It’s our final weekend, Wrimos! You can do it!
My wish for you, beloved Wrimo, is that today becomes the Black Friday of ideas expressed in words in black font on a white page.
There are some of us who have hit the 50K mark already, and if so, I tip my Viking Helmet to you.
I’ve never hit 50K by day 25 in the past 5 years I’ve participated. I was more behind this year than ever before, but I got my story back on track by going to lunch with my best friend and trying to convince her that it didn’t matter to me if I met this year’s goal. That it was okay to give up.
“I can’t hear the voices of my characters,” I complained. Then I tried to persuade my friend to go get massages instead of writing at our table in the diner.
I wanted to shift my story from a depressing heap of too much reality and pain into a mystery. I had no idea how, except that I’d distracted myself by reading a Nancy Drew mystery the day before (instead of writing).
My friend asked me a few questions and gave me a generous offer: The day before she had donated two large urns to a hospice center and talked to them about volunteering.
Urn, the word turned over in my head. What if my character that passed away left my main character a note under an urn?
Then, I pondered, what if it wasn’t an urn, but a statue of Shiva (Hindu deity) because the departed was a yoga and meditation instructor.
Ideas flashed, and I took out my laptop. “Let’s write for a little bit …” I said. My friend smiled and took out her notebook, like this was her plan all along. I wrote 800 words in twenty minutes.
Telling my daughter about the new twist later in the day, she suggested the note could be in a foreign language.
“Foreign language” swirled in my thoughts, what if the note was in Sanskrit?
Sanskrit is the ancient Indian language that is used most frequently in yoga teachings and chants. As my character found out, it’s not a language on Google Translate, so where could she find a translator?
I’d found my mystery.
When you’re stuck it could be time to share your story with another person. One who will ask questions and propose ideas that our Wrimo word-count-addled brains may be challenged to find.
Find a person who you know to be supportive and ask if you can share your story.
If you feel right off that you are telling the wrong person, (they think it’s impossible to write 50K words in a month, or that’s not long enough for a novel, or it will never get published, etc, etc) excuse yourself politely and shed their criticism like a rain jacket. Don’t let them convince you what is possible.
Then go find someone else who you trust. Someone under than the age of 14 is good!
❤ Yes, your story matters.❤
Write a quick response and let us know how you’re doing! We believe in you!
