That’s the trouble with humans. We stumble over things that aren’t even there.
Sai Pradeep
Good thing there’s nothing important going on in the world to talk about at the moment, right? Right?
Anyway, week 3 was definitely not the best for writing productivity. Between having my family come into town, my 14th wedding anniversary, and my birthday, I had more than my fair share of things that are actually important to attend to. I’ve been pretty far gone from living life as a normal human these past few months, so I needed to be sure I was still able to take a step back and appreciate the people I have in my life. Glad I did. Not that I needed the reminder, but I really am blessed and I don’t do nearly enough to show appreciation for that.
What does that mean for NaNo? Not much beyond the fact that I have some catching up to do. But, let’s be real, that’s just par for the course at this point. You’ve seen me complain about that enough to last you a lifetime. I don’t want this considered a complaint, though. It’s not, just a fact. I’m not worried about it. I’ll get it done. I may not have proven myself in this specific instance as of yet, but after October I’m feeling pretty invincible for arbitrary production deadlines.
I won’t lie, though, I do wish this event came on another month. November starts a heavy push for year-end completion of clients at work. It also has a birthday, anniversary, Thanksgiving, and (generally) a Renaissance Festival trip which tend to make hitting the daily target rough. Though, I did misunderstand how the daily par thing worked at the beginning. If I do this again I’ll bear that in mind and pick a few days early in the month to put in a huge amount of effort to make those days not as taxing.
Will I do this again? That seems like something I should wait to answer until this one is over, but I think I have a fairly good grasp of the situation to know even now. And I can even give it my favorite answer.
Depends.
This sort of event strikes me as very specific. I was in a great place for it this year as I have one project on the outs and needing other eyes on it and another project brewing in the tank, ready for work. I could kick off something new, not worry about other writing, and just set my focus. Obviously, that won’t always happen. Next year I might be in the thick of editing Catalyst or going through some contract work or some other thing and jumping into this won’t make sense.
Also, I don’t know how much I like what I’m outputting. That’s the part that will take me a long time to come to terms with. In the past, I refined as I went and ended up with a roughly polished (mm, oxymoron) story by the time the first draft was over. Which makes it not really a first draft but some kind of hybrid draft. I liked that – still do – but I’ve also always understood the innate problems in it. Doing that takes longer. It also gives me the mistaken idea that the story is better off than a first draft and makes me less willing to cut, rework, and redesign. While I’m vomiting these unfiltered NaNo words onto the page, I’m certain they’ll need extensive rework. I hate that, but I also recognize that it’s probably a good thing. This will truly be a first draft, one that builds walls around a story and beckons to be shaped.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some masonry to perform.
Themeattics 