NoNaNoWriMo

Despite my enthusiastic participation during the past five years, I've opted out of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year. The past five Novembers have left me with three unfinished novels, two finished stories ("Immortality" and "Ectoplasm", both of which have been published) and two unfinished stories. Rather than add a fourth unfinished novel to my inventory, I'm instead working on my most advanced novel, Wheatyard, which I started during NaNoWriMo 2004. Presently I'm typing up the hand-edits of the second draft which, once completed, I'll hand off to Julie for a close reading.

NaNoWriMo has been a great experience. It really gets you in the habit of writing every day and finally starting a book you've been kicking around in your head for years but never put to paper, and getting the story written without dawdling over rewrites and research. And it also makes you feel like you're part of a big community of fellow writers, all of whom are as overwhelmed by the process as you are. Writing is such a solitary pursuit that it's easy to feel like you're all alone, and NaNoWriMo helps you realize that you're not. There's thousands of people just like you, which is really nice to know.

If I'm ever going to get a novel published, though, I really have to finish one first, so I thought it best not to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Maybe next year.