A Western Novel Start-ith

I've wanted to write a western novel for quite a while. Sure, I admit that a writing a western is not a new idea and, judging from the best seller list, it won't be a popular idea...but, that is not the point. A western is something that I want to write.

When I came across the writing exercises on Jacqui Lofthouse's site, I decided that I would get going on it.

Day 1's writing exercise was to free write for an hour...no interuptions...no stopping. I was told to sit at my computer and write whatever came into my mind about my western for one hour.

I opened Word on my computer, set a timer and waited for the words to flow.

...but, nothing happened.

I just sat there, watching the blinking cursor. I didn't have a plot, characters or even a setting for the novel. I only had a dream to write a western novel.

What the heck did I think I was trying to do?

I remembered that the instructions said not to worry, just write...so, I started writing...half sentences, words, ideas...whatever came to mind.

I decided the main characters would be 3 brothers. So, I started sketching each of them out.

I visited a little ghost town, up in the Colorado mountains this past summer, so I decided "put" the story there.

I know that the Colorado mountains were a "busy" place during the late 1800s, so I decided the story would be around 1882 or 1883, a good time for cowboys in the region.

The more I wrote, the more came to mind. Suddenly, I couldn't type fast enough. Ideas, places, conflicts, themes....I wrote them all down.

By the time the hour was up, I had over three pages of thoughts and ideas about the novel. I was amazed at the things I had written down.

When my hour was up, I quit writing just like the instructions said. I felt a great sense of accomplishment. In one hour, I'd made more progress than in the past three months I've been thinking about writing it.

And, even though I had quit writing it for the day, new things for the novel popped into my head for the rest of the day. While I was poking around the web, I found some historical events and characters that would fit. I even found a list describing the tombstones in the ghost town.

Dedicating one hour to the novel....just one little hour....has kick started the whole thing. It feels great and I can't wait to get started again later today.

....one hour at a time.