 

Which is why I checked out the book (written by the founder of NaNoWriMo, Chris Baty) No Plot, No Problem. I've just started reading it, trying to get my mind wrapped around the idea of writing a 50,000 word novel next month.

I'm comfortable writing songs.  And short little blog posts.  But something as long as 50,000 words sounds impossible to me.  Which is probably why I should give this thing a shot.  At this point, I'm a "Someday Novelist".  As in, "Someday, I just might write a novel."  Well, I know from experience, there's nothing like a deadline to get yourself moving, or in this case, writing.

I like the fact that the expectations of writing anything good in such a short time are extremely low.  Ernest Hemingway said, "The first draft of anything is shit."  Well, if that was Mr. Hemingway's experience, than I will be in good company!

If I don't make it to the 50,000 word count, I won't necessarily feel like a failure.  Even if I just get to a fraction of that number, it will be a longer story of fiction than I've written since I was in school. Which sometimes feels like a hundred years ago.

At this point, I have no ideas for characters, setting, plot-- anything.  But that's okay! Because as Chris Baty says, "No plot, no problem!"