The Final Stretch

Heading into the last week of speed-writing a novel for NaNo is always a daunting experience. Either you hate everything you've written or you simply can't comprehend why you started such insanity in the first place. Nothing gels and your mind is awash with how to make this behemoth come together without going back and editing, a carnal sin until Dec. 1 by NaNo standards. The hardest part is always the turning off of one's Inner Editor at the starting gate. Giving her a foot in the door is not a wise decision now.

But then something happens, in the middle of the night, when muses occupy your plot store. An epiphany is left on your work table. Mine came this morning and I had the map of my Vision Quest, without which no painting, poem or prose has ever come to fruition. I know what it looks like and where it's going. No, that doesn't mean the Editor won't rake me over the coals next month and make me delete words I thought were golden. But it does indicate that I will make it over the finish line and have raw clay assembled for something that may resemble a suitable sculpture, once the fine-tuning is done. Thank you, Lovely Muses.