How many of us have grand
ambitions of writing a masterpiece? Ok, how many of us have actually
accomplished that? Yeah, me either. It’s OK. It’s not an easy task. Staring at
a blank page can be daunting. You can see your world so crisply, so clearly.
The mere act of typing out letters, though, dilutes your world. That word you
just typed, that doesn’t quite convey what you felt while imagining. No, that
sentence doesn’t really show the reader what you meant. Before you know it,
your inner Editor has taken over, rationalizing and nitpicking your dream to
death until it’s less than vapor. Suddenly that magical world in your head
seems foolish, not worthy of bringing to the light of day. You walk away. Maybe
next time…
Don’t get me wrong. The Editor
isn’t your enemy. The Editor is a valuable team member. After all, there is a
very small subset of people that like reading stream-of-consciousness. Most
people prefer a polished work, something that they can lose themselves in. There
is absolutely a time and a place for the Editor to do their thing. That time,
however, is not at the beginning, before the work is even created.
Think about childbirth.
The whole process is a bloody, terrifying, sticky, painful mess. You can’t wash
the baby before it comes out. First priority is getting the baby out. Once
that’s accomplished, while you’re (hopefully) riding on that post-natal high,
then you can clean and present the baby to the world.
Yes, I suppose I just did
use childbirth as an analogy for NaNoWriMo. I know it’s not a perfect analogy—at
least, I hope there’s no actual stickiness or blood involved. Or maybe there
is. Not for me to speak on your creative processes. The point is, NaNoWriMo is
about cutting out the time you would normally use to silence yourself. It’s about putting your Editor on vacation and
just letting it happen. It’s about giving yourself permission to lose control.
Now PUSH.
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