There are so many posts going around right now about NaNoWriMo. I can feel the excitement in the air. I remember that excitement from the two times I did NaNo. And I finished both times! But, alas, I no longer have the desire to participate in it. Since I’ve been doing ROW80, I’ve found that it’s the best fit. I know there are many people doing both, and that’s great. Just not me. There’s nothing wrong with DOING it or NOT DOING it. I’ve realized, since reading so many posts, that each person is different in how they approach NaNo and what they want to get out of it. I fully support all my writer friends who are participating in NaNo this year. I’m glad to cheer them on. It looks like it’s causing some people to be more productive. Yay. But I did want to share some reasons I’m not doing it anymore.
1. When my husband heard I was doing ROW80 the first time, he said “Oh, no, is it going to be like when you did NaNo? You were crazy.”
2. I would HAVE to write 50,000 words. Some people are saying they are doing other stuff, but it’s really not WINNING NaNo if you don’t do your 50K. And I’m so anal about this that I would drive myself crazy to get those words in, no matter what else I let go. (See number 1)
3. NaNo is supposed to be where you just throw 50K down, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s good or not. You’re just spouting words. Well, I just can’t write like that anymore. I’ve been doing this writing thing long enough that I usually have a pretty clean manuscript. When it goes through beta readers and gets edited, there is very little to change anymore. I CAN’T make myself write any other way.
4. Writing that many words in a month causes me a LOT of stress that I don’t need. (Again, see number 1)
If I didn’t work a full time job, I would consider it. I could easily write that many words if I had more time. But you guys who are working AND doing NaNo? Oh man, I ADMIRE you. I remember how hard it was! I’m behind all of you NaNoers 100 percent. Go for it, and have fun! And please don’t whisper about what a wimp I am. LOL
lauralynnelliott.com 
Definitely, anyone who’s holding down a full time job and makes the 50,000 words in a month is awesome.
Yes, they are! Although, when I did it for two years, I wasn’t awesome…I was insane. LOL
NaNo = insanity. I agree and I will wimp along with you. The most I’ve ever done is about 20 to 25 K in a month. No way I could double that. Well I supose I could: 5 hour energy drink, catheterization, and an evil monkey that electrocutes me everytime my eyes close. Damn dirty monkey.
Enjoy your November sans insanity. Have some tea, relax.
20k a month is doable. Of course now you have me looking over my shoulder for monkeys. LOL
I don’t have a job outside of writing, and I can’t manage the 50,000 words anymore. I used to be able to do it, but back then, I didn’t take breaks if I felt the story was going off course (which led to a lot of deleting and rewriting). Now, I’d rather go slower and get it right the first time so I’m just polishing the story up. I’ve found it’s less work that way. I might eventually start editing each chapter once I’m done to get that part out of the way, too. I’m not there yet, but I can see why some authors do it.
I could never manage NaNo and another job. There’s just no way.
You know, it’s funny how NaNo just wants you to spew out something and worry about how good it is later. I wrote Haunted Lake during NaNo, and it was pretty good, I thought, before any changes. I don’t know why, but that book almost wrote itself. I wish all of them were so easy! It still remains my favorite of all my books. But, yeah, it’s better to go slower and get it closer to right the first time. I sort of edit as I go now. Before I write, I read the previous chapter and make any needed changes, then write the next one. I still miss a bunch of stuff, but I never have to rewrite the whole thing like some people talk about doing.
I think part of why people do NaNo is the excitement of it. It’s kind of contagious, and some people need that extra motivation. I enjoyed all that, but the stress was just too much.