Every November for the past three or so years I’ve taken an unused notebook and labeled it “NaNoWriMo” with that year, fully intending on sitting down to write every day during National Novel Writing Month. And every year I don’t make it past the first week due to poor planning, lack of motivation, real life, and other excuses I throw into the void.
This year has been a little different. No, I haven’t been good about writing every day. I didn’t even write most days so far this month. But this is the first year I continued to work on my story. Instead of writing for the first few days and then laying the story to rest, I’ve had spurts of a couple or so days over the whole month. What’s different this year, you may ask? Besides being stuck at home due to the pandemic, I’m writing a story I already know: Rapunzel.
Why rewrite a fairy tale that’s already been rewritten? Well, in all the versions of Rapunzel I’ve read, none of them really delve deep into the physical relationship the witch has with the girl. I also wanted to explore the reason the witch would decide to force the baker to exchange his firstborn child for the rampion he stole from her garden to please his infertile wife. Besides being a lonely witch, perhaps she had feelings for the baker and since she couldn’t have him, some part of him would have to do.
I’d like to say one of my New Year’s Resolutions would be to write every day, but like my determination to write every day in November, making resolutions always seems pointless since I never fall through with half of them. But as I’ve been writing throughout this month, I’ve felt the creative spark I thought had long been extinguished. Though I wrote only a page or so each of the handful of days I’ve written in the “NaNoWriMo 2020” notebook, seeing all those pages develop into the beginning of a story I care so much about is an amazing feeling! And though my work is a long way away from being viewable to the public eye, getting the story out is what is important right now. The good writing will come in the subsequent drafts, after I know how the story is going to go.
For those out there who have ambitions of being a writer, I wish you luck and motivation. It is a lot of work to write something worth reading, but after all the hard parts it will be amazing to see your story grow into something others can enjoy. Happy writing!
Header photo from Pixabay by Christoph Zimmermann.
Cassandra Sprague 