After I've Written My Thesis...

.... this will be my next project:

To read No Plot? No Problem: A Low Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty. And then, as you might have already guessed, try to write a book in a month.

Gretchen Rubin wrote about reading Baty's book in The Happiness Project, and wrote her own novel in 30 days. It sounded like a fun and rewarding project. Essentially, you are charged with writing 1,666 words a day, which leaves you with a 50,000 word text once the month is complete. And, as much as I have on my plate to get done in the next few months, I have not been able to get this idea out of my head.

Yes, the book will most likely be complete garbage, but it's a good start to work up a little courage to work on some other writing projects, especially if I'm interested in trying to work my thesis into a book project at some point (quite possibly).

It seems to me that courage is an essential part of being a writer. You have to have the courage to sit down and actually do the writing, then the courage to show what you've done to others, then the courage to accept feedback (much of which will most likely be "constructive"), and then the courage to actually try to publish the damn thing. And if you get that far, the courage to admit that your book will most likely not be read or liked by anyone, and if it is read, you'll have to put up with persnickety readers (such as myself) leaving half-assed reviews on goodreads.com.

In any case, it takes a lot of courage to write. Courage and a lot of get-go, and a lot of self-

It seems like a 30-day book writing challenge would be like a swift kick in the butt. Yes, you can commit to writing so many pages a day (even if they're utter muck), and yes, you can get write a book. The first step of doing something well is knowing it can be done at all, yes?

I don't even know that I want to write a novel someday, but I have been working on a collection of letters and essays to/for Felicity that I started over a year ago, when I was pregnant with her, and have continued working on (though not with any sort of consistency).

Or Ian has suggested that I enter the somewhat lucrative and nearly quality-control-free world of romance novel writing. The best pen name I've come up with is Geraldine Plum.

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