Our NaNo Mail from Andy Weir

It's impossible not to glean every bit of insight into the craft of writing as I can and our inbox tidbit for today was one definitely worth sharing, especially to the writers who aren't in the NaNo loop this year. (If you do have an account, I'd still check it once a week just to see if you get something that speaks to you, whether you're in it to win it or not.)

Today's juicy takeaway for me lay at the end in particular:

And, finally, I have this advice: Resist the urge to tell friends and family your story. I know it’s hard because you want to talk about it and they’re (sometimes) interested in hearing about it. But writers have a dirty little secret: We are mainly motivated by our desire for people to experience our stories. We want an audience. We need it.

Telling your story to friends verbally satisfies that need for an audience, and it diminishes your motivation to actually write it. So make a rule: The only way for anyone to ever hear about your stories is to read them. You can still give it to them chapter by chapter—so you get the sweet, sweet external validation that you crave during the process. But no telling the story outside the pages.

If you do that, you’ll at least finish the book.

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I can't express enough how hard I nodded at this. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the excited gush of would-be writers as they hash out every juicy detail, getting that gratification then letting it fade once sated (I have a post about thankfulness scheduled around Thanksgiving that touches on this a bit).

It's, unknowingly before, why I've always hesitated to say too much about stories I've written, am writing or want to write. There's a desperate need to gain that gratification that essentially makes it tough to follow that high into the task itself. Failing to feel that again can be discouraging to the process of a current or future project.

Like he also pointed out, there's also the desire to have someone experience your work unguided. You don't want to plant ideas or impressions that may affect their honest assessment, wondering if you simply gave them a thought to parrot rather than their original impression. 

The other points touch on the reality of writing not always being an inspired blaze, the inevitability that a story may change drastically as you actually write it, and that you might fight a lot harder for a solid 300 words than you did for a rushed 1000 (and that difference between flow isn't unusual). All around, it was obviously a message very worthwhile.

What are you waiting for? Even if you're not NaNo ready this year, go ahead and nab a free account and maybe find your motivation from your buddies and your mailbox. Remember to add me, AbsentGoddess, and feel free to hit up my inbox concerning writing!