As I have mentioned before, I am working on a novel. I thought I would come to my blog to brag about the fact that I finally passed the 50,000 mark on my word count. It’s a first draft, so we’re not talking polished text here, but it is still part of one cohesive story. And it’s also right around the middle part of the story 
line, so I’m pretty much on track.
I’m supposed to be going to choir practice, but I’d much rather get back to writing!
Some people feel like running marathons and completing triathlons, it seems what gets me going is the idea of writing a novel. But I think it’s high time that I actually complete this one this time.
That’s why I decided to add to the “About Me” portion of this site, a little sub-page called “C.T. Luna | Author“. I see it as a hopeful kick in the rear — something that tells me I need to put my money where my mouth/blog is.
I started writing novel about a year ago–actually, a little longer than a year ago. I also took an excellent online course with Hollis Gillespie, which helped me get the overall structure worked out.
I was trucking along for a couple months, writing on a daily basis, when about a third of the way into the story, an intern ended up dead in the office (of my story–not real life!).
You know how they say “write what you know”? Well, that’s when my nasty, little inner critic krept in and started niggling me with questions like, “what do you know about murders, and crime scenes, detectives and writing stories?” I spent days and days, which turned into weeks and weeks, googling things like: “crime scene investigations” and “when are crime scenes cleaned up”? Until I finally couldn’t care less about whether justice would be served for this character in my story. I turned my back on the story completely.
I threw in the towel sometime before Christmas and hoped to return to the story with fresh eyes in the New Year, but every time I thought about it, my stomach would churn at the thought of that innocent character whose life was offed for… what?
Then, I realised. My problem wasn’t my story: it was my genre! I had started a chic-lit murder mystery — not a police-beat, detective story. I started wondering how I could get things back on to the storyline about yuppie in stilettos making a wrong right. Columbo was for someone else!
I was the writer, author–nay, creator–of this story, and I could make it whatever I wanted it to be!
If you have flirted with the idea of writing a novel, you have definitely heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I am not one for group competitions, I am definitely one who prefers to compete against myself–to top my own bests. So…
So, I have a new goal of writing about 1,000 words a day. It’s manageable with my bite-off-more-than-I-can-chew lifestyle, and it also will bring me near (or past) the finish line by September 30.
So this is my version of CynNoWriMo. I won’t write on the blog all the time, but I will check in.
If you wish to follow this thread in the meantime, it would be a pleasure to know I have cheerleaders who are way more supportive than my inner critic.
