Beach House and NaNoWriMo

I went to see the band Beach House on Saturday and it was unlike any other gig I've been to. Where most bands make me want to dance, or maybe slightly sway or tap my foot or something, Beach House made me feel, in a good way, like all I wanted to do was stand completely rigid for the entire duration of their set. I felt as if I was on smack, like I would have been happy to collapse into a chair and stare at the wall for hours while listening to them play. The singer has a very strange presence, she reminds me of a monster or the girl from The Ring, the way she stands and towers over the microphone and stage is enthralling. Neither of these things sound like positives really, but the gig made me feel very content and dreamy, something that no other band I've seen has ever done.

I've decided to take part in the NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month for longhand) challenge this year, in which the idea is to try and write like a beast for the whole of November, bashing out an entire novel by midnight on the thirtieth. You're meant to get to 50,000 words, but since I forgot about it for the first couple of days and was then in Bristol for the weekend, I only started yesterday. That leaves me with 2000 words a day for the duration. The idea is to just write and write and write, not to think too deeply about what's coming out onto the page, not to go back and change things, just to get your ideas all out of you. It's meant to teach you how to not worry about the first draft so much, just to speed through it so the words are there, and then later on you have as much time as you like to change them. And also, it shows you that you are capable of writing a novel, no matter how shoddy the first draft may be. This is perfect for someone like me who has started writing a novel, but then agonised and procrastinated so much that they worry they'll never finish.

Hopefully in thirty days I'll have a complete novel written, and I'll learn loads along the way I'm sure. I'll keep you updated.