How Did My NaNoWriMo Month Go? Depends On How You Look At It...

I had high hopes, I did. Sometimes even the best plans don't work out. I knew it would be difficult going in, but I wanted to try anyway.

Turns out, if you're going by the number of words I wrote, I had a disastrous month. I pretty much didn't do any. I began the story, got a cool opening scene, and then...

Life happened.

Since I was successful in last year's attempt to complete the "write a novel in a month" challenge, I thought doing it a second time would be perhaps easier. After all, if I can do something once, I can do it again. I didn't anticipate issues beyond my control that had been able to foresee, I probably wouldn't have even considered taking up the challenge.

But, the challenge is really kind of a dumb thing, anyway. I mean, if you're a writer, your number one thing--no, it's really the only thing that you should do. You don't need a month-long challenge to accomplish that goal. And many writers that I know think the whole NaNoWriMo is just--to quote Peanuts's Lucy--"a big commercial racket." I can still see good things coming from NaNoWriMo, but I can see the other side, too.

This year, I still have the story germinating in my mind--it's just not in the computer. I have a lot of stories like that. Last year my hard work taught me just what was possible. This year, my inaction taught me that somethings are more important than writing, things like family.

As November came to a close, I thought about making December a new NaNoWriMo month. How's it going, you ask? 

About as well as November went.

So far.