Deb Lund ad lib

NaNoWriMo. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. It’s not that I don’t love the idea. I even signed up this year. No, it’s my fear of adrenaline. I was one of those over-achieving kids, and I’ve worked hard to put all that behind me. A few friends are snickering now, but the ones who knew me then get it. I’m sure it’s probably good for us every-word-has-to-count picture book writers to be stretched a little. To loosen up those words and go for quantity instead of quality. Yikes. Maybe the real fear is that I won’t be in control.

Okay, another confession. I’m already working on a novel. What if I lose my momentum on this one? Maybe it’ll decay along with the others I’ve abandoned here and there. These new characters reside in a place like my home town. What if I reveal too much? (Writing is all autobiographical, right?) What if (I’m hanging my head now) I’m not perfect?

I could go on. You get it. I seem to have a knack for helping others excavate their limiting beliefs and habits, but even after I identify mine, they poke up, and I have to weasel my way around them. A biggie in the paralysis department for me is Stopping to Analyze. I’m an options person. Possibilities ramble out of me without bidding, as long as I don’t try to control them. I have a clothes-dryer mind. Each thought bumps into others and the progression spins until it’s hard for even me to follow the stream. Stopping to think about something can send me light years away, effectively causing the current activity to grind to a halt (distractions are especially comforting when avoiding something as open-ended as a novel-in-progress). You, too? But, what? NaNo might be the solution to that? I might need a bit more help.

I don’t have time to read during NaNoWriMo. I barely have time to write. I love how everyone lists their favorite books to follow during the month, but I successfully avoided writing for years because of reading about it. I’m not going there again. So I came up with my own plan. I’m being one of my students this time. You can too, if you like. I’ll send out a few words that may or may not help. I use cards for my younger students. They pull one out when they want a boost, a new direction, more inspiration…, but I’ve found these little nudges work with writers of all ages and levels.

That’s all I’m offering. It’s not much. It would hardly seem worth the energy for you to peek in here, except I’ve witnessed what people do with these few words. One second of reading to help me/us focus. Specific little nudges for our novels. Add a twist, a surprise, a tension tweaker… I promise–no more than a few words. Daily. Maybe twice a day. If it helps, if something clicks, tell me about it here. You can even wait until December to share it if you like. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook (or less often but more complete right  here) and we’ll get going.

So, maybe it’s not fear. Let’s just call it excitement.

What’s your plan for staying on track?