I've been chugging away at my September goals, and I feel pretty good about where I'll end up at the end of the month. Well, except for one goal that's giving me a little trouble: National Novel Writing Month.
Last year, I registered for NaNoWriMo in September or so, deciding on a whim to give myself a run for my money with a lofty goal. This year I know I can do it. I have a fine manuscript to prove it. But I'm a little hung up on plot and process.
I don't have a Great Idea yet, and November promises to be busy with school and holidays and the like. Actually, I do have a Great Idea, but it's for a collaborative project and I don't see any likely collaborators on the horizon.
This all amounts to a lot of hesitation about doing NaNoWriMo this year. I'd love to make it an annual tradition, but I'm torn between ambition and needing to have everything planned out. Part of me wants to spend all that time editing my current manuscript. Part of me wants to have the second draft finished by November so I can give it to my second beta reader. I want to be reasonable, but I also know I tend to make a lot of excuses. I can rationalize my way into (or out of) any situation. This is just a matter of direction—and which is the right one to rationalize.
I'm trying to finish up with the current WIP so I can give NaNo a try this year. Never have before, but it seems like a good excuse to whip out a new rough draft. Good luck if you decide to enter!
ReplyDeleteI might very well be in Costa Rica, busy with TEFL work. While I think it would be cool to do NaNoWriMo in three different countries in three years, I also lack a Great Idea. Hmm!
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is actually too much CONSIDERING. Last year I signed up on a whim, and when November 1 rolled around I was faced with a deadline and a novel to write. That doesn't mean I never thought "why did I sign up for this!?" in the months preceding, but in the end I just dove in and stuck with it. I sort of think I should do that again and not get so hung up on the specifics.
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