NaNoWriMo
This word strikes panic,fear, and joy all at once.
For those of you not in the writing loop, it stands for National November Writing Month, whereby hundreds of thousands of writers attempt to write 50k words in one month.
Several best selling books have come out of the manic, frantic, mind breaking month that is NaNoWriMo.
And thousands of people leave it feeling broken and won't try writing again for years--if ever.
It's the sort of thing that can be incredibly rewarding as equally as it can be devastating. I've seen and spoken to both sides of the isle, and personally have mixed feelings about NaNo.
I've tried NaNo before--several times as a matter of fact--and each year I came up with exactly one sentence. But you know what I did during the months that weren't November? I wrote and completed books. I've found (for me personally) that trying to put pressure on myself only results in me not doing it. Maybe it's because I've completed novels outside of November? Maybe it's because I just don't like the idea of feeling like a failure (I have) for not getting as excited about it as everyone around me? Maybe it's all of those factors and more!
But I've seen it really break my fellow writers and I just...don't like it. I don't like what it makes people become. So basically I react like this every November:
To those of you who have done NaNo, I commend you! And I want to remind you that no matter if you got 200 words or 50k words down at the end of the month, as long as you wrote something and have more words than you started with, then you did great.
YOU DID GREAT.
You dressed now? Hair brushed? GOOD JOB!
Doing something drastic and life altering like deciding to make writing how you make money is scary---and something I'm still thinking on. Because I have bills to pay and it's a big, big gamble.
I'd have to do things like say, a patreon page--and I'm not even sure that's something that my fellow writer followers on twitter would even find interesting.
So, am I excited that life made a choice for me? .....kinda.
Will it all work out in the end? .....Probably?
Will I have to give up tacos because currently I have to make money choice, like say, paying bills?.... SORTA. A kind friend sent me taco money, and so I'll get a taco tomorrow!
........
Look, don't judge me, I'm from Southern California. Tacos are like tea in England. Could you live without your tea? No? I thought not.
At the end of the day, one way or another, I'm sure I'll be fine. Because other things in my writer life have been falling in to place with so much ease it's scary. And I've found when that happens, it means you're going down the path you're meant to--or thing wouldn't be happening so easily for you.
I've also decided to forgo a newsletter for now, as I'm already having issues juggling this blog, twitter, Facebook, and attempting to liven up my booktube/authortube channel again. That's a lot of social media am I right? And on top that, I might have to Patreon. Yegads it's a lot!
I'm not completely sure how to end this other than to say: the writing life isn't easy. You have to make sacrifices of some kind, at some point. Some sacrifices will be small, some will be big. But ultimately it' worth it. At least I think so.
So thank you for joining me on this journey, for reading this blog, and for talking to me (my favorite thing in the world is when you guys talk to me, can I just say?!).
IN MY NEXT UPDATE WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELF PUBLISHING, ONLINE PUBLISHING HOUSES, TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING, AND THE PROS AND CONS TO THEM!
****If you have any topics you'd like me to cover, you can always e-mail me, leave a comment below, or reach out to me on twitter! I promise I don't bite!****
This word strikes panic,fear, and joy all at once.
For those of you not in the writing loop, it stands for National November Writing Month, whereby hundreds of thousands of writers attempt to write 50k words in one month.
Several best selling books have come out of the manic, frantic, mind breaking month that is NaNoWriMo.
And thousands of people leave it feeling broken and won't try writing again for years--if ever.
It's the sort of thing that can be incredibly rewarding as equally as it can be devastating. I've seen and spoken to both sides of the isle, and personally have mixed feelings about NaNo.
I've tried NaNo before--several times as a matter of fact--and each year I came up with exactly one sentence. But you know what I did during the months that weren't November? I wrote and completed books. I've found (for me personally) that trying to put pressure on myself only results in me not doing it. Maybe it's because I've completed novels outside of November? Maybe it's because I just don't like the idea of feeling like a failure (I have) for not getting as excited about it as everyone around me? Maybe it's all of those factors and more!
But I've seen it really break my fellow writers and I just...don't like it. I don't like what it makes people become. So basically I react like this every November:
 |
| BASICALLY MY MOOD DURING NOVEMBER. |
To those of you who have done NaNo, I commend you! And I want to remind you that no matter if you got 200 words or 50k words down at the end of the month, as long as you wrote something and have more words than you started with, then you did great.
