This was a tough November in many, many ways. As if all the other corners of the world weren’t chaotic enough, things blew up over at the online site of NaNoWriMo. I won’t go into the details of that here, if you’re interested I’m sure an online search will enlighten you, or you can read through the discussion boards on the site.
Calvin & Hobbes
What I will say is that personally, I was already struggling with the stress of a million other things and the online meltdown at the nano site just completely put me off writing for a little while. Certainly from participating on the site. I quit updating my word counts, and withdrew, which isn’t my preferred way of dealing with conflict but one does reach a tipping point where even a little more stress is too much.
I had something this year that I don’t typically have though – a writing buddy. We got together only once but just knowing that there was someone else out there also struggling, trying to chip a few minutes and words out of busy stressful days – somehow that encouraged me. And in the last few days, I’ve been thinking about writing, and then, actually writing.
Fellow writing folx, don’t hold yourself to other people’s writing timelines. Find what works for yourself and use that to get a few more words down on as many days as you can manage. Some days will be better than others, and sometimes we’re doomed to struggle through a whole lot of hard days in a row. Not giving up, that’s the key. We just have to keep going.
Not always easy, pleasant, or fun. But as long as you stick around, you’re in it to have wins on another day.
christyoslund 