People are gearing up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once again — the annual challenge to write 50,000 words of fiction in the 30 days of November. (I did a Q&A about it a few years ago.) The local Municipal Liaison (the splendiferous Nicki!) has plot-ins going for people to get their ducks (or albino weasels) in order, e-mails are going out, posts are up on the Forward Motion for Writers forum.
Clearly, it’s October.
And this year, I’m not participating. It’s not a recent decision; I told Nicki months ago. I’ve been feeling burned out at participation, which I tried to short-circuit last year by doing a goofy, make-it-up-as-I-go-along fanfic of my fellow WriMos. I only wrote two episodes and started a third. I need the break.
I’m not sure why. Writing under 2k a day isn’t a major challenge. Coming up with new ideas and even outlining them ahead of time isn’t a problem. The local WriMos are wonderful people, and November is often my most social month of the year because of it.
And yet.
Maybe it’s because it’s not a challenge now? I’ve done it, I know I can do it, and it doesn’t have much new to offer me? The need to meet one more deadline is one stress too many? I don’t know.
I don’t even know how long this break is going to be. It might be just this year. It might be two years. It might be permanent. I just don’t know.
What I do know is that I will be cheering 100% for anyone who’s doing it. I’ll be going to at least one write-in. And I will always be happy about having done NaNo and learned where and how I can push my limits.
Are you participating this year? If not, what do you have on tap for November?
Well said. And I agree – after doing NaNo competitively (against myself and my own limitations) for 10 years, the competition changes. It’s still exciting, and I still love the event – but the thrill of *finally* writing that novel is gone. It’s routine now, a habit (that I love), and I’m ready to start growing in different directions.
That doesn’t mean ML-ing will go away any time soon. I can’t imagine my November without it anymore! Neither can anyone else within my world – everyone knows about “that writing thing I do”. But I too have the need to shake things up and change the conversation a bit.
It’s funny – when Chris Baty stepped down as the head of OLL and NaNoWriMo, I was crushed and felt completely betrayed. But this year, I kind of get it.
Best of luck to you and your upcoming (significant) stress reduction! I’m glad to hear we’ll see you at at least one write-in – don’t forget you’re welcome at all the events, participant or not!
Thank you!
I look forward to seeing how you shake things up for yourself. 🙂
BWAHAHAHAAAAA!
*ahem*
Yes. It will be fun!
I totally get what you’re saying. I still plan to do NaNo because it’s an extra novel for me and so useful, but I don’t do it for the challenge, a fact that showed clearly after, I believe, the second or third year when I stopped writing a full-length novel and chose projects that would hit the 50k mark without a heck of a lot of work. As long as it’s useful and fun, I’ll be there, but there may come a year when I’m hanging out with you instead :).
I’ll still be writing during November, of course. 😉
Good luck with your project this year!
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I get it, Erin. I use NaNo to get a book out, I met the challenge the first year I did it. Now it’s about putting words on a page daily, something I don’t always do the other days of the year. Thanks for the cheers along the way.
That makes it a very useful tool in your annual writing goals! And I’m always happy to cheer my friends along. 😀
For me, I’ve often tended to binge writing, and I don’t think that’s something I’ll ever entirely give up. I’m working, however, at making my baseline a positive number, rather than zero. The binges will no doubt still be impressive, but the quotidian habits will mean more written over time. At least, that’s my hope.
I plan for this year to be my last year for NaNo. It will be ten years. I’ve proven I can write a first draft. Now I need to prove I can revise and get a marketable product. Oddly, I’m more concerned about how I’ll ever finish this year. I’m doing Flash for 100, Please! Yes. 100 pieces of flash fiction, and I have yet to complete even one. This is truly the NaNo for insanity.
That is ambitious! I’m slowly accumulating 101 flash pieces that I’ll publish together as a collection, but I wouldn’t try to write them all in one month. Good luck!
(And good luck getting PBOTL polished and out the door.)
Kind of wish I was, but not sure I can cram it into my schedule. I did try it once, but didn’t “win” in the end… :-/
My personal attitude is that if you ended the month with more words than you started with, that’s a win. 🙂
You could try an unofficial NaNo — go for half the word count or something.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!