"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action."
- Frank Tibolt

I've always had the tendency to wait on inspiration when it comes to my writing,and obviously, that hasn't gotten my name in print yet so time to change tactics.

Late last night pieces Finally began coming together....ideas and glimpses of the characters for NaNo. For the past couple of weeks I've basically felt creatively paralyzed once the decision to participate in NaNo was made after the first flood of initial story ideas. I was listening to AOL radio (yeah, Desperate LOL) as I engaged in my nightly procrastination session, i.e. writing time; a song came on that began firing up my imagination and the ever elusive muse graced me with her presence.

Desert Rose.

Whether or not this remains the title depends on where the characters lead me. There is a Strong male voice popping in unexpectedly and quite uninvited as I begin the process of fleshing out Rosetta's character. Hmmm....this may lead me into totally uncharted territory w/2 main characters whose live will become intrinsically meshed together.

I would Like to get basic character sketches done and at least a partial outline complete before Nov. 1st. Right now I seem held captive by the whims of sporadic inspiration although I do the bit about sitting down before the blank page everyday at the scheduled time. Somehow, my writing time turns into reading time. I've discovered to good writers' blogs that I'm getting a lot out of But they sure feed into my procrastination habit.

Current Mood: contemplative

Early morning free writing…hmmm, what do I think about it? Probably good practice for someone like me who is at this point basically immobilized by fears of inadequacy, . Getting any words down on "paper" right now is extremely difficult. Also I have the new problem of my hands/fingers hurting when typing.

The suggestion for this early writing is to go for 5 minutes. Can I? I'm mostly asleep right now and my coffee is still to hot to even drink. I have a book of "writing prompts" that I ought to start using, they are supposed to get the creative juices flowing.

What to write for Nanowromo??? Every time I think about it, I want to actually start writing whatever current idea I have. I haven't outlined before which is what I plan to do/should do this year to give myself ½ a chance. 50,000 words in 1 month! That's around 2,000 words/daily. Can I do it? I'm so scared of not being Perfect. I know my grammar and descriptive skills are rusty at best and don't even want to think much about my dialoguing ability.

Can't hardly keep my eyes open. Waking up is So hard…so why do I insist on doing it 2x every night?

I checked out Ivillage.com yesterday. It was where I hung out 2-3 years ago when I was writing. I had left when they changed to message board format. Was kind of hoping they had changed again, to something tolerable, but No and it was basically deserted in the Writers area…not an old familiar face to be found and only 3 posts for the month of September.

I'm hesitant to name this document my Writing Journal. I need to start keeping one and probably this is as good as it gets. Where are the insightful thoughts and poetic musings? Kind of ironic but I chose Mystical Muse as a username at 2 new forums I joined. Will I eventually live up to the name? I've yet to find an active (lots of posts/daily) writers board. I really want one to participate in.

How many blogs do I have now? Each is for a completely or slightly different purpose. Have I done much w/any of them? Nope, naughta.

Would starting to write hurt anything? I wouldn't have to use it for Nano. It could just be practice or further developed once Nano is over. Is the urge really to begin writing a story or would it be an outline which is allowed to be worked on/completed prior to the magickal hour? An opening scene is forming in my head. Is it for a story or just a separate scene for some portion of the story? It feels like a character wanting, struggling to be born. I can "see" him. Shapeshifter/Shaman, seeking something…an object? A person? Is he even sure? He's being propelled forward by buried instinct towards his goal. Will I, the writer, be let in on his quest? Does he want his story told? Is it His story? He closes his eyes, yet he Sees. A rustling in the brush hints that he's not alone. Who or what is with him? Friend or foe? Or is it simply the breeze?

Current Mood: awake

I've been on a software downloading binge today. Several trial versions of writing software and now LochJournal are now residing on my desktop to provide hours of procrastinating opportunity. Can this habit be broken by 11/1 ?

Current Mood: curious

3:20 a.m. and I'm sitting here w/my first cup of black coffee trying to clear my head so I can take advantage of the 2-3 hours of writing time before my family is up for the day.

In prep. for NaNoWriMo I've committed to writing Everyday for a Minimum of 1/2 an hour and a goal of 2 hours. This year I want to take the outlining route and have some kind of an outline and character sketches to start the challenge with. I'm in the very preliminary stages of planning and resource gathering since it's been quite awhile since I've written anything and due to a computer crash last year I lost all my writing resources/bookmarks. The computer crash is one of the main reasons I decided to begin writing and storing my work on the web though I'll still do some work in Word and then upload.

Through some surfing the past couple of days I rediscovered some old favorite sites (playing catch up w/them now) along w/a couple new ones I think will be very good. I have to watch myself now that I don't turn my "writing time" into reading time. I have a lot of time to read sporadically through out the day but only late night or very early a.m. for undisturbed, quiet writing time.

A huge bad habit I have to now work on breaking is the casual way (ungrammatical) I've become used to posting on message boards....just tossing out words w/little care for any mechanics and not even watching my spelling that closely.

A mental hang up I have to over come is my fear of loss of creativity due to quitting drinking. Previously, I wrote late at night after a few cocktails and quickly got into the flow. Due to health reasons and subsequently setting some high goals for improvement I completely quit all alcohol consumption. I'm having a difficult time so far coming up w/ideas for what I want to write about in November. Is not drinking Really inhibiting my creative juices Or is it simply the Fear that that is the case?

Some steps I'm going to take to get started:

* Begin 9 wk writing course by Steven Barns

* Use Writesparkslite daily to get the creative juices flowing

* Check in daily at Forward Motion to read and post a bit

* Read back issues of Vision and get caught up on all that I've missed

Tags: the beginning of nanowrimo preparation