Not the Best NaNo

Posted on 25th November, 2019

Okay - it's official. This year, NaNoWriMo hasn't worked for me. I have had some hugely satisfying NaNos and some difficult NaNos. This year's falls somewhere in between. I'm in the process of producing a decent word count - but the satisfaction factor is missing for various reasons.

 

The first 10 days went very well, but then copy-edits landed in my inbox and had to be attended to. Which took time. I did think I could do copy-edits in the mornings and NaNo in the afternoons, but copy-edits really don't work like that - or not for me, anyway. It's important to concentrate on them and not work at other things. So that was the point when NaNo slipped.

 

Yes, I caught up again and got my word count back to where it should be, and even a little further on; but now I am approaching the end of all that detailed planning I did in preparation. Part of me is delighted to think I managed to do 40,000+ words of planning, but now I know that - just as the copy-edits had to take priority - now it is time for the rest of the book's planning to be done. I'm finding it hard to concentrate on NaNo because I know that my particular writing process is urging me to leave off the writing and go back to planning, not least because there is a plot-strand that needs a lot of thought.

 

So, yes, I will continue with NaNo to the end of the month, but it is going to be given a back seat and priority will go to some serious planning.

 

 

 

To those of you who are writing like mad to meet your NaNo target, the best of luck to you and more than anything, I wish all NaNo writers a feeling of huge satisfaction and achievement on November 30th

 

 

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Comments (1)

I appreciate this thoughtful, reflective post, Susanna. You've captured the reality of a 'working writer's life' and juggling multiple projects at the same time. Don't be hard on yourself! I consider your NaNoWriMo 2019 a success because 'productivity' isn't only measured by word count. xx