When last we met, I was…what? Two days into NaNoWriMo? I suppose I could go to all the trouble of looking at my last post to check the date, but whatever. It’s really unimportant. What’s slightly less unimportant (because, really, with all the everything going on in the world, nothing I do is remotely important in any way), is that when I last blogged, I was starting another NaNoWriMo session, which means I was embarking upon a wild creative journey of 30 days of writing with abandon in the hopes of writing 50,000 words by the month’s end.
Only…I wasn’t hoping I would write 50,000 words. In fact, I knew I wouldn’t. It’s been…not my best year this year, especially creatively speaking, so I was going into November with the understanding that I was going lose but with intention of supporting the wrimos in my region while pretty much pretending to write because my creativity has been in short supply of late.
And yeah. I lost.
But here’s the thing.
I wrote. Words. Like, actual words.
Are they good words? Hell, no. Did my characters have a really long and pointless conversation about French toast? They may have. Will that conversation along with everything else I wrote in November end up in some deleted scene file someday? Probably.
Does it matter? No.
It doesn’t matter because I wrote them. I wrote a little something every single day for thirty days.
Which means maybe, just maybe, there’s still a little spark of something somewhere in the dark and cold pit that is my dried-up well of creativity.
So while I did fall well short of the 50k mark, I feel like I maybe had a different kind of victory this month. Smaller and more personal, but a win in its own way.
Whether that will change anything for me later on down the road remains to be seen. I mean, it’s only December 7th and it already feels like that November productivity was nothing more than some weird fever dream and I will never write another word ever again. Because it’s December 7th and I haven’t written a word since November ended. Which means I probably have to think some deep and meaningful thoughts about the writing world and my place (or lack there of) in it.
Or, you know, hide under a blanket under my desk instead. Whatever.
But at least I made it through November.
Before I sign off, I want to give a shout-out and all the high fives to all my writer friends who did manage to win NaNoWriMo this year. You all are amazing and awesome and so creative and I salute your perseverance!
WAY TO GO, Y’ALL!!!
ONE LAST THING…
Knowing me the way that I do, this will very likely end up being my last post of 2022. So however you choose to celebrate this time of year, I hope that you and your families are safe, happy, and well.
Hope to see y’all again in the new year.
Whoo-hoo on the words! It definitely WAS a win.
Wishing you happy holidays, MJ!
That’s the spirit! Writing a little something every day counts and is amazing. No matter what the word count is. And you had a very good April Camp NaNo (I peaked, I saw lol), so I have a feeling much of your words and motivation went there, but just the fact that you participated in NaNo with the attitude that whatever you manage is perfect is what matters. You’re a winner in my book. <3
A victory to you is all that matters.
Yay you!! That’s a definite win!
I almost always hit a wall after NaNo and find the words dry up for a while – sometimes until after the yew year. Probably part of the NaNo push, partly the season, and partly the other stuff I’ve ignored yelling at me to pay attention 🙂
Wishing you all the best for the holidays and the new year!
It got you back in the mode and that’s good.
Woot for getting words! You got more than me. 🙂 Good job for writing every day. I know that’s a trial for myself.
I hope you have a great rest of the year, and see you in 2023!
Even if you didn’t hit 50K, you still have words on a page that weren’t there at the beginning of November, so you’ve won as far as I’m concerned. Have a wonderful holiday and relax for a few weeks. You can pick that story back up in 2023.
Certainly a win! I just wanted to finish the story I was working on and I did it with a couple days to spare.
Just entering gets kudos from me, so you’ve earned applause as well. Congratulations.
That does sound like a win to me. Sorry you’ve been out of it lately. That does happen. Perhaps you just need to wait for spring or the end of the holiday season or something else before you get back to it, but you’ll get there. Eventually. Let your mind rest now. It sounds like you need it.
Congrats! I also didn’t play by the rules. I was just shooting for “adding to the novel” every day–building some momentum. NaNoWriMo has only been useful to me for that.
Getting any words is in a win for sure, but also don’t stress yourself. If you think your creative well is a bit dry that might be a sign to give yourself a break and recharge.
HUZZAH! You did fantastically. To write every day is a great thing. Plus supporting your fellow writers is always admirable. I’ve been feeling the blahs lately too. Maybe a post-NaNo low. Here’s to January being a much more creative month for all of us! Happy holidays. 🙂