The Beginning

Okay, actually, the beginning should be considered yesterday. While walking back to work after my lunch hour, I came up with my main character, Izak. As the day progressed, I gave him brothers, a sister, parents, friends, enemies, and a little town in which he could interact with all of them. I have named all of his family and friends, but the town is still a bit foggy, as is the land where it sits.

This is my first NaNoWriMo, and truth be told, my first legitimate attempt at writing a complete novel. I've made stabs at it, even had huge portions written on paper... and yet they've never gone anywhere. I give up on my story - and myself - long before I get even to the middle. My inner critic is a very loud individual that just won't shut up no matter how hard I try to muffle him.

A few years ago, I found out about NaNoWriMo and decided that I would do it. Unfortunately, I always seemed to forget about it until mid-February or so. This year, however, I remembered in June and have made every effort to keep remembering. Now, as we get closer and closer to start time, I not only remember, but am excited to get going. I KNOW I can do this. And on top of that, I KNOW that I can win it. The book may be crap, but the beauty of this competition is that it doesn't matter. What matters is just finishing. I'll spend the rest of the year either revising the book later or writing a new one. Once I finish the first one... just the first silly book... then I know that fear that holds me back will be broken and gone forever.

Anyway, back to my story. Izak is a boy on the brink of manhood. He's intelligent, fierce, competitive, and horribly, horribly shy and insecure. He will of course be forced to deal with that while he works his way through a series of events that he's brought on himself with one poor choice. You'll have to watch this Blog to find out what happens to our young hero.

For now, I'm off to work. Oy... is it Friday yet?