NaNoWriMo Break
It’s time for a NaNoWriMo break!
Come, NaNo participants! Show me your word counts!
How is everyone doing? I am embarrassed to admit that I only broke the 4,000 word mark last night. Yes, I’m almost 10,000 words behind. Truly, though, I’m not worried because even if I don’t finish NaNo, I still have a story I like for once.
I find it funny that what happened to me last year – getting sick and never quite recovering the word count – is threatening to happen to me this year. I am trying, though. I’m proud to say I haven’t given up yet.
Have you given up?
Why! We’re only eight days in. Sheesh. Start over if you must, but give up only eight days in? You don’t need to be doing that.
Recently I have read a lot of things criticizing NaNo and people who participate. While they have entirely valid points, I still want to tell them to just shut their mouths already. Not every NaNo participant thinks they can publish their NaNo novel right after. That’s plain idiotic.
I do it because I find it fun (I’m a bit addicted to stress like that) and it gets me writing something new. (I have yet to write a NaNo novel in the genre I consider myself a writer in.) It’s new, it’s fun, it’s different. Beyond that, I don’t need to explain my reasoning to people who tend to make sweeping generalization. (Even though you could twist my words and say what I just said is a sweeping generalization.)
All in all, even though I’m extremely far behind, I’m still having fun. I hope you are, too.
By the way, if you’re a bit behind and would like some motivation, I have daily prompts going up at Write Anyway.

November 9th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I have read some of those articles about why NaNoWriMo is horrible, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that those people are not getting the incrediable writing high that comes when you let go and just create like you have to do with NaNo. They seem to all think that writing is only for the priviliged- the born writers. And while I do believe the best writers are born to write, I think that the world only benifits when others jump in and write too. It doesn’t take anything away from published novelists to have the average citizen spend a month going for their book writing dream. Plus, for the ones of us who are truly aspiring to publish our work later, this gives us the perfect chance to focus on our writing with intensity for one month a year.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Right on, Sara. It doesn’t harm them (unless they are agents/companies and people are silly and try to publish NaNo novels with no editing) so why get their knickers in a knot about people having some fun?
November 20th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
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