The Missing Piece

So, two things before I begin: Number one, even though I have had a very long and very busy weekend, my brain won't shut off and let me sleep. It's currently 3:30 in the morning, my body is weary and sore, but my brain is going a thousand miles an hour. This, unfortunately, is very common with me. C'est la vie.

The other thing, and this is entirely unrelated to anything, but my favorite movie about being a writer is Stranger Than Fiction. I won't call it a romantic comedy (it is, though), solely on the basis that the vast majority of rom coms are utter crap. I highly recommend this one, though. It is also, by far, my favorite Will Ferrell film; and he's in a role that you would not expect him to be in. Trust me and check it out.

I was speaking with a fellow writer this weekend (who's name escapes me at the moment) and I asked him what his secret was to writing a novel. He had just released his second book in a nine book series; so if anyone is going to know, it's him. He let out a sigh and and said "really, you just have to sit down and write". I told him that that was essentially what New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss had told me and he nodded his head in agreement. There isn't a "magical formula" other that putting words on paper. He told me that doing outlines is completely unneeded (which I very vocally agreed) because, without them, the story flows and the characters are natural. I told him that I have no issue writing short stories, but I still have yet to turn anything into a full length novel. He said once you get over that mental block, it just happens.

That was the light bulb moment for me. It's not that I CAN'T write a novel-I just have a mental block on actually doing so. My mindset is on short fiction and poetry; not novels. Once I "allow" myself that ability, it will just happen naturally.

Now, for the record, never have I doubted that I could do it. This is my third blog, and it already has 70+ posts to it. Words flow out of me like an ever rambling stream. Although, as I was telling my friend Chris the other day, I'm never going to write a memoir, so my blog is pretty much that. I'm not sure if it counts as cheating, but whatever.

So, I'm going to take a stab at it. I'm not sure if I'll wait until NaNoWriMo or if I'll just do it on my own time so I don't rush it. Either way, I'm going to write a book this year. By hook or by crook.