potential introduction ctrl-x

So, I was reading through some* words I wrote last November as part of this great event and stumbled upon a part that I am going to delete, but feel as though it should see the light of day somewhere.  Statements like that are what blogs are for.  Statements like that are what CB radios are for. Statements like that are what most of the cable channels I see are for.  So, before the delete key was struck, the ctrl-C key was struck and then some more keys and then the ctrl-v:

POTENTIAL INTRODUCTION

This has been a treat to create.  I thought about it a bunch and figure that creating things is better than worrying about whether or not what you are about to create will be any good.  If you critique something before it is even created, than something is not right.  That was the beautiful part of trying to write 50,000 words in one month.  You don’t have time to toil over the introduction or the middle bit.  I didn’t really do anything with Arthur and his tale than sit down and try to write out a thin idea I had about a night porter that has his dreams stolen from him.  That was it really.  Bits and pieces came to me as I sat and wrote and other bits and pieces came from somewhere I never expected them to come from.  I don’t even know where the place is, but it was a magical place.  I have always figured a novel needs to be planned out; the author needs a corkboard with different character sketches and bits of research tacked up to form a map.  I hadn’t done this when November rolled around and National Novel Writing Month kicked off, but I still gave it a go.  I’m glad I did.  Just like you don’t need butter to cook waffles, you don’t need any of that stuff to write a novel.  It might be better with butter, but it is still pretty fun to do even if you don’t use butter. 

            I sat and talked with a friend that doubted whether forcing yourself to barf out 50,000 words in a month is a good way to write a book, and all I can say is that for me it is a great way.  Deadlines and goals keep you from fiddling with the thing to no end.  It keeps you from sitting there, not knowing where to go next, and allowing distraction to set in.  I have always been a victim of procrastination and general laziness.  The idea of writing a novel seemed so daunting until I just sat down and tried it out. I was able to exist in another world that took over my life for weeks.  Arthur’s adventure opened a can of worms in my imagination I had not used since I turned 10.  It was so much fun to create his world and write about his silly little adventure.  I was amazed at how weird tangents allowed themselves to intertwine and how bits I had forgotten about writing came back into the story a week or two down the line.  It was really pretty breathtaking to write and see it all come together.  I had no idea how 90% of the words I typed were going to look.  I didn’t know how to end it, I didn’t know if I would keep a lot of the characters and plot points in the story, but they all ended up playing important parts that make me smile.  And right there is a score for the home team. 

            I thought about this friend.  Would he ever be able to write a book with the idea in his head that literature is such a dense and valuable art form?  And would that book that sits, densely and valuably in the stratosphere be better than the barfed out words I did over the past 30 days that exists on my computer screen?  It is kind of like potential energy versus kinetic energy.  I can honestly say that even if everyone that reads this book agrees that it sucks… or no, even if I get home and the computer catches on fire and the backups all fail and the digital cloud that only sort of makes sense dissipates and I never even get to read The Night Porter from start to finish, I would say that it is very valuable.  It was a bit of a test perhaps.  If I put my mind to it, can I sit down and write a book?  Of course!  Once you put your mind to it, you realize the giant mountain you are about to climb is not a giant mountain, but rather a grassy hill with a gondola waiting to help you up the first bit.  I think it’s true with everything too.  Once you dive in, the hardest part is done.  Whenever I don’t want to make a phone call, or am afraid to get out of bed in the morning, eventually I realize, looking back, that all I needed to do was embrace that first step. 

---------
*46,000