Why I’m Not Participating In NaNoWriMo

Because I was.  Briefly.  Okay, I started yesterday, but you see, I have a broken foot.  Not that I’m not perfectly capable of functioning with a broken foot, but it is distracting to have to drag a massive air cast anchor along wherever you go.  Also, it makes my leg go to sleep if I sit at the computer too long, although maybe that’s just me being over enthusiastic with the air pump.

But I digress.

I realized yesterday that I had missed the beginning of the month by about 13 days.  Which meant that I was at least 12,000 words behind the rest of the class.  But, no worries.  I was 15,000 words into a paranormal romance I had never finished.  So, okay, cheating, but still 35,000 words short of a novel.  Plenty of NoWri to go.

After spending the entire day struggling with this thing (and occasionally letting air out of my cast), I’ve discovered that it’s really hard for me to concentrate on writing a story when I’m also concentrating on reaching a daily word count.  It’s like trying to read a book and do math at the same time.  One part of my brain is diligently creating a scene while another part is as antsy as a small child on a road trip.  Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?  The process became less about writing a story and more about running a marathon.  Who cares if I really need this scene or not?  It’s 600 words!  I can’t cut it now!

My usual output is a little more unpredictable.  One day I write seven pages; the next, I go back and take out the word “the.”  Telling myself that I have to come up with 1600 words today or else leaves my brain feeling like it has been shoved into a too-tight air cast.

So for those who succeed in writing a novel this month, I salute you.  Me, I’m going back to writing vampire stories.