My Thoughts on Nanowrimo!
Nanowrimo – National November Write a Book in a Month – month.
It’s a mouthful. You’re supposed to write every day as much as you can unedited — basically throwing up words on a page. I wait for it all year. I get excited. I plan. I plot. I tweet. I talk about it and explain it. And everyone I know does it. And then it’s over and I feel disappointed with myself. And worse, I feel like something is missing. A purpose? A goal? Hmm.
It’s very sad.
Obviously I didn’t write my 50k words in Nov. In fact I did better last year at 25k. This year I got 17k. I don’t write that way. I have to edit. I get anxious if I get too many unedited pages. I know this about myself. And still I do it. I torture myself. Can we say self-flagellation? So why do it?
One word: Community.
I love the write-ins. I love the energy, the excitement, the twitter feeds. Meeting for coffee with complete strangers that greet you with wide smiles and prizes! Knowing there are other crazy peeps just like me out there who chose to give up real life to sit hunched over a keyboard for hours on end swizzling copious amounts of caffeine just to put onto paper this other world that has consumed our minds. My world–Vampires… Werewolves… Demons… Anything paranormal as long as it has a romance. Steamy… Sexy… Hot… Yep, I can’t seem to get enough. And with Nano I had an excuse a reason to push myself beyond the limits.
And now it’s over.
I miss my nano peeps. Those I’ve met and those I’ve yet to meet. Now I must wait another 12 months, a whole year until I can do it to myself again. Set lofty goals and try to force myself to write in a way that I don’t like just so I can share this crazy experience, the life of a writer, with all of you!
Unless….
Anyone want to start NaJaWrimo?!!