NaNoWriMo – Why I Stopped

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is here once again. To be in awe of those who manage the requisite 50,000 words in a month is an understatement. It has been a couple of years since I made a brave attempt at this, and this year will fall by the wayside as well. This writing challenge is taken up by thousands of writers who do crank out fifty thousand words (plus some) during the month of November.

After the last attempt I declared myself NaNo Dropout and I am okay with that.

If my memory banks are correct, I started NaNo about three or four times and each time I got about twenty thousand words in then bagged it. Why would I quite when I was nearly half-way done?

Stress.

My personality and stressful situations do not blend well. To spend an entire month at the keyboard, like a deer in headlights, is just more than I want to do. I did attempt the variations on the NaNo theme (Camp NaNo, Rebel NaNo, and others that you can look up) which were fantastic ways to set a goal that fit me.

Alas, I didn’t finish those either.

So, you may wonder why I even care about NaNoWriMo. You might even think I don’t like NaNoWriMo. But I do! Following those who participate and cheering them on is my favorite part of NaNoWriMo. Their ability to sit at their writing desks (chairs, cafes, parks, etc) leaves me in awe. For a person to produce that many words in such a short time is like watching an eight year old do El Capitan (yes, an eight year old just did it – read about it here).

It takes my breath away.

If you are participating this year please leave your NaNo handle in a comment so I can follow along and cheer you on. For those writers who are sitting it out or are done all together fear not, you are in good company.

Rock and roll all you NaNoWriMo crazies!! Now, get back to writing!!