NaNoWriMo, over

I hesitate to brag about something like writing a novel in a month. I don't think art is created like that, necessarily. I ended up writing more than 45,000 words this month, which is quite a bit. It's the first draft of a novel, and I'm proud I wrote those words only because in November I have written differently than I have in the recent past. Usually I agonize and end up losing my nerve or my faith in my story. Not to say that hasn't happened here, but I'm already embarked on the third act of my story, and it's all downhill from here on my way to what will probably be another 10,000 words or so in the first draft. There are obvious charms to writing the first draft of a novel--there is great excitement in creating characters and discovering who these people are. But for me, the great joy of writing is rewriting.

Tennessee Williams wrote in his journals somewhere, as a pep talk to himself, "Don't maul, don't suffer, don't groan--until the first draft is finished. Then--Calvary--but not till then. Doubt and be lost--until the first draft is finished." I love that so much it's up on my wall and I have it memorized. I need that advice in my head, and November's exercise in uncrucified composition has shown me something I have always known and not practiced.