Preparing for the Month To Come: Insecure Writer’s Support Group

It’s that time of year when a lot of writers are starting to think about November. Because November brings National Novel Writing Month… and for some of us that’s a month of writing madness. I have my hesitations this year. I mean, it’s been probably a year (at least) since I’ve done any consistent writing. Like a great many, I’ve found it hard to pull myself into my stories – or to even find the stories that I need in order to write. It’s been a year of feeling adrift and lost in a lot of ways. But I am determined to change that. Because, let’s be honest, I can’t have another year like this last one. I just can’t. So I am going to prepare to approach NaNo in a way that has worked for me before. Which means, not really preparing at all. I mean, aside from figuring out how I want to write (typing it? Or do I want to handwrite and guestimate my words? Some combination of the two?), and where I want to write (google-docs? Scrivener? Word? Which notebook? Multiple locations? Do I keep a spreadsheet of my word count?), I’m going to dive in blind. No pre-plotting, no expectations. The only requirement is that it’s an open enough story that I can make anything happen and go off on ridiculous tangents if I need to (hello Victor Hugo, Les Miserables inspiration… we do all need an extended treatise on the Paris sewer system for one scene… right?). I’ve had success with this approach in the past – even managed to get seeds for stories that were actually viable (and that I have gone on to complete full, coherent, drafts of). The big question looms, will I have success in it again? Or will I stutter and fall apart, and lose any sense of drive to keep going? I’m hoping that it will be successful, and am trying to stamp away that niggling thought that I might not manage it. The real thing I’m going to do in October to try to prepare for November is to read. It’s also been a pretty long drought for me when it comes to reading (sad, but I was struggling to keep myself engaged with anything much – and books were one of the casualties), and I need to re-fill myself with inspiration. Last week I devoured through a few books for Banned Books Week, and in a few weekends I’ll be participating in Dewey’s 24-hour-readathon (even if I’m not managing to participate in the 30-days-of-readathon). So hopefully I can start plowing through these books I’ve accumulated, fill my mind with all sorts of random inspiration, which will somehow translate itself to semi-cohesion when I pour it to the page. Are you going to participate in NaNo next month? If so, how are you preparing? And how could I forget swag day?! Here’s me with my awesome IWSG notebook! This is my monthly post as part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a great group of supportive writers, helping one another through our writing ups-and-downs. There is also a great Facebook Community for more daily connection! More posts from the group are tagged on Twitter at #IWSG.