Stalling for Time

As you all know, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). That's been going well; after four days I realized high school + NaNo + a truly insane amount of homework meant I'd need to cut back on writing so I could actually get sleep at night. At least, enough to function on a level higher than "extra on The Walking Dead." Overall lesson? Don't bite off more than you can chew unless it's your absolute favorite dessert and you can swallow it all at some point.

NaNo's taken me through some of the harder parts of my story, through scenes that didn't automatically write themselves (every single one of them except that slightly good bit in the middle). Now, I've reached the dragon to slay: the scene that I don't want to write because it's scary/I'm inexperienced/oh gods why must I torture my characters this way? It's painful.

So I'm being human and stalling.

I've been stalling for two days (not doing anything nice to my wordcount, I tell you) and the fear of writing this scene is nearly crippling. I can't continue past twenty words--it's awful.

Then I remembered something I read on the Internet somewhere, something about many tiny words + time = eventual progress.That sounds great, but I'm more likely to put the writing off for years and years instead of contribute consistently. Then came my dad's favorite piece of advice to give: eat the frog. It's very similar to "bite the bullet" except it conjures a mental image that's nearly as revolting as whatever you're stalling for. Also, don't play with your food before you eat it, though I'm sure that doesn't apply here.

The stalling ends now. I'm not particularly hungry but there's always room in our stomachs for a frog.

Still stalling.

Can't stop stalling.

Maybe I have a problem.

This scene is a problem.

Urgh this frog's going to taste nasty. Dad didn't mention anything about frog stir-fry...