NaNoWriMo is not for me at the moment.
The story of a very inconsistent writer.
Happy (belated) November and happy NaNoWriMo, everyone! Everyone, except me, because I have given up this challenge. Now, if you want to participate and if this is the reason why you love this month, that’s great, good for you! However, I don’t feel the same about this event, just like a lot of other writers, and, in this article, I’ll explain my reasons.
As the dramatic person that I am, I didn’t take my love-hate relationship with NaNoWriMo lightheartedly. I attempted this challenge two years ago as a way to revive my inspiration to write fiction and ended up feeling like I was not enough of a writer.
Through some self-reflection, after enduring a long time of self-doubt, I realized that most of my difficulties with this challenge lie in one general key point:
Its core approach is too rigid.
NaNoWriMo is based on a goal of 50,000 words by the end of the month so, ideally, you are supposed to write at least 1,500 words per day to stay on track.
When I attempted this challenge, I managed to write 1,500 words on my first day. However, the second day I was particularly busy, and, consequently, failed to reach 3,000 words, and the following days it only got worse…