Making characters is fun. Writing battle scenes is fun. Looking over a paragraph and feeling like it is well-written is fun. Imagining scenes in your head as though it was an epic fantasy movie is fun.
Grinding out your story is not.
The problem is... that's kind of the only way to get the story written. That's the dirty work. The tough part. The unpleasant part. When you fight with words, press "delete" more than you want, and consume too much chocolate. (Pregnant lady loooves chocolate.)
But grinding out a story is what separates you from the dreamers and the writers. I really want to prove to myself that I can do this. I don't want to give up when it isn't fun anymore--I've done that on a lot of other things, do it only when it's fun, and when the glory and the magic is gone I leave the task for something else. But I don't want to give up on this dream, that I have a story and it's worth the work and effort to share it with the world.
So National Novel Writing Month is in November, and I want to use it as an opportunity to crank out the last of my first book. If I can I'll start the second, since I have the beginning of it planned out, but I can't get there until I finish the first one. (I refuse to let myself work on another story until this first one is done.) I have to remind myself--I can do this. It's worth it. I've spent years on this concept, and if nothing else comes from it, I'll have completed it at least once. That will make all the unfinished drafts and character development worth it.
And maybe finishing this one will help me kickstart another, even better, story idea.
(Or maybe I've just slipped back with the dreamers...)
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