Saturday, February 12, 2011

I didn't write a novel

Guess what I didn't do last year. Go on, guess! No? Okay - remember NaNoWriMo? I was so excited to participate, I even bought a book written by the creator (I say that like it might be surprising that I bought a how-to book). I practised writing every day; I was going to write my pants off and complete a whole novel. Even if that novel was awful drivel, it was going to be a whole novel's-worth; that would be a huge accomplishment for me, considering I don't finish writing projects. Like, ever.

Well, I didn't do it. Work exploded on me in a fit of busy and I spent the month of November (as well as September, October, and December) with barely a day off. I didn't have time to write anything that wasn't associated with The Proposal.

I was a little sad to miss it. I realise that I don't need an organised event like that to do it anyway (and I may still), but I felt like the energy of people the world over feverishly writing bad novels would uplift me and provide encouragement. Sometimes I would see people at Starbuck's with headphones in their ears, a laptop open before them, brows furrowed and eyes dilated to pin-points and I assumed they were writing their novel-in-a-month. I wanted to cheer for them and shake their hands and say, "good job, you". I didn't want to break their concentration though, so I left them alone.

So, whatever. I didn't write a book. But I helped write a kick-ass proposal! Still waiting for the outcome of that, by the way.

/grumble

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Yeah huh, you totally did not do this! I know that's disappointing, but sometimes life gets in the way. It is uncertain, afterall. Why don't you do it next November??

Jade said...

I think I will. At least, that's the plan right now. :)

Dawn said...

I agree. Nano has never worked for me. I simply can't spit out 50k that fast and still have a job or family. :-)

Sticking with smaller goals is better for me, maybe for you, too.

It does help to write "alongside" other writers. I'd like to invite you to visit www.fmwriters.com where writing can be that. There's a chat room I log into when I need to chat with other writers (it's pretty much 24/7) and there's a particular thread I like where we post our weekly goals and post each day as to how we did. It's very helpful to see how people can squeeze a little writing into a busy day and still get a novel done in 6 months or watch how the full time writers get through their big projects. It's nice too that when I'm in a rough spot, I get some support. You should go visit. And let me know if you sign up (it's free, btw).