My Novel Idea

I'm the only writer I know who dreads writing a novel, likens it to a huuugge homework assignment or suspicious mole I'll remove from my psyche when I get around to it. I've mused on this topic before. In short: I have this solid novel idea but what will it take to motivate me to actually write it?

As you can see the background on my blog has changed again.* I selected this picture (taken when, no lying, I was hanging with the coolest of friends on a secluded island off the coast of Maine) because while there--*sigh* oh great, epiphany time--I was struck by a potential motivating force: a MFA. I mean, since I perceive tackling a novel as a huuuge homework assignment anyway . . .

See, The University of Southern Maine has a writing degree program called Stone Coast; and a degree candidate can submit a twenty page excerpt from their novel. One, if accepted, there's some validation that my idea has merit and/or I might be a potentially sound novelist. Two, if accepted, I'd have to spit-shine finish the thing in order to graduate, I think, so even if it's never published, I'd still earn my degree and be mentored. My hubby and sister hold master's degrees and I want one too. Plus, I'd set a good example for my girls. Ultimately, this is would be more of a self-edification thing.

Now all I gotta do is draft my novel, pump up the excerpt, rob a bank, launder the money . . . this may take a few years to execute . . . thank goodness flash and short stories are so comforting.

Take it from me, never, ever, put yourself alone in a secluded pristine place where you can become all Thoreau-y. Much exhausting marching and drumming is sure to follow.

*My hubby, the clever computer geek, finally succumbed to my nagging and was nice enough to voodoo it for me.