NanoWriMo Wrap-up

2020 is the last year I participate in NaNoWriMo. Cheers to those of you who thrive under that kind of pressure, but for the rest of us mere mortals—the pleasure from producing good work more than suffices. 

I first heard about National Novel Writing Month from Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, in her blog. She was one of the first inspirations for me to actually take the plunge into this crazy world of writing. Her story sounded like mine: She was interested in visual art and in writing but had to choose and focus. I drew inspiration from this—then promptly followed my gut. 

Writing it was. 

Still, it took some time for me to actually participate in NaNoWriMo. My first attempt was in 2019, when I wrote 17,543 words and felt like a failure. 

This year, I decided to give it another go. I managed 32,404.

And you guessed it—felt like a failure.  

In no other universe would writing seventeen-thousand words or thirty-thousand words in one month would I have considered myself a failure. That would be a huge success.  

But in the Nano world, it was a failure. A self-imposed failure, which only adds insult to injury. 

November is also a terrible month to drop everything and write. Work is busy, family is busy, social life is busy. Though who am I kidding? I’d fail at this on any other month for other reasons. 

Nano might just not be for everyone, and that’s okay. I’m parting ways with the community but cheering those of you who continue on. If this is what helps you through, then embrace it. 

It’s simply not my jam.