I didn't write anything this month. There. I said it. I admitted it.
That's not a typo in the title. While everybody else was participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I was basically doing the anti-NaNo, AKA National No Novel Writing Month.
That feels better to say than I thought it would.
Oh sure, I did some desultorily outlining, and I futzed around with photos for a non-fiction project I'm trying to figure out. But fiction? Actual, real, fiction writing? Not. A. Word.
There are plenty of reasons excuses. I could list a dozen. But I won't, because really, let's be honest. I didn't write, because I didn't feel like it.
And guess what? I feel refreshed. Finishing the second book was a slog and a half. That puppy kicked my ass, and my brief foray into jumping straight into the next big thing nearly backfired. I was bummed about book three before I even started. Which is not conducive to writing a good book.
I have another month or so of long day job hours before my schedule goes back to normal, and because I wasn't beating myself about the head for not writing, I am way more positive now about writing in general. I'm actually starting to chafe at the bit to get this new story going, instead of treating it like the next chore in the list.
There's a certain tyranny in the "write every day" mantra. I'm not sure about you, but it was starting to leave me wondering if I was an inadequate fraud. This month freed me from that.
NaNoWriMo is a great way to get the basics of a novel written quickly. But I suspect if I'd tried it this year, I might have had a complete writing meltdown. Given up. Thrown in the towel forever. My big takeaway from this November is: know yourself, and do what's right for you at the time it's right for you.
I'd like to do NaNo one year. But this year, NaNoNo was just as necessary.
That confession made, I do foresee a busy new year. :-)