So after yesterday's fluffy and bubbly post about how amazing NaNo is, I read Nicola Morgan's post on how some people might feel pressured into it. I guess I never even thought about it like that. For me, I never feel like I should do NaNo. For me, it is fun, pure and simple. It's the one month of the year where I feel I have a legitimate excuse to just sit down and write. I'll make myself write rather than playing computer games or wasting time on the Internet because 'it's just for one month' and after that I can go back to wasting time. I'll feel like a bit of me is missing if I don't write every single day. Basically, November is how I should be living my life if I ever want to be a published author. So I suppose for me it's a month of pretending I'm a real writer.
But seriously, it's geniunely not for everyone and, frankly, I don't produce my best work in November. I don't use any of the projects that are close to my heart for NaNo because I know I'll have to make some compromises of planning and thinking to get the daily word count. OK, the last two NaNos I've done have been things I don't think I would have ever produced without NaNo, but certainly the first one is distinctly pedestrian and the second one is an absolute mess. I never get a free bound copy of my book from the NaNo offer because it's never fully drafted by the time the offer expires, so it would be a waste to me.
I love NaNo and try and make sure everyone knows about it, but it's not useful to everyone and could in fact set some people back. I suspect I'm always going to do it, though, because it's a month to just go for it, not thinking, not doubting, not looking back. It's refreshing and revitalising and (eventually) exhausting, like an impulsive and ill-advised sprint down a beach that leaves you panting and painful, but was totally worth it. But not everyone sees the point in running down a beach, or even understands your motivation in doing so. And very few people want to sprint all the time!
No comments:
Post a Comment