Many authors think that writing the rough draft of a novel is hard.
But actually, at least in my case, it’s the starting that’s hard.
And I don’t mean starting the novel, I mean starting wherever you left off.
When I think about the 1,667 words I have to write each day for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I get overwhelmed with the time I have to put into it.
I have an idea of how fast I write. It takes me about an hour and a half to do a thousand words, so 1,667 words?
Let me just do the math… seven plus twelve, carry the five… That comes to precisely two grande hot chocolates with a bit of whipped cream, and with two pumps of pumpkin spice.
But it’s not having to spend three to four hours writing that gets me down, it’s the idea of having to spend three to four hours.
What goes on in my head?
I think of all that time I could be doing something more fun like playing video games, or I could be doing something more important like playing video games, or I could at least be doing something more productive like browsing through video games to download.
Besides, what if the stuff I write turns out to be crap? What if no one will want to read it in the end? What if this is just a waste of my time?
But deep inside I know those aren’t true concerns, they’re just excuses.
The words I write are not supposed to be about how much people will like them, it’s about how much I enjoy writing them.
After all, if I don’t like writing those words, then it’s unlikely others will enjoy reading them.
So I know that writing fiction, in general, is my time to have fun and write anything I would enjoy reading.
Wow, I’m brilliant.
So what stops me from starting to write?
It’s still that time commitment. And I found a solution.
A couple of solutions, actually.
The big one is BIC.
This holy acronym comes from the muses in Heaven. It stands for “Butt In Chair.”
If I tell myself to sit down and write for two minutes, or write three sentences, the task suddenly feels easier.
So I do indeed sit down and start writing.
Yay! I’ve overcome my greatest obstacle!
Once I start writing, I have trouble stopping until about a half hour later or if I need to wipe the whipped cream off my upper lip.
Maybe I've reached the 250-word mark, or maybe I’ve reached the 500-word mark or anywhere in between.
I stand up, stretch, then say, “just two more sentences.” I sit down, and crank out another 500 words. It’s beautiful. Flowers chirp, birds bloom, all sorts of neat stuff happens.
On occasion, if the mighty BIC blessing doesn’t work, I add a sacred phrase to the prayer. It goes like this. “Self, if you sit and write something now, you can play video games later.”
I pound out 2,000 words, gulp the last of the hot chocolate, say Amen, and fire up my app to kill some aliens.
Now excuse me. I need to sit and write two sentences of my book. | 
