Sometimes I forget why I don’t always participate in NANOWRIMO. It’s such a cool idea, such an energy-inspiring thought: punch out 50k in a month! Think how much you’ll get done! HOLY CRAP, that’s like 10 5k short stories! YEAH! Let’s DO IT!
And then the first week passes, and I realize that one of the challenges I struggle with during NANO with small children, is that my brain is half-dead, and finding quiet time to actually think about what I need to do, what words need to be written, is HARDER than getting words down. I’m pretty good at being wordy. Meaningful words, though? Or even just intentional words, rather than deliberate overwriting? That’s hard.
All this to say, I’m still chugging along. I’m at 8695 words so far this month, though whether I’ll be able to plow much beyond that is something I’m leaving up in the air. I need more thinking time, more filling-the-well time. With a kiddo under 3, and a new puppy, that’s just becoming very difficult. Was it a good year to attempt NANO? Uh, probably not? But I’ve still got 8.7k more than I otherwise would have, so that’s something. Right now, my primary goal is to reestablish a daily writing routine, even if it’s just 500 words. I’d prefer to do time-based work rather than word count-based work, but for this month, I’ll stick to word count.
Maggie Slater 