Last Stop Before “Literary Abandon” — ROW80 Check-in

Graphic from http://lifedebatable.blogspot.com/

NaNoWriMo is my birthday present to myself each year. Every year, I love it. And every year, I hate it…there’s just simply too much to do in that one tiny little month.

Even without my birthday falling at the beginning of the month, everyone rushing to get in their training and Thanksgiving at the end, there always seems to be unexpected craziness happening in November.

Case in point:

• Last November my husband and I lost our last parent. And moved.
• The November before that I was tired and pregnant. (And interviewing for jobs.)
• Every year, November marks the start of the holiday season when I cook and bake like a wild Christmas demon.

I tend to arrive at December 1st a little out of breath. And still, I love NaNoWriMo.

I love the community, the late-night writing sprints, the before and after parties my local team throws. The write-ins, the excitement, uploading my word count, thinking about my book and my characters and writing, writing, writing ALL THE TIME.

And here’s where we come to why I love ROW80. With the life I lead, I can really only sustain the NaNo Level of Crazy for a single month. If I tried to do it all the time, it would make me cross-eyed and crabby.

ROW80 brings the steady, warm glow of friendship and a community of shared purpose but it’s just a bit more mellow and manageable. Where NaNo is a Rave, ROW80 is a house party. They’re both fun, but a wild Rave takes several days to recover from.

Whether you’re gearing up for NaNoWriMo or not, I wish you luck in your writing goals this week and I’m glad you stopped in to encourage me with mine.

ROW80 Update:

1. I’ve written 9 blog posts this week with the intention of getting ahead for November. I plan to write 4 more tomorrow so I can really start the month ahead by a few weeks.

2. I’ve started mapping out my writing schedule so that I don’t make my husband feel like a NaNo widow.

3. I’ve made a chart of the scenes I want to write during NaNo. When I finish my book, I’ll have succeeded, whether I make the 50K challenge or not. My goal for this round is only 30K anyway.

4. Last but not least, I’m dusting my fiction off so that it’s waiting for me when I’m done with this memoir. I miss my book and I’ve dug all the notebooks and files out from our move so I can scribble ideas down as they come to me during the “30 days and nights of literary abandon” that is NaNoWriMo.

5. I continue to encourage and visit my fellow members of Team ROW80, even when I don’t check in. It always lifts my spirits to see how great everyone’s doing.

What are your goals for November, whether you’re doing NaNoWriMo or not? Do you have a project you’re rushing to finish before the holidays get into full swing? Do you LOVE the holidays or yearn to hide until the New Year has passed? Enquiring minds always  want to know these things here at More Cowbell!

Jenny

BLOG ALERT: I’m guest posting over at Nicole Basaraba’s blog for her Writer’s University, The Pros Do The Finish Work. Go check it out if you want to know the difference between Editing and Proofreading. While you’re there, be sure to scope out Nicole’s fantastic posts on everything from writing to books to travel.