Breaking Out

I gave myself a challenge that started last week. That challenge is to write a novel in 2 months. Do I think it will be ready to publish should I complete one? No. This challenge is just to write a rough draft.

Why did I do this? I've always been a writer, but I could never finish a story. I'd force it for school, but I was never truly proud of the stories I wrote for class. Now that I'm not writing for school, I find I don't have any complete ideas which makes it near impossible for me to complete a story. While it may work for some to let the story flow and to go where the characters take you; it has not worked for me yet. The characters go somewhere that makes me uncomfortable or bored, and I toss it.

The ideas I do have, are only short scenes. I imagine some characters blocking security cameras on the fly, or in car chases, or running for their lives. Why are they running for their lives? Why are they working together? And the characters I imagine are almost never the same, or if the same, not in the same teams. So if "Jamie" is helping "Joan" in one scene, I may imagine the same scene, but with "Jamie" and "Steve".

So, why did I give myself this challenge? A few reasons. First, lately I've been too worn down from working my office job that I am not in the mood to do much of anything when I get home. However, when I'm working at the office, there are times I can't help but imagine scenes and play them out. I wanted an excuse to help make myself do something about the scenes playing around in my head. Second, life seems to always get in the way. Even with this challenge going, I've had to take time to take care of our two Golden Retrievers. One couldn't get up 2 weeks ago and underwent some surgery to remove the issue. She is recovering and doing well, but has needed some extra loving. Our other dog just underwent surgery a couple days ago to remove a lump from his leg. I've also had to put more time in at work, even bringing it home sometimes. I'm not complaining about these things happening, I just haven't found the right balance yet. I'm hoping this challenge will help me to experiment with my time, and different methods to get the most out of my time.

The big one, I start writing and get distracted with thinking about how I'm going to promote the finished piece, and do I start a Facebook page now or wait until the book is finished, or.... The "what ifs" never seem to end. Now I can say, stop, I have this goal, it's out there for the masses to see online, I need to at least finish this thing or I'm going to embarrass myself.

Thus far, after almost 2 weeks into this challenge...I've written a few lines of some character outlines, and two lines into a story. If you can call two lines the start of anything. (I've also now written this blog entry but that doesn't count towards the story obviously.)

Stay tuned to see if I can turn this around.