NaNoWriMo Day 5: This is not as boring as you think

It is day 5 of National Novel Writing Month, and I’m almost at the half-way point. Today I reached 21,000 words in my project, which is currently titled, “Whackadoodle.”

Before you wander off in disgust at the awesome number of words I’ve written, let me explain why it’s not so amazing or wonderful.

I didn’t want to do NaNoWriMo this year. A friend guilted me into doing it, so she’d have a torture buddy, and then she fucked off and quit. But that’s not important. I never want to do it. Why? I am a freak show. I know this. When I start a new project, I’m careful not to let it consume me, because if I do, I will work on this project to the exclusion of all else. I’m talking EVERYTHING else. NaNoWriMo gives me permission to be a freak show. This is not a good thing.

In the weeks leading up to NaNoWriMo, I eat, sleep and breathe the project I’m going to write. I draw up extensive character outlines. I make notes on plot. I dream about the story. I rehearse the first lines in the shower. I have a chapter by chapter summary of at least the first half of the book ready to go. By November 1, I’m practically crawling out of my skin because I’m dying to start writing.

And then I dive in. By the first day of NaNoWriMo, the story is there, in my head, just waiting for me to put my hands on the keyboard.

And I type really fast.

So, it’s natural that my word counts are high. It’s natural that I’d hit 50K words well before November 30. My problem is, I want to keep doing it when December arrives.

It’s really hard to stop the freak show once I’ve let it out. And I have so many other projects “in progress” that I know I’ll finish before January, because I can’t control myself. And then I’ll have all these drafts…

All these fucking drafts.

Let’s remind ourselves how much I hate editing.