NaNoWriMo or no…

~ Meg

I am considering participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. Why on earth would I want to subject myself to that torture? Well, here’s why…

I HAVE BOOK FIVE OF MY SERIES FULLY PLOTTED OUT AND I HAVEN’T WRITTEN A BLOODY WORD SINCE FEBRUARY BECAUSE I CAN’T SEEM TO GET OFF THIS STUPID BLOG WRITING CAROUSEL!!!!!

There. I feel better. The truth is I’ve been more caught up in “Here Lies a Soldier” than the novel universe. But I also feel like in being a series writer, the books need to appear in semi-regular fashion if they are going to keep the audience’s attention. Which is why I thought signing up for NaNoWriMo might force me to pick up the thread of the next  Bucks County Novel episode. If I succeed in vomiting out 50,000 words over the 30 days of November, I can edit and proof read in December, get it to the beta readers on January first, and barring any glaring problems with the manuscript, do the final edit and publish before the end of February. Sounds like a good plan.

On the other hand, what that means for blogging is that I will have to drastically cut down on the time I spend here. In fact I was thinking of just hanging in with Lula for drinking adventurously and making that my one and only weekly contribution. And maybe just a quick hello in the comments of your lovely posts as best I can.

I’m still wavering. NaNo is a HUGE commitment. I absolutely despise deadlines. The time constraints might have the opposite effect from what I intend and I’ll just get mad and frustrated. So I don’t know…

Are any of you doing NaNoWriMo? And if you are, care to twist my arm?

Published by Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

71 thoughts on “NaNoWriMo or no…”

  1. (whispers) I’m thinking of it too… would mean completely shutting down the blog for a month (and not keeping up with anyone else’s either) to do it… Is such a thing possible??

    Like

    Reply

  2. Most certainly go for it. It may work, it may not! But how else will you know unless you actually try?! And as it is not having deadlines and not having the entire world rooting for you hasn’t helped so far right? So let’s try it with those things working in your favour. The prompts, the sprints are known to help. And I’m not saying this because I am an official ML for the India chapter but because it worked for me. 😛 And quite a few of us shall be there to give you company too. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I keep telling myself that it’s of no real consequence if I don’t make the 50k words, I’ll still be a lot farther along than if I did nothing. But I know I’ll feel like a failure if I don’t make the goal. Which is what holds me back! Writer problems, lol!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Oh, you’d have won anyway. And why do you think you won’t have 50k words. You most definitely will. And just in case you don’t (although that’s a non-possibility) you’d be that many words closer to achieving the goal than you are now. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I need something to kick my ass! But I’ll have to average about 1700 words a day, everyday to make the goal. That is rough. And since there will be days I can’t write for whatever reason, I’ll have to write more on other days to make up for it. Ugh. I am out of my mind! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. That might be a thought. It would give everyone a look at raw unfiltered writing, too. Because there’s absolutely no time to edit and proof along the way. Nice thinking Whitney! And thanks for your unwavering support!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. Deadlines help … and challenges …. and this is a challenge to yourself … in front of witnesses … go for it I say … we may (and will) miss bits of you but a larger bit of you will be back with us when you are done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Good for it Meg, sure I will miss my contributor but you will be back. As to the 1,700 words, well back in the pulp days those writers averaged 5,000 to 10,000 words daily. Philip K. Dick was 10,000 word a day man and he was one of the great writers of the 20th century (true he took speed by the bucket load and he ended up completely bat shit crazy and paranoid, but that the price right?). Anyway good luck good Doctor I will miss you.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks! I’m still waffling. Here’s the thing… if I finish this novel and one more, I feel like I can put the series to bed and move on. Therefore it makes sense to press on before too much time goes by. I will definitely be back. I have a mental file of new ideas, including on the collaborative work(s). Fate is nearly finished by the way…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. I’d do it, what have you really got to lose. This year I obviously can’t and I’m not sure why I didn’t try last year, but one of these years I will try it. And you have so much of the preliminary stuff done. Like Whitney said, just post some of it here occasionally and we’ll be happy. We’re easy 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. I’m late with my inconsequential thoughts… but I think you should do it. I considered it for about 20 minutes but then realized I am insane. I don’t have anything ready to start writing on 11/1. Maybe some year I’ll do it. But it sounds like you’re in the perfect place to do this — you have your shit together, you need a kick start to get yourself writing, and blogging is sucking up lots of time so it’s good to … diversify? But don’t go by what I say… I most certainly do not have my shit together…!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. I think it’s a fantastic idea! I love Nanowrimo and although it’s amazing to reach the goal just getting writing is an empowering experience 🙂 good luck!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. I am doing NaNo again this year coz the deadline and the discipline is the only thing that gets a procrastinator like me to write without thinking too much of the results, so I would say go for it. If not for anything else for the experience of it! Good luck Meg and let me know your username if you do join , will add you to my buddy list! 😘

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes! I signed up! I’m writing as Meg Sorick and I’m hoping to kick start the new novel this way. I’ve let it go too long. I’ll see you over there. Oh and Fictional Kevin is going to join up too!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  17. Best of luck! I’m here in the last hours until midnight with an idea, and I’m wondering if I should haha. It’s been 5 years since I’ve done Nanowrimo!

    Like

    Reply

  20. Hey, I’ve never done NaNoWriMo myself, but its been on my list the past few years. Drives me nuts that I never seem to get there…and then I remembered on the 29th. Gah! But I made a plan yesterday to work on a loose schedule around my varying blocks of time, and am still working on the outline, so my numbers are zero. I have a feeling I’ll keep blogging, since I just started, but it’ll be smaller ideas or inquiries that won’t suck up too much time from the project. I know this’ll be crazy, but sometimes the brain needs to leak other things once in a while. I get headaches if I don’t listen myself (hee hee). Hugs and have fun!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  21. I completely relate to this! To blog or to work on the novel. To edit the novel or write a draft of a new one. Considering lots of different approaches to NaNoWriMo this year and playing around with the idea of applying that word count to a couple different areas. Thank you for sharing your experience! Glad to hear you’re going for it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. Lol you gotta do it- the mind bending stress and utterly horrendous deadline and daily word counts are what makes it so much fun!! On that note, I must get off of here and go and do some actual writing!!….. Did you decide to do it in the end or not? Take care.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  23. Hi Meg, I’m new to all this NaNo talk, but you are clearly a professional . BOOK FIVE!
    I had no idea what I was doing when I signed up, I had never heard of it before. But I am absolutely loving it. It’s really making me stop procrastinating and get down to some serious work. I feel so good that I can actually put the proverbial pen-to-paper .
    I hope it’s proving useful to you
    Regards, Marie.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Marie. I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying and benefitting from NaNoWriMo. My procrastination with this novel in my series was my biggest motivation… I’ve started other projects that had led me away from it and it was time to get back. I’m a little behind in my word count but much further than I would have been if not for the challenge. Thanks for stopping by and best of luck to you!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

What's on your mind?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.