November 14 - let’s splash some paint
This Jackson Pollock widget is one I found this morning on Michelle’s lovely blog: Lady Language. Thank you, Michelle! I saw the website (sorry, I don’t seem to have bookmarked it so I can’t link it right now) several months ago and I thought was so fun and funny, but I hadn’t seen the widget until this morning. I immediately got it for my very own and posted it on The PCQ.
Here’s a link to some real Jackson Pollocks.
To play with it, just pass your mouse over it. Click to get a different colour. That’s it. Splashing “Paint” without the clean-up.
I feel like I could use a nice long session of splashing real paint. Fingerpainting. Bodypainting. I need to break out a little. I’ve been writing almost everyday for two weeks now and it’s getting to me even though yesterday I didn’t write at all. I woke up early, worried about all the other things in my life that I’ve been neglecting—typical for NaNoWriMo. So I set out to do the ones I could. It was paper work and tax stuff (my favourite) and lots of little noodling things. Later, even though I had the time to write, I simply couldn’t get in that frame of mind again.
Today was gruesome. Not only did I know and could-not-forget that I had to write twice as much in order to catch up, I also felt like I’d written myself into several corners.
I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking when I had this character say that and the other do this! I knew that I could either go back and rewrite those things that were giving me fits or I could suck it up and figure out how to make it work for me. I decided on the sucking up choice. It remains to be seen if what I am writing will work or not, but it feels good that at least I didn’t run from my own choices. I’m going to go with them for now and maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised at some future date.
A novel is like a puzzle. Do you do crosswords or sudoku? It can be like any kind of puzzle that’s a challenge. It starts off kind of fun and not too hard and then you get to a point where you have to really think and then, it gets very hard and the next step is to assume that somehow the incredibly asinine editors of that particular puzzle made a mistake and there’s no solution!!!! 
They must have goofed! It’s all wrong. No way to get it to work.
But then, another part of your mind kicks in and tells you that you are a silly goosehead and of course they didn’t screw it up. You realize that you have to work harder. Keep at it. Don’t give up. More than anything else, ASSUME you can make it work. Be confident in the fact that if you go at it from a different perspective or angle or state of mind, you will be able to find the solution. You’ll be successful and in the figuring it out part, you’ll have fun and be proud of yourself.
So that’s the stage of writing that happens in the second two weeks. If you find your novel is a giant challenging puzzle, keep working at it until you find out what the solution is. The editor never goofs! Silly head.
Comments
I always admire anyone who can undertake anything massive like a novel or a PhD or whatever and see it through to the end. It takes amazing perserverance and strength of character. Not assets I have!!
But I do a crossword and suduko puzzle every day to stop my brain from rotting and the thing I HATE about Sudoku is when you suddenly find two identical numbers in the same line and have to rub everything out and start again. There’s no way to unpick it.
Good luck with the writing.
Gina
Gina, I know! (about the sudoku thing) It’s so defeating to have to start over!
Thanks for your encouragement regarding the novel. I don’t think it takes strength of character (a lot of less than stellar characters have written lots of novels) but perseverance, yeah, it really does take that. It’s not my strongest suit either which is why nanowrimo is wonderful. Deadlines—especially daily ones—work. Thanks for dropping by!
Nancy
I’ve been considering taking on NaNoWriMo next year. Is it cheating to make notes during the year to guide me when I start putting my novel together? I followed the Randomizer to your blog. Good luck figuring out your puzzle.
Hi Eve, that Randomizer is doing a great job! As far as Nanowrimo, it’s not only permissible, it’s encouraged to make as many notes, character sketches, outlines etc as you want to before the actual writing starts. You’re just not suppose to start the novel. The years I have done that kind of preparation have gone more smoothly for me, but sometimes (like this year) I just do not have time.
I hope you’ll give it a try! And if you do, be sure to look me up so we can be “writing buddies.”(I’m nuanc) Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean anything except that we can easily see each other’s progress.
thanks for coming by!
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