I Suck at NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo...

A good idea.  A good practice.  Yet against the advice given me by my wise writing prof.

Sort of, anyway.

You see, November is the national month for trying to bleed 50,000 words toward a novel.  If you can do it, you get to showcase your lovely - messy, yet complete - novel on the NaNoWriMo website.

I signed up to do this on the 2nd (already a day behind) endeavoring to write a novel I've had trapped in that butterfly net brain of mine.  We'll All Collapse Like Stars is its title.  I sifted through my files, edited the first chapter, and inputted my word count.  585.

It's now the 8th, my computer tells me, and I have not. written. a. single. word.

Of the novel, that is.

I have written a short story, a couple chapters of a novella I'm working on (What Broken Jars Hold, a modern Christian fairy tale), part of a novel review.  I've edited different short stories.  Written more words than just 585! ... But not for Collapse.

And why? Because my writing professor taught me to work on multiple projects at the same time.  You should always have something else developing in another niche of your brain, in another section of your notebook, in another Microsoft Word file.

1) If you run dry on one project, you might have fuel for a different one
2) When editing, you should set aside a project for a week or two - don't even think about it - then put it back on the table
3) Working on different stories keeps the creativity blooming, and the craftmaking sharpened

But, this NaNoWriMo thing...

One novel.  One month.  50,000 words.  Maybe I'm just not that kind of writer.

Depressing.

Pressing Publish Post... now.