Still not doing NaNoWriMo

(Nimue)

Let me start by saying that if you like it, if it works for you and NoNoWriMo is your happy thing, you don’t need to read this blog. It isn’t for you. I have a number of friends who get in for this every year and make it work for them – all power to anyone who can do that.

I’ve never done it, and I have no intention of doing it. I have written 50k in a month on a few occasions, I know it’s something I could do if I wanted. I’ve had three months in this last year where I’ve written 25k words on a specific project and probably as much again on other things. I don’t track my wordcounts that hard when I’m not writing to a wordcount and a deadline, so I don’t always know what I’ve done. As I typically write a few thousand words in a day, 50k in a month is not a big deal. One issue for me is that I’m not usually writing that on one project because my whole working structure involves having several things on at the same time.

Every year I see friends struggle with writing 50k words in a month. I see the guilt and anxiety it brings up for some people. Guilt in investing that much energy in a hobby, or in not investing enough energy to get it finished. Stress over not hitting daily wordcounts. Stress over whether the story is any good or if there’s a future for it. Number of words written in a day isn’t really a measure of anything. Better to write fewer words and end up with something you like, I think. Better to spend longer writing a book and enjoy the process rather than burning out and giving up.

The thing about writing is that we’re all different. How we think, pace, create is really personal. I find in my own work that how I want to handle things varies dramatically between projects as well. Some things have been easy to knock out at a tremendous pace. Some things have needed a lot more time and thought. If the thing you are moved to create doesn’t lend itself to being 50k written in a month, that’s ok. You haven’t failed. I know some great writers who absolutely could not write a novel in a month, and it would be a meaningless way to measure them.

If you want to be creative – regardless of whether that’s for fun or profit or both – you have to do it on your terms. Figuring out what works for you is vital. Only by working in a way that suits you will you be able to create for the longer term. Nothing will kill your inspiration like feeling pressured, guilty or inadequate. If something doesn’t work for you, that’s not a measure of you, it means this is a thing to drop. Respect your own process, and be kind to yourself.