Welcome to the first post in my new series about preparing for, and surviving, NanoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
NaNo works for me because … I am capricious.
I can be good at discipline, but only until I get bored of it, or feel limited by it, then I toss it aside.
I have thought before of how this makes me look like a ‘dabbler,’ an ‘amateur,’ a ‘dilettante,’ but I’m convinced I’m not that.
No, if you want an explanation, look at how the moon works on the tides. It’s a mystery to me, except in that the water comes in and goes out, sometimes more, sometimes less. I write more and I write less, and my feeling of self-worth can wax and wane with my output, but in the end what is important is that I still write.
The period of 30 days is short enough to stick with, and it provides a wonderful thrill of adrenaline. If you prepare at least a little bit, you will have something to go on, and then at the end of a month, you have a lot more to go on, because your story has rolled itself out in front of you!
The only problem then is figuring out how you’ll shoehorn yourself into the discipline required for editing it.
Image via findingmarcoharlequinlover
