Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Help! I Can't Shut Up My Internal Editor!

I’m having trouble turning off my internal editor.

I know that I’m supposed to write without editing during NaNoWriMo. I’m not supposed to worry about being perfect and string one word after another.

It’s not that different than any other first draft except that it’s a first draft on steroids.

And yet, I keep going back, erasing words, moving them around. I keep adding a paragraph here and there.

Yesterday, I wrote twice as much as I needed to be on track. Today, my editor’s getting in the way and I’ve written a whopping 197 words so far. Of course, I’m also at the ball field watching my daughter catch. I’m just a little distracted. But it’s this or wait to write until we get home which will be late. By then I may be too exhausted.

Unfortunately, my day job boss won’t understand my need to write a lot of words any more than my doctor who insists I walk and work out daily. I don’t think my boss would be too happy if I were to fall asleep at my desk tomorrow.

Of course, I didn’t have to stop in the middle of writing my NaNo book to write this blog. But I also don’t want to leave my blog blank for even a day if I can help it.

But my posts will be short and sweet this month so I can concentrate on my project.

How’s your internal editor behaving, all you Nano’ers? Are you able to keep your off switch off?



Recent posts you might like to read:

Nanowrimo Thoughts 

To Nano Or Not To Nano - That Is The Question

Why You Should Consider Library Booksignings

Make Sure Pretentious Words Don't Turn Off Your Readers

Are You Writing Me Into Your Book?

Dont Give Up Too Early

Must Write Must Write Must Write!!!


You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I've been able to keep it turned off so far. But I do notice that while I'm "away" from the story I think of things that need to be added, so I go back and add them. Hey, it helps the word count. :)

Molly Daniels said...

My rule: Only go back and reread the preceding paragraph before diving back in to the wip. I find fewer mistakes that way:)

I did better yesterday; I hit the 500 mark! If this keeps up, by the end of the month I should be at the 5K (accounting for Sundays and T-day, lol:)

Linda Kage said...

I'm not in NaNo, but I've been having the same problem. Usually, I start a bunch of different stories until ONE captures my attention and I take off with it. But lately, all I can do is tweek on those varied beginnings. How do I turn this internal editor thing off for a while???

The Bumbles said...

Tell that annoying perfectionist Editor that she'll have plenty of words to work with in December.

Sandra Cox said...

Just go with it. Even if you have less words now, you'll have less editing later:)

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