NaNoWriMo has been a big part of my life for a long time, now. It’s my favorite time of year. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve outgrown it, though.
the history
This year is my fifth NaNoWriMo; the first three were wins, but last year I didn’t complete it, and I’m very far behind this year.
What’s the difference? Well, I’m attending university now where, if I’m being honest, November isn’t a great month for me to have a bunch of free time. On the contrary, I have numerous papers and projects due right around this time that I have to spend my writing time on.
the value of NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo first got me deep in the world of writing. It showed me how to get words down on the page without endlessly deliberating over which to use, then to go back and edit later.
NaNoWriMo is invaluable for that, for helping motivate people without the motivation to embark on such a large project and for building such a wide support network for writers. It has other values, too, but those were the main ones to me.
Now, though, I’m motivated to write. I want writing to be a career, or at least part of one. What’s important to me now isn’t large once-per-year projects, it’s building a consistent, year-long routine of daily writing.
That’s… not what NaNoWriMo is for, or at least not to me. When I have a writing schedule working, I tend to drop it to focus on my NaNoWriMo novel, and when I don’t, I feel like taking a “break” from writing after November is over, a break that lasts far too long.
I’ve also proved to myself that I can write effectively outside of NaNoWriMo; this January and February, I wrote over 18,000 words of daily updates to a serial novel before giving up (which I was rewriting as this NaNoWriMo’s project). I gave it up, but due to issues with the publishing structure, not the time commitment. This was the largest project I’d written outside of November, and I’ve done more projects since then; this October I wrote an 8,000-word play for a student org I’m involved in.
The point is, I don’t need NaNoWriMo to write anymore, and NaNoWriMo disrupts what writing habits I have built.
While NaNoWriMo was and still is valuable, it’s not what I need anymore.
what now?
I won’t be continuing this year’s NaNoWriMo. I’ll still work on my project, but within the context of a wider writing routine.
Instead of NaNoWriMo, I’ll be looking at strategies to help me build that routine. I have a few ideas, but haven’t had time to implement them until now.
For future NaNoWriMos… I may participate. I’m not sure. One way I can see myself participating would be to set a different goal for the month, one that fosters the writing habits I’m trying to build instead of disrupting them. For example, to keep a daily journal for the full month. Journalling is a valuable habit to me, but never one I’ve been able to keep up consistently; the structure of NaNoWriMo could help me make it a regular habit.
upcoming projects (hopefully)
And now, for a quick status on my writing projects. I’d like to find a better way to publish these, but for now appending it to this post and others like it works well.
- Coriolis (formerly known as The Prodigal’s Brother) - temporarily stalled, but making progress
- Musings - picking back up!
- Poems - going stronger than ever!
- tty1.blog - stalled, but new posts are in the planning stage
- Journaling - Stalled for a long time
- An Antique Land (mixed poetry/prose based on “Ozymandias”) - Stalled
- A Rainless Sky - Making progress, but very slowly
- Tick - I haven’t even announced what this is yet, but it’s in the planning stage and I’m very excited about it. I’m not gonna let myself begin actual work on it until I finish A Rainless Sky since it’s very similar in medium.
- Fake Movie Blurbs - I haven’t touched this in forever but it’s really fun and I want to start making these again!
