Saturday, November 7, 2009

NaNoWriMo is my nemesis

November is my favorite month, hands down. First of all, if not for this month I would have a birthday in some less fortunate month that is not November. Secondly, excessive amounts of pumpkin are everywhere. Everywhere. Plus there is something to be said about fabulous shopping deals around every corner. Ahhh November.

But there is one aspect of November that fills my stomach with dread and occasionally puts a scowl on my face. If the post title didn't give it away, this is brought about by the fact that November is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo mocks me with it's overly productive participants:
"Haaaai Kristi(e), how you doin' gurrl? Me and thousands of mah BFFLs are hangin' out gettin' 2gether writin' up some 50,000 word novels and junk. How's your novel doin'? Oh you got 2 flashcards with character names and whatever written down? That's fine gurl that's fyne. Maybe we can all get some coffee next year or sommen. Take kare of urself!"
I'm aware that if NaNoWriMo were to actually become anthropomorphized it would speak properly, but you must realize that my nemeses always have poor grammar when we get together for tea in my head so that no matter what they say I always speak more eloquently. Duh.

Anyway, I bring all this up because John Green makes a fabulous point in one of his more recent Vlog Brother posts: Anything produced during NaNoWriMo is complete and utter garbage. You hear that NaNoWriMo?! You and your BFFLs are GARBAGE! Even John Green won't be able to come up with some gold in a month. You can stop making me feel bad about the non-existent novel I'm writing, tyvm.

That said, anyone actually participating I wish you the best of luck! Because while the novel you write may end up smelling worse than a city dumpster, it is the foundation for a fabulous novel once you put in all the time and effort revising. Don't take my word for it, either. Try on what Editorial Anonymous has to say about revisions and rejections for size.

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