I've been a little out of touch with the calendar this summer. I had two dates circled in bright red: the day my manuscript for A Maze of Grace was due, and the day we left for vacation. Since then, it's all been a bit murky.
This morning I realized that August 1st, the day we're kicking off Want to Write A Book? How About This Month? (and I say "we're" kicking it off because I can't imagine trying this alone) is Sunday. THIS Sunday. And on this Sunday, I have events I'm expected to be at during every single minute from 7:30am to 7:30pm. Not my favorite sort of day to begin with, but a truly TERRIBLE day to start a novel.
I almost canceled. I was all set to push the start back a day to Monday. But then I thought about the almost 100% fail rate of anything I've ever started on a Monday (there's a reason no one gets married that day) and decided to stick with the original plan.
Here's the thing: there's NEVER a good time to start a book. We will always be too busy, have too many balls in the air already, too many people/things/obligations competing for our attention to possibly add one more. Oh well. The best writers write anyway. So that's what we're going to do. We'll start out by aligning ourselves with the cream of the crop and figure out a way to write no matter what. I'll focus on Chris Baty's First Law of Exuberant Imperfection: "The quickest, easiest way to produce something beautiful and lasting is to risk making something horribly crappy."
It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be a start.
That, I can do.
ADDENDUM: Yep, I just realized that August 1st is Saturday, not Sunday. Which is actually worse, in terms of my schedule...but better in terms of the cool story I'll have to tell about overcoming adversity when my novel comes out :)
1 comment:
well, if it helps at all, August 1 is actually Saturday, not Sunday. So perhaps your Saturday is less busy than Sunday?
Good luck on the book! I'm sure it will be an amazing experience.
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