A Resolution

So...guess what? I think I'm going to write a novel.
Confession: I'm scared shitless.

Several people lately, including Magen Toole, have inspired me to take the plunge and just write the damn thing, already. So I've made a new year's resolution: write a novel in 2011. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and this next year might as well be the year for it. But here are my misgivings: I'm really better at the short stuff-- like poetry and short stories. Perhaps it's because I'm good at giving impressions. I write those poems and stories that leave something to the reader at the end, so there's an element of the inchoate there. But long stuff? I don't know. I'm not sure I know how to develop a situation and a character over the span of a novel.  I'm afraid that my characters will be flimsy and/or unbelievable in the end. I'm also afraid that they will be too much like me--i.e. have all my insecurities, all my idiosyncrasies,  etc. Finally, I'm afraid that the book will have no direction, because as scared as I am that I'll write lousy characters, I've always been much more of a character person than a plot person.

Of course, I shouldn't whine. You do always hear about the book that took years to write. And authors saying what lousy writers they are, but what great RE-writers they are. So, maybe I'm in good company, here.

Anyway, for better or worse 2011 is Laura-writes-her-first-novel year. I've decided. And all you poor souls out there are going to have to listen to my fussy self trying to orient herself. Well, alright--you won't have to listen, but you are all cordially invited to do so. Maybe you all can help keep me accountable to the task. :)

“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” Gene Fowler