It’s NaNoWriMo Time! An IWSG Post

Given the month that we’ve found ourselves in, I thought it would be appropriate to use this Insecure Writer’s Support Group to talk about National Novel Writing Month.

Because never has a single event produced as many insecure writers as NaNoWriMo.

I really flipflopped over participating in NaNoWriMo this year. On the one  hand life has been so busy lately that I haven’t written 50,000 words in the last five months combined. On the other hand, NaNo does always give me a push to do better and November is usually my best month of the year because of it. Then again, I haven’t actually been successful in completing the NaNo challenge since 2013. Then again again, it just feels wrong note being a part of it, since I’ve participated in NaNo seven years in a row already.

And so I hemmed, and I hawed, and I thought about all the work I have to do for the YouTube channel, and I thought about all the stuff I have to do around the house in the coming months, and I thought about my frustrating job which takes up so much of my time and energy and keeps me away from home and perpetually unable to catch up on things ever.

But then something happened. My job ended.

Now I imagine that the majority of people reading this are probably gasping and thinking, “Oh no! The poor thing is unemployed!” But trust me: I’m doing a happy dance.

My work is not steady. We sweep in, we commission an oil plant of some variety, and then we hand it over to the parent company and leave, and we go home until the next job pops up. So this is not a shock; it was totally expected, and this particular job lasted three times longer than it was originally slated for, so believe me, the end is welcome.

So that’s a huge deal. That is 168 hours over the course of November that I will not be spending trapped on an oil site, completely and utterly unable to write.

So I logged onto NaNoWriMo.org and got myself all set up for the 2016 challenge.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I still don’t expect that I’ll be able to write 50,000 words this month. Not having to go to work means that I’ll finally have the time to catch up on stuff with the YouTube channel, which I’m absolutely going to take the advantage to do. It also means that I’ll be able to push forward on a ton of stuff that I really wanted to get down around the house before the holidays start creeping in. And it means that I won’t have to be as stingy with my time with my daughter…no explanation required on that one, I should hope.

But yes, it also means that maybe – just maybe – I might be able to squeak out 50,000 words, and that would be just awesome.

I’m going to be a NaNo Rebel this year. Instead of starting – and attempting to complete – a brand new novel, I’m instead going to work toward finishing a couple that I already have in progress. It’s called being efficient, people! Plus I like having the opportunity to refer to myself as a rebel for a month.

And on that note, I really should be writing right now. What are you guys doing, keeping me here like this?! It’s National Novel Writing Month, dag nabbit!

Who else is participating? What is  your novel about this year? Feel free to look me up – username Toreshi – and add me as a friend! Happy writing!