Monday, November 7, 2011

NaNoWrimo vs Life

We're all starting Week 2 of National Novel Writing Month and according to Twitter, people are at almost every stage of their novels.  I've seen tweets from some who have already given up.  Others say they aren't going to make it and are thinking about giving in.  Many are on schedule or close and some are way out there in front.  I'm yet to see a post of someone who has already hit the 50K goal.  But hey, anything's possible.

Me?  I'm behind, for now.

For me, November of the past 3 years represents a significant battle between my desire to compete in and win NaNoWriMo, and life in general.  I've been fortunate to win the past 2 years and have every intention of doing the same this year.  But this past weekend was not a winner for me, when it comes to my wordcount.

I participate in local choir and this weekend we had a concert 4 hours from my home.  Being the opening soloist, I didn't have the option to skip it due to NaNo.  With the stress of singing, I didn't even try to write on the way down there, and hitching a ride home left me no chance to write then either.

In the end, Saturday gave LIFE a win over NaNo and I've fallen behind in my wordcount.  But I'm not too concerned just yet.  I'm very happy with the words I DO have down and expect things to pick back up now that the concert is out of the way.

But today?  Life takes another shot at NaNo by waking my youngest child with something like a cold.  She's clingy and I'm tired (late coming home from concert).  Combine the two, and add the housework that needs to get done and I can see a possible NaNo failure again today.

I know I'm not the only one fighting this NaNoWriMo vs Life battle, most everyone does.  I've also been blessed with an ability to put the story down quickly and haven't really hit any plots snags or writing blocks.

I'll keep pushing, finding time to write, catching up and hopefully getting ahead.  I'll watch Twitter for support and ideas, and I'll encourage where I can others who are struggling.

In the end, I hope to find the same balance I did in the previous years and win NaNo without sacrificing Life.

Do you have any suggestions on ways to keep the two balanced? I'd love to hear from you if you do.

1 comment:

  1. Three suggestions. One: decide Nano comes first. It can't, literally, in every situation, but if you take that attitude mentally you'll be more likely to find the time. Two, don't think you can only write if you have big gorgeous blocks of time. If you can squeeze in 200 words five times a day, it takes the pressure off to keep up! And three, think about the novel even when you're not writing. For me, this builds up a feeling of word-pressure, if that makes sense -- so that when I do sit down I am more productive because I'm basically "catching up" with stuff that's already played out in my head . . .

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