To NaNoWriMo or Not To NaNoWriMo

That is my question this week.

I want to participate in NaNoWriMo very much.  I even scheduled off some nice vacation to help my success.  But in reality, maybe I shouldn't even try.

I learned last year that trying to handle two shorter projects for the 50K goal just won't work for me.  Once I finished one project, I had a mental "break" and I couldn't ever get started on the other in time to hit the end of the month race.  I really struggle to work on more than one project at a time, too.  Once I'm in the zone for A, I find it nearly impossible to do anything at all in B without losing the edge on the first project.

Plus, the projects in my queue right now just are not good NaNoWriMo projects.

Phantom, in progress.  (First mark against it – I already started it).  Targeted length 35K.  (Too short)

Zombie Category Romance, in progress.  (ditto).  Targeted length 25k.  (ditto)

Lord Regret's Price, not started, premise in my mind, but no plotting done.  Targeted length, 30K.  Sigh.

New project I'll call "3 Aliens", vague premise, cool idea but no character names, no worldbuilding, no plotting.  Target length < 30K.  Sigh.

I could go on and on with the shorter projects, all in various stages of work, from premise to some plotting to even started and filed away for whatever reason.  NONE of these will work for NaNoWriMo.

The only project in my queue that would work for NaNo is Mal's book, tentatively Mine to Break.  However, I have absolutely no plotting done and no real characterization other than the little bits I know from Victor and Vicki.  The length is right though and with Vicki coming in May, I'd really like to get Mal in the pipeline. 

So I continue to waffle back and forth about what to do.  I don't like leaving two projects in the unfinished file for yet another month or so, because that increases the likelihood that I won't finish them.  I have to strike while the iron is hot, and it's already losing its glow just a bit.  Phantom is all plotted out on the wall — but I don't have the burning desire to work on it.

I'm taking Jenna's tarot class starting this weekend and I'm hoping that I'll figure out what to concentrate on.  Otherwise I may have to bow out of NaNoWriMo this year.