I just got back from a week away from home (as evidenced by my lack of posts). I am so out of routine right now I feel completely off balance.
I'll confess right now that I'm 100% positive I won't make my 50,000 word NaNoWriMo goal. I started off gangbusters, but then life events, parent-teacher conferences, holidays and vacations really got in the way of writing. I haven't put a word on paper in a week and haven't worked on my story in at least ten days. It is so frustrating because December looks to be just as crazy, with holiday activities every week, shopping and baking and entertaining to get done, and all of that merriment to be had. Makes me wish we could just skip ahead to January, after I've taken the tree down, and life settles back into some semblance of normal.
Which all leads me back to my earlier whine that November is really a bad month for NaNoWriMo. Sure, if you're not an American you probably think it's just as good of a month as any other. But Thanksgiving really throws a wrench in the smooth flow of life. It's not just one day. It's several days of preparing, planning, traveling, eating, visiting, catching up and trying to get back into it all.
So I may, come post-holidays, institute an Alternate NaNoWriMo for myself. Go at things as if it were the real NaNoWriMo but in my own more workable month. Sure, I'll lose all the support of the thousands of other NaNo participants, but really, I think I can survive.
Meanwhile, I'm going to try to get back to just writing something every day. To all of those professional and well-disciplined writers who claim to write every single day, I want to ask how in the world they accomplish this? They must not visit family for the holidays, or if they do, they must find great excuses for slipping away for long stretches at a time.
I'm just glad to have my laptop back in one place. Right now that's about all I can manage.
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2 comments:
I wish I knew how someone can write everyday -- I try, but I don't think 50 words counts (which is what happens on the weekends before The Attack of the Tot or the Pitiful Dishes Crying Out For Soap incidents). If I'm lucky, I can get in 500 words on the weekend, but only if I'm very lucky.
Maybe try again in January?
Welcome back!
I know what you mean about the daily writing thing. There are weeks that I am lucky to get a few pages, let alone get something written every day. Life gets in the way...
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