Tuesday, December 2, 2014

When You Lose at NaNoWriMo...

...nothing happens.

That's right. The skies don't fall. The Red Sea isn't parted. Aliens don't invade Earth.

"But, but, but I feel awful!" you scream. "I only wrote 49,999 words! I am a failure!"

No. You are not a failure. You have a novel. Go finish it. Add that last word.

"But it's December!"

So the fuck what?

NaNoWriMo is not about hard and fast rules. It's not about torturing yourself. It's definitely not about finding new ways to make yourself miserable.

NaNoWriMo is about trying something new. Stretching your wings. Having some fun, for the love of [deity of your choice]!

"You're just saying that because you wrote 50,000 words," you say with a sneer.

No, I didn't. I made it about 5,000 words before real life interfered too much. I started November 1st, sitting in a hotel room that didn't even have a desk chair. A miserable cold had me in its talons, and the repairs on my car still weren't completed. Trust me, the rest of the month is a freaking blur. I sat down on Saturday, November 29th, looked around, and thought, "Screw it! I'm crocheting and watching movies."

What it comes down to is knowing when to lay down the hammer on your ass and when to ease up. After fifteen months of stress, my brain was fried. I struggled to type even a paragraph. Luckily, I have family and friends who have no problem telling me I'm being too hard on myself. So even though November is the official National Novel Writing Month, it really doesn't matter when you write.

I just matters that you write.

8 comments:

  1. Halle-freaking-luiah.

    I didn't even try this year. And when I've tried in years past, I lost more than I won. But any time I end up with a sizeable chunk of verbage on the screen, I count myself a winner, even if I'm not entitled to a cool winner's icon. It's totally about writing, and whenever you do that, it's a win.

    Angie

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  2. Hope the New Year has less stress than the last. Cheers and boogie boogie.

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    1. I pray every day that the Great God Murphy ignores me in 2015!

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    2. Or, make your mind up not to let him bother you. Kick that fucker to the door and slam it shut.

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  3. I managed 18k this year trying to jump start the third book in my series, before life intervened. The first time I did NaNo I only managed 15k, but eventually published it at 93k words. The first person I knew who did NaNo won her first time and ten years later is still "polishing" the same book. So, it's a nice thing to be able to say you did, but the other 11 months are important too.

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    1. Yeah, I don't quite get the forever polishing thing. Someone I met in 2004 is still working on her first novel. I would get bored working on the same project for that long. *shrug*

      But then, it's after noon and I still have my jammies on! LOL I really can't criticize someone else's motivation.

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  4. I wrote this year's NaNo off due to revising and editing another ms. to get it ready. C'est la vie! I'll make it up somehow, we know this, but I didn't even twitch when I realized this years was a bust for me.

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