Writing Dangerously

I had the pleasure of accompanying my friend and RWA chapter-mate Kristin Miller to the National Novel Writing Month’s Night of Writing Dangerously last weekend as her date, hubba hubba! I had a great time, and here are some of my takeaways:
1) Writing is dangerous.  It’s vulnerable, an incredible investment of time and energy.  Almost every author I know has a life as full as mine, and making the commitment to keep writing every day has costs. We do it because we have to–we have the calling, the urge. Yet like everything that’s truly worthwhile, writing demands sacrifices. It was great fun to be in a crowded room full of others who, like me, have weighed those costs and deemed them worth it.
2) Phew! I finished the first draft of my latest WIP right before this event. It was a hard book, one of the most satisfying The Ends I’ve written.  Since my first NaNoWriMo in 2012, the timing of my writing projects hasn’t allowed me to participate again, and every year I’m bummed to miss the awesome communal and yet slightly word-count-competitive mayhem. The novel I completed from start to finish in November of 2012 will be published next summer, so that’s cool! I’d tell you it’s name, but it’s getting a new one as we speak.
3) I was at a table of really talented writers from my RWA chapter, including the lovely Kristin Miller (right), Rachael Heron, Bethany Heron, Adrienne Bell and Veronica Wolff (and one really nice guy who had the courage to sit with a bunch of romance writers!). Together we discussed our writing processes, and what works for each of us.
As of last week, I’m seven novels into my life as a writer, which feels like an accomplishment to me, but makes me an infant compared to some of the others I was sitting with. I love every second of it; writing brings me so much joy.  But I still wrestle with my process, and with process envy for people who do it differently and (of course, because the grass is always greener) seem to do it more easily than me. Talking to these other writers reminded me once again that our process is as unique as our voice and the world-view we bring to our stories. We may as well embrace it and make it work, rather than trying to conform to the advice of others.
Still, it’s always nice to hear when someone else does it like you, and Rachael and I discovered we both have to be in the moment with our characters before we know what they will do next. It makes planning nigh impossible, but leaves me pleasantly surprised very often, and happily I’m not alone in doing it this way–by the gut in the moment of writing, rather than a carefully pre-mapped arc.
4) There are middle school students writing novels this month in San Francisco schools! How cool is that? I occasionally teach a middle school writing club, and I’ve been pushing my students with my new favorite app: Write or Die. Now I’m inspired to nudge a few dedicated young authors to this level of productivity.
5) I won a raffle basket of hardcover books, and I will be giving some of them away on the blog very soon!