How Writing a Novel is like Finding Nemo

First drafts are messy creatures, full of spur-of-the-moment ideas and words, all jumbled together in a mostly-chaotic tangle. I try not to re-read too often as I write, but only go back just enough to pick up the thread of where I left off, to insert myself back into the flow of energy that is already zooming along; think Crush and Squirt cruisin' the East Australian Current in "Finding Nemo". 

The tricky part is reading the crappy words and leaving them alone for now. Realizing that two chapters back I neglected to fully explain something which now makes the current conversation baffling to any reader who isn't myself, and not going back to rewrite it *this very everlovin' moment*. Because if I did, that's *all* I would do the entire month, and this story would end up like every other story I ever started; sitting in half-finished form, with me so burned-out on the process that I throw my hands into the air come December and never look at the damn thing again.

For me, this year's NaNo is about the continuous flow of storytelling. Getting it all onto the page, in whatever rough-and-tumble form it has, and Leaving. It. Alone. Just going with the flow.

As Crush says when Marlin is looking for the EAC, "You're ridin' it dude! Check it out!"

Duuuude. I totally am. Righteous!