I’ve always considered myself a pretty fast writer—when I write. I mean, I could eat lunch at work and still knock out a thousand words. I have written a 90K word book in a month. But the one year I tried NANOWRIMO, I choked. Couldn’t write 300 words in a day. Couldn’t get through a chapter in a week. Couldn’t… Well, couldn’t finish NANOWRIMO.
I felt like such a failure, but every day when I got home from work and saw that I hadn’t met my word count for the day, I panicked. Of course, I thought “I’ll make it up tomorrow,” but then I didn’t. I know it’s only a campaign against oneself, but the more I didn’t meet the goals I was supposed to, the more my stomach wrapped itself into knots. I felt the pressure. I felt the pain. I did not enjoy the experience at all.
I know some people (I know some people!) have written their novels during
NANOWRIMO, but I did not. The discipline that NANOWRIMO gives you is a good thing, but when faced with it I turned out to be the biggest wuss ever. It’s not for me, I’m afraid. But for those who thrive under the NANOWRIMO pressure, more power to you! Enjoy the month. I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Mystic Desire: A collection of supernatural tales sure to keep you up at night, peering into the shadows! Or just wide awake, reading.
Only a Good Man Will Do
Naval Maneuvers
NANOWRIMO? I’d never hear of it until your NANOWRIMO or Bust. I am sure I’d fail as well, I like to write in my own time without disciplines set, letting the story take me along for the ride. As you say Dee, for those authors who can, power to them!
Discipline is good, but like many things in moderation. While I wish NaNoWriMo would work for me every year, the goal of writing a certain amount of words a day just to meet a quota doesn’t work for me either. Life isn’t a one-size fits all. I really wish I could write that much every day, but then there is the marketing, the blogs, the interview, cooking, cleaning, vitals, physical training…. I could go on and on. Thanks for the post. And good luck for all who are doing the challenge.
My issue with NaNoWriMo is that is forces the writer to produce garbage, quantity of quality. I get enough of that attitude elsewhere and don’t need to force it upon myself.
My question was, ‘Why November?’ Why not any other month without a major holiday in it, or even the start of Christmas? I will say this much: I take off the entire month of December due to 3 family birthdays, Christmas in general, and the fact the kids are out of school for two weeks. After working frantically (or even at the ‘eh, so-so’ pace), it’s nice to have a ‘recovery’ month:)