Pep Talk with Nathaniel Ballard

© Lizzie Gudkov

How can it be over a week already? Wasn’t it Preptober only yesterday? And yet, here we are, already nearly two weeks into NaNoWriMo. And what a busy week it has been. When I’ve not been trying to bash out my own daily dose of words, I’ve been watching the Nano community around the world. I’ve been reading comments and questions on the NaNoWriMo Facebook group, watching my buddies on the website, having discussions on my local group’s channel on Discord, and noting the progress of those people I actually know in Real Life™. Everybody is at a different place. Some are roaring ahead like a sprinter, getting words down like crazy. Some are toodling along, more or less maintaining the pace, and some, at this early stage, are struggling to keep up. And, of course, everybody is having to deal with Real Life™ getting in the way – sickness, broken-down computers, extra work shifts. I know that one. I can always tell when it’s NaNoWriMo because I suddenly get loads of texts asking me if I can cover for xxx at another shop, do a couple of extra days while yyy is on holiday. But, that’s life. It happens to everybody, and we keep on going regardless. We work around it somehow.

The thing to remember is, whether you are at 500 words, 5,000 words, 20,000 words, or staring at a blank screen and a pile of scrunched up paper – at least you are giving it a go, at least you are trying. You are doing something a little scary, but amazing and wonderful and beautiful. It’s an adventure. Maybe some of you are writing an adventure story, but the very act is an adventure in itself. And, like any adventure story, things aren’t always going to go to plan, things aren’t always plain sailing. There are bumps and detours, setbacks and small victories before your adventurers get to their goal. It wouldn’t be an interesting story otherwise.

It’s the same with your novel’s progress. That dotted blue line on the progress chart doesn’t really show the true picture. When you climb a mountain, it isn’t a smooth slope. When you climb a mountain, there are going to be easy bits, level bits and steep bits. Sometimes, you might have to go downhill for a while before you start to ascend again. Sometimes, you even look at the stretch in front of you and think “how the hell do I get past that?” Or you look ahead and can’t even see the peak. But, you can get there and you will. You will get to the top, and the view from there is glorious. Don’t worry too much about where you are relative to that blue line, concentrate on the words that are in your head, queueing up to get out and down on the page. Get them written and worry about the blue line later.

Wherever you are on your adventure, however far you are up your particular mountain, keep on going. Keep churning out the words, even if you aren’t entirely happy with them. You can deal with that later. Just get them down. It doesn’t matter where everybody else is, you are on your own journey and you are doing just great! Every single lovely one of you.

OK, you’ve had your little break reading this. Now, get back to your pens or keyboards and keep climbing. Happy adventuring!

About Nathaniel Ballard

Nathaniel Ballard is a fictional character in Second Life® who also now serves as his creator’s alter-ego online and as said creator’s pen-name. Outside of Second Life®, he has been a sausage straightener, an engineer, a trainer, a fund-raiser and now manages a charity shop. He writes a lot of words. Some of them even coherent.