Tougher than Decluttering

This is where I jump from decluttering and to another goal: writing the damn novel.

The thing that makes novel writing so difficult actually isn't that you have to write the thing. Writing is easy. I sit at the front desk and write pages on slow afternoons...it's one of the few things I really like about my current position in that company. I write at home. I write while I'm waiting somewhere, if I'm not reading.

It's the focusing on what you're writing part that makes novel writing so hard. I have to force myself to stand still for a moment and say "What part of this vast universe that I've created shall I write about?"

And then I have to figure out who I'm writing about, and that's harder. When you've been steadily conculturing since you were eight, you amass so many characters that you forget more of them than you could possibly fill a book with. Considering I've been conculturing and trying to find character storylines since I was eight, forgetting a great number of characters can be a good thing (at least the two or so that did survive have evolved so much that the only way I know that they came from those old drafts is because I created them in the first place).

So, I've decided against officially joining NaNoWriMo since I've already started on my latest attempt at picking a spot and person to write about. This attempt is fueled by Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method, which I'm currently thrilled with simply because it's helped me pinpoint that person and spot thing, as well as help me work through a storyline that doesn't sound completely lame. Time will tell on that one, though.

So there's yet another goal of mine. I'll make sure it's on the list, between "Declutter Living Space" and "Invest in Mutual Fund".