Day One Recap

I wrote the first 1,675 words of my novel yesterday... It was a very interesting experience, because the writing itself went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would. I'm not complaining! I know that it won't be as smooth all the time, certainly not, but wow! How exhilarating!

I feel like I've been waiting for 15 years to write this novel, and the fact that I'm finally doing it, well, I need to give myself a deserved pat on the back for even starting.

Anecdote:

Long, long ago I worked at Big Chain Bookstore, and there I met all sorts of fascinating people that were in various stages of drop-out-of-college goodness, or taking the fast track through the multi-level hell of depression, all of us just trying to figure out who the hell we were. We called it the "Home of the Unmedicated Minority" because we were all popping our anti-depressants like candy, all day, every day... and flush shelving in between doses.

One night, I went to Ruby Tuesday's with one of my co-workers, a girl a few years older than I who would eventually end up in the Foreign Service, but who gave the appearance of being a dumb bunny. We went to this totally mediocre restaurant to talk, and all I remember of the conversation is telling her about how much I wanted to be a writer, but how bogged down I was by my own circumstance.

She said to me, and I'll never forget it: "When you let it all go, that's when you get your gift."

Have I gotten my gift? This NaNoWriMo thing certainly feels like a gift, even if it's not the gift that Tina was talking about.

As for letting go, well... more on that later.