Bitch-space. What’s up for bitch-space today? I’m not sure. Don’t really have any questions/thoughts I want to work through re writing… Except as I was writing that, the white-board on my office door came to mind, with the little note “Novella challenge?”. It’s circled, so it’s important.
There’s nothing wrong with it sticking out, but why is it important? Maybe the idea itself, not so much the doing is important? In contemplating a novella challenge, I’m giving myself permission to dream big, and not be constrained by the inner bitch into thinking that writing 30-40k words in a month is something I couldn’t possibily do. Because of course I can do it, I just need to get out of my own way, to accomplish the thing that Bitch-space is meant to help with.
I don’t know what to write next… Still novella challenge stuff but my brain just reset for a moment there (I don’t know why) and I found myself doing the space delete thing to stop WoD from going defcon 1.
So, novella challenge. It’s exciting, it’s nerve-wracking. Why nerve-wracking? That’s the inner bitch and the fear (yes, the fear) that I can’t do it. The fear is unfounded (part of me wants to say “founded” but I’m squashing it), there is absolutely NO RISK in a novella challenge. What’s to be affraid of? If I fail to write X novellas in X months, who’s going to know (unless I announce the thing) and more to the point, who’s going to care? Absolutely no one, except me, and really, I shouldn’t care that much either because… there’s nothing to be affraid of.
I mean, not really important… And there we go again, as I wrote that I decided that it was in fact important. Why is it important? What is it about the novella challenge, which would be to write X number of novellas (stories between 30-40k) in X months, that makes it stick out in my brain?
I could do a novella challenge right now, not get even a shorty written in the time set and there’ll be no consquences! Meteors will not strike the earth, fines with not be levied, jail time not sentenced. There will be no “Do not pass GO!” cards handed out. The only thing I would have to dream of worrying about is… my own expectations.
The expecations are the devil-child of the inner bitch. Ditch the expectations. Be happy in the knowledge that you have done your best, even if it doesn’t feel that way (which is frequent), because, babe, you do your best every god damn day. And on the days that feel like failures… that’s because the “I did too much and now I’m shutting down” switch has been flipped. Take that as the sign it is.
There, self told.
Phew. That was intense. Time to lighten things up.
I don’t like intense, not on the personal level.
But back to the novella challenge, ’cause there’s a thing there. Woman in White, I’m aiming for the books to be 50k words each, which is just on the edge of novella territory and suits NaNoWriMo length perfectly. Plus, at top Bitch-space speed, I’m clocking 1600-2400 words an hour, which is (again) NaNo territory. I could (unoffically) challenge myself to writing WiW in a month, or a month and a bit. Now THAT would be a challenge. The perfect followup to Bitch-space.
It’s kinda scary too. The scary bit… That’s coming from the bitch, or is rather the hold-up/hang-over left from the bitch? I don’t know, but its the thing where I stumble over what to write next (which BTW I haven’t hit in this session, discounting the part where my brain reset). So… Can I do this? Hell yes, I can do this.
Challenge myself and if I fail… who the fuck cares? No-one, that’s who, not even me because I have zero expectations and, you know what, lets not even call this a challenge, lets call this an experiment— No, let’s call this TRAINING! I’m going to undertake TRAINING, a personal NaNo-style training starting with Woman in White. I’m gonna pound that mighty, mighty, exciting story out so fast the bitch won’t know what slapped her in the face, and by the time I’m into the second book, I won’t know what hit me. Then, I’ll take a brief break and pound out Demons & Battleskirts 2 and HOLY FUCKING SHIT won’t that feel good!!
That’ll feel FUCKING FANTASTIC!!
I’ve been stressing over D&B2 (which is a pile of shit, the stress, not the story) and all that’s going to do is fuck up the writing by giving the bitch ammo. Let’s not give the bitch ammo, let’s starve the bitch.
Hell yes.
Now I’m feeling good.
Addendum
A thought re the WiW NaNo Novella Challenge (WNNC??) and how to handle the sticky points (don’t call them issues or problems, ‘cause they ain’t) when it comes to world building and plot. Have a 15-minute bitch-space session AFTER each writing session to download any thoughts and brainstorm.
I’m going to write myself a little “run sheet” for each session, here it is.
- In each 1-hour type type type session, do 5mins WoD followed by 5mins of Cycle time x 3.
- Take a 5-minute breather (time it)
- Repeat 2 more times.
- Take a 5-minute breather.
- Have a 15-minute Bitch-space where I download all the inner bitch things that arose and do any brainstorming that may be needed.
Featured image by Kasia Derenda on Unsplash.