I’m having a NANOWRIMO crisis

This isn’t supposed to be happening, but it is.

Right now I’m supposed to be well on my way to completing my first chapter of my NANOWRIMO writing experiment. It has not gone well. I thought I had planned it fairly well and I don’t know if I’m overthinking it or what but now I can’t see myself going forward with this.

Do people really get cold feet this easy? Do I need to throw my cares aside and just write to see what comes out of me. That may be what is necessary but I’m afraid what that answer may be. It may well be that I don’t have anywhere near the creativity that I felt I had. It may well be that I am simply godawful at storytelling.

Part of the issue is I don’t want to come across as a hack and it’s exceedingly difficult to write things that don’t come across as cliche or blatantly ripped off from more publicly known pieces of literature. Not a particularly fun thought but it makes me wonder when precisely imitation becomes the sincerest form of flattery and when it becomes thinly veiled plagiarism. Not something I particularly want to commit as I consider it a rather egregious sin.

Accordingly I’ve decided to adjust my plan. I’m going to just see where the writing takes me. It may be an utter disaster or a literary wasteland but it will be mine. Even if I’m not certain I want to publicly admit to it.