"Slow is Fearless"

"Slow is Fearless" is the title of a chapter in one of my favorite writing books, Heather Sellers' Chapter after Chapter.

I really loved that chapter. I also loved a sentence from it. "Time-soaked writing is good writing."

Heather Sellers teaches in this chapter that a lot of the time slow is good. Maybe even better than going fast on some things...writing is one of them.

The other day I was watching The Princess Bride and a quote from that triggered this same though too. Miracle Max says, "You rush a miracle, and you get rotten miracles." (or something along those lines).

Hearing about these things make me not feel so badly about how slow I am being on my work. But at the same time I don't want it to be laziness. So I'm trying to find that fine line and accept the slow factor without it becoming an excuse for laziness.

Anyway, that is all I have for right now and I just thought I should post something.

Any Ideas?

So, I've been thinking on this story I'm trying to write for the contest. I am having trouble with it though because I don't know where to begin. I've researched the publishers and found that they tend to publish either contemporary fiction or historical fiction. I'm not sure which genre I want to go to because there are pros and cons to both. The hardest thing for both is going to be research. Can I do enough thorough research to write a story in around 150 days? And then there is the actual story, involving plot and characters, etc. I have some ideas but I'm trying to find something that clicks. Should I use an idea I already have or should I start on something completely new? So many questions and so little time to answer, especially considering I have to write it after figuring these things out. What am I going to do? Any ideas?

Operation First Novel

Right now I am enrolled and am taking a writing course from the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. A contest they hold annually with Tyndale Publishing House is called Operation First Novel. As a member you submit your first novel and if you win your novel is published by Tyndale and you receive an award of $20,000.

The deadline is in September.

I am so tempted to enter but I shrink at such a daunting task. Could I write a novel in 5 months? You say, "Sure. Why not?"

I reply, "Could I really write my first novel in 5 months? Can I really put out my best work in so short a time?"

I don't know. But that won't stop me from trying. Now just to start and write.

An Expostulation - A poem by C.S. Lewis

An Expostulation - by C.S. Lewis

Against too many writers of science fiction

Why did you lure us on like this,
Light-year on light-year, through the abyss,
Building (as though we cared for size!)
Empires that cover galaxies
If at the journey's end we find
The same old stuff we left behind,
Well-worn Tellurian stories of
Crooks, spies, conspirators, or love,
Whose setting might as well have been
The Bronx, Montmartre, or Bedinal Green?

Why should I leave this green-floored cell,
Roofed in blue air, in which we dwell,
Unless, outside its guarded gates,
Long, long desired the Unearthly waits
Strangeness that moves us more than fear,
Beauty that stabs with tingling spear,
Or Wonder, laying on one's heart
That finger-tip at which we start
As if some thought too swift and shy
For reason's grasp had just gone by?

Recent Thoughts on my Story

Wow, I haven't posted on this in over a month. What is my problem with keeping consistent on blogging? I guess my life isn't too interesting to talk about so there isn't too much worth writing. I will talk about my writing and story though as a lot of my life has been around that recently.

After finishing NaNoWriMo at 50,000 words, I was so burned out that I haven't written very much since then. The goal of being finished by the end of the year is daunting right now but that is still a ways away, who knows...I may make a great come-back.

I have found a website where I can post my work and other writers can read and review. So far I'm getting a lot of help on it and I'm hoping to post the second part of my fourth chapter tomorrow or Monday. But as far as moving forward I am a little stuck on one chapter that I'm hoping to get past it soon and continue on with a new wave of writing energy.

Just the other day I felt so intimidated by the task before me of writing my story that I actually questioned if it was worth it. I will be at this story for years I have no doubt...but for some reason I feel like I don't have that long and it needs to get out. But then I worried that it would fall flat when someone poked at the story and plot. I feel like it has a fatal flaw and I can't find it but am dreading it.

But I love the characters and the story and even if it has a flaw it has great potential and could be fixed, of that...I have no doubt. So, I know I shouldn't give up and power on, being persistent no matter how long it takes because if I do that...that's the hardest part and I will finish the book. And it will be a bestseller and be made into a movie of which I will oversee and it will also be one of the box office hits. Okay, now I'm just daydreaming. =)

My life at the present and a peek into the future

It has been at least a few weeks since I last posted something so I decided that I should though I have very little to speak of.

Unfortunately I have not been able to do too much writing the past few weeks as we have been busy and after such a crazy month of doing nothing but writing I feel rather burned out...maybe I shall try and start afresh in the new year.

I am quite pleased of my plan to finish this year and I have no doubt that my expectations will be met. On Christmas morning I and my family are traveling up to MI to celebrate Christmas with our family. I am so looking forward to this and can't wait to see everyone and spend the time together. From there a couple of us are traveling up to Canada to be a part of a young people's New Years Celebration. I haven't gone before but some of my cousins have and have enjoyed themselves so when I was invited this year I was happy to accept and even more so when I discovered I could get the time off of my job to go to this.
From there we will probably travel back to MI and my parents will pick us up there. So I am looking forward to my last week or so of 2010, and am looking forward to starting a new year and all the amazing possiblities that come with it.

Speaking of my job though, I have had a great time working there so far. All the people are very nice and patient with me as I learn. I am working a lot this week as Christmas is almost upon us and the store gets a lot busier. But I am really enjoying myself and look forward to continuing.

I have more to write about, no doubt, but I feel this post is quite long enough as it is and I'm afraid it isn't very interesting. But the other things that I will try to write about soon are quite interesting and can take up a post of their own. Mainly maybe some more on my story and on the new Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Nanowrimo 2010

On November 30th 2010 the Word Document word count of my story read 50,000. I wrote 50,000 words in the month of November through Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) that takes place annually every November. It was quite a feat but I accomplished it. My story still needs a lot of work even for simply the rough draft. But I hatched a plan. The next time November rolls around I want to have at least the rough draft of my story done. I have paced the story out through the next year and hopefully by at least this time next year I will be done with at least my rough draft... I don't want to promise to much for I cannot boast in tomorrow or what the next year may bring forth.

But next year Nanowrimo, if I participate I want to be able to have a new fresh story with my other one completed. So this time next year I will see how I did. Hey, it could be one of my New Year's Resolutions. =)