YOU DID GREAT.
Now uh....maybe go brush your hair now? And put on some clothes? Then we continue on! I'll wait!
 |
| HANG IN THERE. IT'S GONNA BE OKAY. Uh...go put some pants on? |
You dressed now? Hair brushed? GOOD JOB!
Let's move on to the next subject!
Life choices!
Or rather, the choices life made for me.
Now I'm not...er...always the best at change. Or seeing signs for change. So usually the universe has to literally smack me with them.
And in this case, smack my job from me.
That's right. I'm jobless. I could've panicked. I could've cried (after all I did love my job, actually). But I didn't.
Instead a thousand little signs that I hadn't remembered I'd seen slammed into my head and a voice said, "hey, this is your chance kid. This is the break you've been waiting for."
And when a voice uses the word 'kid' you know you better listen to it. Because it was probably a mobster in it's past life and well...we know better than not do as mobsters say right? ......Right.
So here I am, my first week of not having a job and I'm not a complete sobbing mess. Instead I'm taking this time to look at my life and my choices. I could go for another job or....I could do the scary thing and attempt to further make my income be based solely on my writing.
Which is....scary. Possibly doable, but scary.
And we all need to do things that scare us right? Go big or go home?
Life choices!
Or rather, the choices life made for me.
Now I'm not...er...always the best at change. Or seeing signs for change. So usually the universe has to literally smack me with them.
And in this case, smack my job from me.
That's right. I'm jobless. I could've panicked. I could've cried (after all I did love my job, actually). But I didn't.
Instead a thousand little signs that I hadn't remembered I'd seen slammed into my head and a voice said, "hey, this is your chance kid. This is the break you've been waiting for."
And when a voice uses the word 'kid' you know you better listen to it. Because it was probably a mobster in it's past life and well...we know better than not do as mobsters say right? ......Right.
So here I am, my first week of not having a job and I'm not a complete sobbing mess. Instead I'm taking this time to look at my life and my choices. I could go for another job or....I could do the scary thing and attempt to further make my income be based solely on my writing.
Which is....scary. Possibly doable, but scary.
And we all need to do things that scare us right? Go big or go home?
Doing something drastic and life altering like deciding to make writing how you make money is scary---and something I'm still thinking on. Because I have bills to pay and it's a big, big gamble.
I'd have to do things like say, a patreon page--and I'm not even sure that's something that my fellow writer followers on twitter would even find interesting.
So, am I excited that life made a choice for me? .....kinda.
Will it all work out in the end? .....Probably?
Will I have to give up tacos because currently I have to make money choice, like say, paying bills?.... SORTA. A kind friend sent me taco money, and so I'll get a taco tomorrow!
........
Look, don't judge me, I'm from Southern California. Tacos are like tea in England. Could you live without your tea? No? I thought not.
At the end of the day, one way or another, I'm sure I'll be fine. Because other things in my writer life have been falling in to place with so much ease it's scary. And I've found when that happens, it means you're going down the path you're meant to--or thing wouldn't be happening so easily for you.
I've also decided to forgo a newsletter for now, as I'm already having issues juggling this blog, twitter, Facebook, and attempting to liven up my booktube/authortube channel again. That's a lot of social media am I right? And on top that, I might have to Patreon. Yegads it's a lot!
I'm not completely sure how to end this other than to say: the writing life isn't easy. You have to make sacrifices of some kind, at some point. Some sacrifices will be small, some will be big. But ultimately it' worth it. At least I think so.
So thank you for joining me on this journey, for reading this blog, and for talking to me (my favorite thing in the world is when you guys talk to me, can I just say?!).
IN MY NEXT UPDATE WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELF PUBLISHING, ONLINE PUBLISHING HOUSES, TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING, AND THE PROS AND CONS TO THEM!
****If you have any topics you'd like me to cover, you can always e-mail me, leave a comment below, or reach out to me on twitter! I promise I don't bite!****
Good read. I'm so new to hearing about NaNo it's interesting to read your perspective. I'm not a NaNo writer, but still interesting. I love what you have to say about writing. Nice post. 🙂
ReplyDeleteHi Joseph! I'm sorry I didn't see this post until now! Ugh! Thank you for your kind words! And I'm not a NaNo writer either! I'm glad you enjoyed this blog post! :D
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