Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Little Gods and Goddesses: Nanowrimo, The First Day

Little Gods and Goddesses
"cover art"
11/1/10 Day 1 AEDM
acrylic and pencil on paper

Yesterday, the start of Nanowrimo and AEDM, I woke up bright and early, took the boy to the school bus while the moon was still out, returned home, and promptly got to work... on Facebook.

Oops.

It turns out it's really scary to get started on those big projects that you have big hope for.

The more weight you put on something, the scary it is for you to actually tackle.

But, I pulled on my big girl pants and sat down and tackled it one word at a time. And it turned out it wasn't that hard to tackle.

I don't want to talk about my impression of the WORTH of what I wrote to get myself started. But it is not really important how good the writing is, not at this point. I am writing my way into the story. I might delete every word I've just written-- at some later stage. Because right now it is not about having lyrical prose, engaging characters or a fantastic plot.

Right now it is just about getting the words down, getting rid of that empty page. Getting the ideas out into some sort of concrete form. Giving myself a scaffold to which I can hang my story.

This is the first draft.

The glories and the pains of just writing it out.

It's a little bit difficult to switch from the editor's cap which I have been wearing for the last 11 months, to the first drafter's cap. But I'm working on it.

The most important phrase of this whole post is the one I just wrote, "I'm working on it." Because you can't write a novel, not a first draft, not a second draft, not a final version, if you don't sit down and work on it.


Little Gods and Goddesses, detail (with the little mermaid. i like her.)

The images I have here are from my first piece of art for AEDM. It's "cover art" for my nanowrimo novel. Well... it's a concept. I drew the sketch for it last week when I was trying to get into my story, get a handle on it, understand what it was about and what the themes were and what the title was.

Right now the working title is Little Gods and Goddesses. I don't know if I'll keep it, but it keeps me focused on some things. And it makes me happy when I see it. And if it weren't for AEDM, I wouldn't have sat down with my paints and finished this cover art, temporary as it may be. Just me and Chuck and some chocolate chip cookies and my paints. After Chuck was over, I closed my paints, turned off the tv, and went to bed, satisfied to have met my goals for the day.

Nanowrimo : 5180 words
AEDM 1/30

5 comments:

Nele said...

Very recognizable :-) I'm running several things at a time too in november, the AEDM, a Blue Moon Circle ànd I just started the Creativity 101-course at ABCcreativity...
Yesterday I had to take a seat and write it all down to keep it clear and not letting my self being fooled into stressing on all those things that I really LIKE to do :-)
Let's keep an eye on eachothers "stress symptoms" ;-)

The first thing I thought when I saw the cover was: "ooooh, I like the little mermaid"!!! Beautiful!

Unknown said...

ฺBeautiful cover art. It intrigues me to learn more of your writing :-)

Morph Waffle said...

Wow, you actually have a good word count for NaNoWriMo (I have like 918 words, yeah, really gotta work at it). I like that you made cover art too, very nice and as a side note, I'm a big Chuck watcher.

Unknown said...

Well done! Good start!

Ana Goncalves said...

This is a very beautiful cover art and I wish you well on your own NaNoWriMo journey. Interestingly enough I am also participating, though I started writing only on the second day in the afternoon and have been calmly captivated by my burst of insights in chunks during different times of the day. I am writing a memoir, and it seems like it has turned into a self help book, which is something I've always wanted to write, and now here it is. :)
The cover also came to mind, and I drew it down. I shall reveal it once I am content with it, as what started as fantasy in memoir has now fully developed into a self help spiritual book.
What is your nickname on NaNoWriMo? Would love to buddy up with you.
I'm smoothestlady on there. :)
Much love and peace.
~Ana

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