That was a month!
It was full of joy, despair, tears and fellowship. I don't even know how to put it into words. I really did it. I wrote 50,000 words in a month. Now I am tired. My head feels empty. And that although plans for new projects are already piling up in front of me. My brain is tired and productive at the same time. It's a strange feeling.
What I do know is that I now need a break from my story about Felicia and the ghosts. I'm halfway through the book and even if there is still a lot of work to be done, I'm not in the right shape to go further into the world and have fun. Apart from the fact that 'Books and Life' is also waiting for me, like my little Christmas story.
One thing I can see with certainty is that I wouldn't have gotten far this month if I hadn't had my writing group. If I hadn't had the support of friends and family. Even though it was exhausting, the dream of writing as a full-time job, it's still there. And I hope that one day I will reach it.
While I take a week off from writing, I'll be working on plotting my stories. And watch YouTube videos. It's good that I can combine these two things. And when my head is a little clearer again, I get down to work through my reading pile. At the moment I am happy that I have mostly switched to e-books. Otherwise I think this pile would strike me dead in the next few days.
So what did I take away from the month?
Community makes everything so much easier. Without my writing group I would really have gone under. I regularly needed their motivation and effort to straighten my head when I'm about to lose sight of what's important. I can only hope that I was able to give it back alike.
Of course, writing itself is a lonely process. And nobody else can't really work out your ideas for you either (or they are not your ideas). But just knowing that someone is there who can understand your difficulties and frustrations is a comforting feeling. I'm not crazy because I find my every word bad. Most have the feeling. Because what we write means something to us.
Let's face it, you can't be the most terrible writer in the world. Every author at the beginning of his journey is worse. And for them, every younger child is worse. Writing is a learning process, and writing a book is too. You learn to persevere, you learn to keep an eye on the entire story, you get to know your characters, you learn what the reader might or might not like. You can't please everyone. Nobody can do that.
And the others reminded me of that. That's exactly how they pulled me along. With every conversation about their books, their ideas, their writing processes. To hear enthusiasm is contagious. You can see that there are solutions to problems. And that just sitting down and writing is admirable. Everyone can only write as their life situation allows. But any word is better than not writing at all.
I learned that this month. And that I can do it. I can sit down and write every day. It doesn't have to be 1,700 words a day, but even half or a third is enough to get you further. The only thing that can destroy us is hesitation. Reluctance to even go to work. If we overcome this, we are already on our way.
And everything else is can be dealt with in editing. Future me, will hate me.
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