National Novel Writing Month Ends


CHAPTER 1: The Challenge Begins

Chester rattled the ice in his glass and slurped the last few drops of gin. “I believe I’ll have just a nip more,” he said to the bartender. “Then I’m going to get serious about this.”

The bartender poured a stiff shot. “What are you working on now?”

“Just a little thing that I suspect is unfamilar to a working stiff such as yourself. It’s called a novel. A book of narrative fiction. My magnum opus.” Chester took a deep drink and sighed with pleasure. He wiped a few stray drops from the keyboard of his laptop.

“Yeah right,” the bartender said, wiping the bar with a dirty rag. “And I’m going to build a rocket ship in my basement. I wish you luck, my good man.”

“It’s not a question of luck. It’s about commitment and follow-through. That and having a target. Over the month of November, I’m going to write an entire novel, or at least 50,000 words of one. You see, there’s this thing called National Novel Writing Month. People just like me--and some ordinary people too--are going to write complete novels in just thirty days. All I need to do is focus and keeping plugging away at it. 1,500 to 2,000 words a day ought to do it. I'm feeling really good about this.”

"Say, when was the last time you wrote anything for that ... what's it called? ...that blog thing you do?"

"This is different. I'm not going to worry about the quality of the writing. I'm just going to write and write and write," Chester said as he turned back to his keyboard.

“Then I better leave you alone to get started. It’s already past midnight and time waits for no man,” said the bartender pointing at the clock and shaking his head. "By the way, consider me skeptical."

“I'll consider you tipless. Besides, who says I haven’t started? I’ll have you know I’ve written well over two hundred words already.”

“That’s great. Sorry to be a doubter. Ready for another drink?”

“Just one more. Then I really need to get busy.”

THE END

2 comments:

Miss Laura said...

It's all about that whatchamacallit. Discipline. A few stiff shots help my whatchamacallit a lot. Because then I forget whaticalledit.

Just one more blog post reading. Then I really need to get busy.

George Taylor said...

A line from Bill Cain's Equivocation:

SIR ROBERT CECIL (trying to remember): What's that word for a person who puts things off as long as possible?

SHAG (Shakespeare): A writer?

(BTW, OSF's production of this fascinating play runs through Dec. 13 at Seattle Rep. Still time if you hurry.)