Is Writing Every Day Beneficial? (Novel Writing: Month 8, Chapter 8)

Well, writing chapter eight for my novel didn’t exactly go as planned. Or even as hoped. Although again I did finish! (Hallelujah!) It’s just that I’m finding it hard to devote as much time as I want to writing. I imagine this is the problem that most amateur writers have. Writing takes creativity. And creativity takes time and energy and freedom to experiment. You can’t just show up at your computer and expect Walt Whitman to flow out of your brain. (I mean, it could, but that would be plagiarism.)

Experimenting is so critical to good writing. I know I’ve said that I want this novel writing project to be about learning and creating a lot of “word vomit,” mostly because I haven’t written a large volume or regularly for a long time. But I also need this experience to be an artistically enlightening. I want to know if this is still a story I’m passionate about and whether I should continue to pursue it. Do I want to write a full novel or series on the world of Kamerell? Does it have the potential to be an exciting story that other people would actually find interesting enough to read? Is it a story that demands to be told?

Is there a “confused” or “I don’t know what’s happening” button on my keyboard?

            So I did the majority of this month’s writing in the last two weeks of August, and I feel like it was a bit rushed. I still covered everything on my plot point list, but I think if I’d had more time I could have fleshed out some of the details. It’s frustrating for me to only get to go half-in. And I know it’s my fault because I’m not allocating enough time to writing; however, I don’t want to get discouraged. I have to look at each month as a new journey and not dwell on the failings of the previous month. I think the best thing for me is writing a little bit each day. On the days that I feel more inspired I tend to write more, but when I let myself relax and say “Oh I’ll just write extra tomorrow,” it always ends in tears and two weeks of an ignored story. That’s just not going to be acceptable in September! So the goal for this month beyond just finishing the chapter is to write a little bit everyday. To create a habit where I don’t feel comfortable if I’m NOT writing. It will be another change and tentative step, but I think it will be incredibly beneficial for my writing process.

So…onward to September and writing every day! Hooray!