During NaNoWriMo, we get little pep talks by published writers emailed to us periodically. This is one of the serious benefits of actually signing up. A recent pep talk was by author Catherynne M. Valente. The excerpt below made my eyes water and my heart beat a little faster and, most importantly, made me sit up a little straighter in my chair here at the keyboard, and made my fingers fly. So I had to share with you all. Inspiration is always good. Ms. Valente writes: Though it is important not to put too much pressure on yourself, it is also important to know that quality and speed have absolutely nothing to do with one another. You can write something heart-catchingly brilliant in 30 days. You can do it in 10. There is no reason on this green earth not to try for glory. You’re going to spend these 30 days at the computer anyway. You might as well be mindful while you’re there. You can come out transformed. Write something true. Write something frightening. Write something close to the bone. You are on this planet to tell the story of what you saw here. What you heard. What you felt. What you learned. Any effort spent in that pursuit cannot be wasted. Any way that you can tell that story more truly, more vividly, more you-ly, is the right way. So holler. Tell it loud and tell it bright and tell it slant and tell it bold. Tell it with space whales and silent films or tell it with quiet desperation or tell it with war or tell it with dragons or tell it with tall ships or tell it with divorce in the suburbs or tell it with dancing skeletons and a kraken in the wings. Tell it fast before you get scared and silence yourself. You’ll never wish you’d held back a little more.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 22:07:02 +0000
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