No, self! Don't talk to me like that!

[msmcknittington]

OH MY GOD.

Second day of NaNo already and I'm going:

What were you thinking, dummy? This is such a dumb idea! You don't know the first thing about medieval knights and ladies and anything. This is going to be a big fat failure of a novel. Just like last year. You're going to get through the first four chapters, then lose momentum. Or you'll skip to the end, to write that, and then forget to write anything that happens in between. You suck, Sarah! You're a lousy writer! Way lame.

AGH. STOP SAYING THESE THINGS TO YOURSELF, SARAH.

Flargen bargen blah grah. I've been resorting to the all-caps a lot lately. I need to stop.

Today I made cinnamon rolls, and didn't write a word. The cinnamon rolls are pretty awesome. The writing not so much. Wait, I wrote a lot for my Yuletide recs, which I did tonight simply to avoid writing about Margarethe and her prayers in the unnamed nunnery.

Man. I never put myself through this sort of angst when I wrote things for the paper. It was all, "Well, here's the facts. Let's make them intelligible." And then I did it.

I've got the facts. I have two reluctant people, who are being forced to get married, for the sake of money, politics, and peace. Luc (which is not his name anymore, but I don't know what his name is) doesn't want to get married because he thinks it will cut in on his freedom to go and smash people with a sword and saddle him with responsibility. He'll have to stop being a bachelor and set up house with this woman he doesn't know, and then they'll have kids, and he'll be responsible for them. His father, Roger, is all, "I'm old, I want to stop fighting, Longshanks told me I could retire, so get hitched and knock this chick up already. Oh, and pick up your brother Christopher to act as a witness, because I'm going home to your mother." And Luc is all, "Fine. I'll do it." And then we switch to Margarethe, who is praying, "Please, God, let my father send word about my future. Don't let me hang in limbo here as a not-a-nun!" And God kind of answers her prayers, because her brother Owain shows up and is all, "Surprise! Uncle Gwilliam arranged a marriage for you!" And then Margarethe has to leave her beloved nunnery to go home to her neglectful father and horrible stepmother.

And my brain won't let me communicate that through prose. Can I just write a really detailed summary for NaNo? Or can I write it snarky blog post style? Like the IM messages of two 14-year-old girls?

~*~lamb_o_god~*~ omg, mel, did u here bout maggie + luc?
melisande no wut
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ like luc's father maed a deal w/ maggie's uncle Gwilliam, and now their all 'maggie marry luc, luc marry maggie, it'll make the king happy'
melisande oooh, longshanks hes hott
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ ya, he's pretty dreamy, for an old guy lol
melisande how many times do i have to tell u hes not old hes sofistikatd
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ i dont even know what ur tryin to say
melisande hes cultured and stuff
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ ask the saracens lollollol
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ annyway, maggie's stepmom Maisry told her that shes kinda fugly, so she's luck to be getting married
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ and maggie was all, 'i dont even wanna get married, so tell this dude to go away'
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ and maisry said that she didn't care, she was gettin married anyway
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ n then maggie's freind Nest came in and spilt wine all over maisry and maisry hit her with a shoe
melisande o no she dint!
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ it's totally ture. i heard it from luc's brother christopher, who is all friendly with the ladies
melisande oh christoperh's really hott he looked at me at mass n i thought i was gonna swoon and stuff
~*~lamb_o_god~*~ hes got a thing for nest
melisande omg eva, y do u got to be so meen to me? is it because im fat?

I predict that it will be a bestseller.

_{I have absolutely no documentation for Maisry as a medieval name, so that's probably going to have to change. Unless, does it strike anyone as overtly modern?}

Comments

[rosewalker.livejournal.com]

*dies*

And still better than Stephanie Meyer.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

And still better than Stephanie Meyer.

Aw, talk about damning with faint praise. :P

Writing that was a big stress reliever! It enabled me to write at least a couple more hundred words, at least.

[sbuchler.livejournal.com]

luv it!:-)

just write the scenes... doesn't matter if it sucks, you can go back and fix it later - warm fuzzies!

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Hee! I giggled when I read through it again this morning.

My perfectionist side won't let me! It keeps telling me it has to be perfect the first time, despite the fact that I know it will have to go through multiple drafts before it's finished. The inner editor won't be tamed. :/

[sbuchler.livejournal.com]

put a timer on yourself, so you can't expect to be good if you've only got 10 minutes to write the scene? Get the inner editor liquored up? G'luck!

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Wow! After chores tonight, I might need to liquor myself up. The cows were very trying this evening.

[snowywolfowl.livejournal.com]

I want to just say "relax and have fun with it" but clearly you're a bit frazzled. Maybe try writing this from a different perspective for a bit, say from the point of view of two dim witted and horribly gossipy serving girls.

Hey, if you want to know what happens in a castle ask the kitchen.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm not that frazzled. I just needed to get some frustration out of my system. I've hit the second day NaNo blues, where you realize what a pain in the ass this can be.

I wrote it out of my system with Eva and Melisande up there, though they be making an appearance later on in the story. Not-Luc might need a sulky little sister.

[snowywolfowl.livejournal.com]

"I just needed to get some frustration out of my system. I've hit the second day NaNo blues, where you realize what a pain in the ass this can be."

No worries. Been there, endured that two years back when I crashed out of NaNo when my files corrupted. Personally, I'll probably start NaNo in the middle of November. This neck scalloping job on my guitar is more than enough of a difficult run. Might as well devote all my aggravation to one project, rather than split it.

I like the sulky sister comment, and even if you don't have them make an appearance I'm sure writing a parallel story like "Eva and Melisande are...like whatever!" would be a good stress relief on its own.