Not so old

I've been beating up on my keyboard this month, and it's starting to show.

It's not a very old keyboard, I've yet to change the batteries for the first time, but already the 'n' is wearing away and there's a smooth spot on the space bar from the constant battering. Yes, I'm hell on keyboards.

Totally unrelated, and it's been a slow day on the NaNo. I ran into a plot stop. That's the stop where you think, "and then what?" but can't come up with anything reasonable. Other authors call it 'writing yourself into a corner', and that's true.

To me, it's the opportunity to pause in the mad rush that is November. And so I did.

Which leads me to another tip, and that is: when you are stuck, walk away. Do something totally, and I do mean totally unrelated to writing.

I changed the blog over to the new beta version; spent time fiddling with it. By the time I was done, my mind had worked through the writing problem and come up with a solution. Better yet, it came up with an ending. On the downside, I still have to fill in another twenty to thirty thousand words before I get to that ending.

I think that's a fundamental difference between organic and non-organic writers: non-organic writers have plotted out everything, they know what's going to happen; organic writers have a vague idea and find - or at least I do - that various unconnected scenes are popping out all over the place! Talk about multi-tasking!

Anyway, a slow-ish day with 5300 words done, and that's okay, because I'm at an impending action scene and it will take a few thousand to get through. To me, that's the ideal spot to finish up for the day. Tomorrow is a day off for me and I can throw myself into it. Yay!