Nano No-no

I made a mistake. I decided to use NaNoWriMo to assist in scheduling the first draft of book 6 in The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy series, Renko’s Challenge. I wanted to work around a couple of planned trips, one of which involves some friends who are visiting Japan for a Buddhist pilgrimage that I will join and the other a planned ski trip at the end of January.

My first draft will be 75,000 to 85,000  words, because 50,000 words, the NaNo goal, is at best a novella, unless you write in a couple of very specific genres.  i started early and planned to continue until my friends appear in mid-December.

But even as modified, this just isn’t working for me.

While I can see the utility in encouraging writers to write daily, I can see the utility of deadlines, and I can even see chasing word counts and participating in groups that talk about all this, it’s not being useful to me.

I normally don’t have a problem working to deadlines or being a self-starter, yet those are the things NaNo encourages best. That’s not the help I need.

I want to love what I do, but what I am feeling is anxiety. I don’t like it. I don't need a community to get my draft done. I need peace and quiet.

I’m cutting my losses and only worrying about meeting my publication deadline of June 21, 2019, or so.

Sure, my books are very well reviewed and they do sell.  Another one even attained best-seller in category status recently. That’s fantastic, but If I don’t love what I do on a daily basis, why am I doing it?

I tried to fit myself into other people’s systems. That’s a huge mistake, one I hope never to make again, and I don’t want you to make it, either. You may love NaNoWriMo and want to do it every year. You may find your check-in groups and informal competitions helpful in meeting your writing goals. Use them if and only if they are useful to you. Don’t be afraid to say no.

Writers have individual processes. It’s up to each of us to discover our processes and to honor those processes. Only then will we love what we do and produce the best books we are capable of producing.

Also check out Claire's blog and FB page and available books here (book one in the series is always free!!!):

http://claireyoumansauthor.blogspot.com

www.tokigirlandsparrowboy.com

Facebook:  The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Toki-Girl-Sparrow-Boy-Claire-Youmans/dp/0990323404/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

If you would like to guest blog for Writing About Writing we would love to have an excuse to take a day off a wonderful diaspora of voices. Take a look at our guest post guidelines, and drop me a line at chris.brecheen@gmail.com.