Visiting Babylon

Today in the NaNoWriMo process, I hitched a ride to Babylon. Ok, not exactly Bablyon, but in the neighborhood. If you are not catching the correlation right off the bat, Babylon was the place of imprisonment for the Israelites. One of my characters is in a dark place, and in order to write authentically, I had to hang out with her for a bit. For me, at least at this point of my writing journey, I cannot craft someone I don’t have a piece of inside me. As I created darkness for my character, I visited my own dark places.

For awhile I wshed I was writing a fluffy book about bunnies and butterflies, a place where no one gets hurt.

But sometimes, in order to lead others towards the light, you have to stand in the dark with them and take them by the hand. That’s what I’m doing in my novel, leading others. Their stories won’t be exactly my own, but they are borne of the same parent.

 As I struggled with the feelings that came back, I kept repeating the verse “The light shines into the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:5)” Even as I write this, the darkness stands behind me, breathing down my neck. I have to remember I am just a visitor this time around. I already know how this story ends.

 Check out the link to the song Times by Tenth Avenue North . I listened to this on repeat about 900 times.

 

NaNoNotes

My bags have been packed for two years waiting for this road trip. My ticket's been punched and I'm on my way, and except for the fact that I'm not enjoying the scenery as much as I'd hoped, things are going great.
Fine.
Really good.
I mean, alright.

This whole NaNoWriMo novel writing thing is hard. Day one was Awesome (Insert sing-songy voice here.) Day two was pretty good. Day three and I was a little bored with my own story, which is never a good sign. Day four, no writing at all. Today, Day five, I went to Barnes and  Noble and found myself wondering why I thought the world needed one more book.

 Then I went jeans shopping. Ugh. (Insert whatever you want here.) My overwhelming thought was that it's a good thing I'm probably not as ugly as I feel. Not exactly feeling creative or inspired, I ate lunch at a Chinese lunch buffet alone, which I know will not help the continuing search for jeans that fit. Whatever.

I trolled the internet for a bit and ended up on Facebook and saw a fellow NaNo warrior's post. I whined for encouragement and she delivered. That, and I remembered that I had purchased a Kindle book designed specifically for talking me off the NaNo-inspired ledge. It worked.

I got my butt in front of the computer and started pecking away. I like my story again. I can see my characters. We're all holding hands feeling warm and fuzzy. I will savor this feeling until I hate them again and wonder why I thought the world needed another book again.

Hopefully I will remember that I don't write because the world needs another book. I write because I'm a writer.