Thursday, November 07, 2013

Saying No to NaNoWriMo

Excuses.

I've got a lot of them.

But at no other time of the year do they become as important as November, when it feels as though the entire world is getting their crap together and participating in NaNoWriMo.

This year, I am not doing NaNoWriMo.  And, of course, I have many reasons not to, not least of which is that I was successful in "winning" at NaNoWriMo last year.  Really.  I even have the badge to prove it.

So here are my excuses, in no particular order (feel free to use any of these when you need a handy, all-purpose excuse):
  • I'm too busy with work
  • I'm too busy with school (I'm currently doing my Masters on a part-time basis)
  • the weather is lousy (I live in Canada, which is not part of the excuse but more of an explanation of the weather)
  • I can't pick just one writing project to concentrate on
  • I've already started writing all the projects I want to for now (NaNoWriMo requires all the writing to be done from scratch, outlining is okay but not prior writing)
  • the stories I'm writing (and publishing) are shorter than the 50,000 word target needed to "win" at NaNoWriMo
  • I already keep track of how much I write and I write a decent amount
  • I'm too tired/ lazy/ bored/ hungry
You get the picture.  Nature may abhor a vacuum but I can fill it with as many excuses as you could possibly want.

Bottom line: I just didn't want to do it this year.  Granted, I did make a belated attempt to start on November 5th but when I realized that it was already November 5th, for Pete's sake, I correctly gave up.  One of my tips from last year's successful NaNoWriMo attempt was to start off strong, a piece of advice that actually arose from my failure to do this the last time.

I'm still working on my novel started during last year's NaNoWriMo.  This year, during November, I am hoping to edit another novel manuscript that I shelved many months ago.  As you may notice, I don't suffer from a lack of productivity.  I just don't do very well with self-edits, queries and the rest of the process.  I'm working on it.  I promise.

So this year, I'm sitting out NaNoWriMo while the rest of you creative your Great Canadian Novels.  Don't worry, I'll be back next year.