November is quickly coming to a close, so it is time for my traditional advice for anyone doing #NaNoWriMo this year but isn’t keeping up:
Word count doesn’t matter. The date doesn’t matter. Even NaNoWriMo doesn’t matter.
That is my advice. Ignore what the entire contest was about.
What matters is that you started something. Even if it was only a title, a plan, or even a layout. If you wrote 5 words or if you wrote 49,999 words the advice stands.
What you did was something, and that is a great start. Don’t stop because of some imposed deadline you couldn’t reach, (or even if you could reach it). Don’t stop because the month is almost over or because someone else is further along. December is just as much of a month as November is. That can be your finishing month. Heck, even April, May, or next November are viable.
Don’t let some arbitrary number stop you because you didn’t reach it by a certain date. The deadline is what I have always hated that about NaNoWriMo. I love that it gets people motivated to start something, but I hate that so many fail because of the concept of a month timeline and then abandon what they did.
Don’t stop NaNoWriMo because of NaNoWriMo itself. Please.
(And next time start your NaNoWriMo novel in August to get several legs up on November. I promise not to tell on you!)
Annals Of Gentalia 