NaNoWriMo -- An Almost Unmitigated Failure

Well, perhaps 'failure' is a bit harsh. I did write 4 pages, plus a few haiku. And a couple of blog posts, but I would have written those anyway. These days, not blogging seems as unthinkable as not eating.

In the last few days, as blog posts have popped up in my reader bringing news of NaNoWriMo successes, I've been genuinely happy for the winners, but became more and more depressed for myself. I wasn't going to post anything about my NaNoWriMo experience, my failure, but I haven't seen anyone else writing about it, so I thought it was important. (Though having said that, googling "I failed NaNoWriMo" comes up with quite a few hits and some good advice.)

During the month, I read back through some stories I wrote earlier in the year and thought, "I wish I could write more like that. I'm not able do that anymore, why is that?" It went downhill from there with darker thoughts that I won't elaborate on here. All this led to a downward spiral where I convinced myself that playing computer games was much easier and relaxing than writing, not to mention easier to concentrate on while the TV is on. Before I knew it, it was December and I had not written a single word in 3 weeks. Or drawn a single stroke, or crocheted a single stitch, for that matter.

An article I happened to come across during the month made me think. It was about a ceramics teacher who decided to do a little experiment with his students one semester. At the beginning of the first class, he divided the students into two groups. He told one group that they would be graded purely by the quantity of pots they produced: an A for 20kg or more, a B for 15 to 20kg, etc. He told the other group that they were only required to produce one pot -- the most aesthetically pleasing, perfect pot that they could possibly create.

Can you guess what happened?

The students in the first group churned out as many pots as they possibly could, and most of them achieved top marks. The students in the second group became so bogged down in research and philosophical questions about beauty and perfection, that many of them didn't have even one pot to submit at the end of the semester.

These are not the actual pots, just
random pretty pots from the internet. =)The other big surprise?
Many of the pots considered to be the most beautiful and innovative designs were created by the first group, those who spent the most time creating rather than those who created the most carefully.

So many books and articles have been written about how important it is to practice your art or craft every day, pointing out that even the great Renaissance artists practiced drawing every day of their lives. I've known that message for a long time, but for some reason it didn't really sink in for me until I read that story about the pots.

I titled this blog post an Almost Unmitigated Failure, because at the end of it all, I'm much more motivated to write now than when NaNoWriMo began. Now ... after my complete failure to write for just 10 minutes a day. My brain is a strange beast. A blog post I read yesterday mentioned Figment, and I signed up. It seems to be a lively writing community which may hopefully provide some inspiration. I feel an urge to write a grand closing statement about exciting new things coming up soon, but, eh, no promises.

NaNoWriMo -- The Halfway Point

I have a confession to make. I've been failing miserably at NaNoWriMo so far.

If you remember, I decided to do a variant where I spent some time writing outside each day. I was very motivated and did well in the first few days, however, I started to drop off, and not for the reason I thought I would. It wasn't lack of motivation that stopped me, it was the fact that the first week was very rainy, and any time I had some free time, it was pouring rain outside!

However, on the first Sunday it was a lovely day, and I ended up spending a whole hour writing some reflections on an art journalling course I'm doing at the moment. Since then, I've lost motivation completely. I'm not even in the mood to write blog posts. Yes, I'm writing one today, but I'm in that mood where every sentenced is forced and it just seems so mediocre.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not the kind of person that can write every day. When I get home from work, I'm tired and just want to relax with a project that's fun and easy. (My granny square blanket is the perfect candidate -- the stitches are easy and repetitive.) When I'm inspired though, I just can't stop myself. If I've had an interesting dream, I'll type it out into my ipod on the train in the morning. If I've seen an interesting person, I'll write a few words about them in my notebook as I'm heading back from my lunchbreak.

If I have anything to report at the end of NaNoWriMo, then I will. Don't expect the next Harry Potter series, though.

My "NaNoWriMo"

No. 32 on my 101 Things List is to do NaNoWriMo (or a variant of) every year. I say 'a variant' because I'm just not the novel-writing kind of person. I don't think I have it in me to write a full novel. I do plenty of writing though, in the form of journalling, blogging, essays and poems. I've heard of people changing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to suit their own style -- writing a poem a day, or a blog post a day. (I think it would be a little unfair of me to suddenly go from one post a week to one a day, so don't worry, I'm not doing NaBloPoMo!)



I've hesitated in participating in NaNoWriMo before, for a couple of reasons. It seems like a very structured thing. There are rules, specifications, and word counts. The "Na" part is very Amero-centric. Also, November is a very busy month -- with the weather getting warmer, it's a busy time in the garden, there are birthdays, and the preparations for the festive season take up a lot of time as well. Yesterday I was thinking to myself, "why does it have to be in November?? It's so busy, and the weather's finally nice again. I don't want to be cooped up inside writing. I just want to be outside!"



At that thought, I had a lightbulb moment. Why don't I write outside? It doesn't matter what I write or how long I write for, as long as it's outdoors. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I'll call it: KaWriOutMo (Katie's Writing Outside Month). I'd better set some rules guidelines:



1. Must be out of doors.

2. Being on the train doesn't count as being outside!

3. Must be at least 10 minutes per day.

4. Can be any type or style of writing I choose.

5. Can use any tools to hand: notebook and pen, ipod, ipad, laptop, etc.

To be honest, I'm not hugely confident that I can do this successfully. Both finding the time and thinking of something to write about every single day are daunting prospects. Perhaps I'll give myself a big treat at the end if I do. I'm sure I'll think of something suitably enticing.