I like hanging out on the forums over at the NaNoWriMo website, but I sure don’t like all the whining. The whines I’ve heard/read just today:
1. I lost my file when my computer crashed, lost 5K words.
2. I’m never going to make my word count!
3. I’m so busy, I can’t ever do this.
4. Now that I’m doing Nano, I have no social life, I miss my friends.
5. My plot sucks and I can’t fix it.
6. I can’t move forward, because I have to go back and fix what I messed up.
I realize, complainers are louder than others, and that may account for all the whiny posts I keep seeing. But get a grip, people. It’s supposed to be FUN, first of all, and there is a method to doing Nano, if you’d only bother to read about it before you start the month. If you “can’t do it” then why did you sign up? If you are too busy with your social life or whatever, then why did you sign up? And for goodness sakes, it’s not called “write the perfect novel month,” the goal is a rough draft. As in, the first run at it. No one ever writes a best-seller on the first draft.
As for that not having time to do it? I never accept that as an excuse. Ever. I work full time, I homeschool my kids, help my husband run his business, write professionally in several blogs, and also have a social life that doesn’t involve writing. Yet, I still manage to write a 50K or better MS every November for NaNoWriMo. No one starves to death, everyone has clean clothes, I still go to coffee with my non-writing friends every other week, work 50+ hours a week, etc. And, I write. I’m no better or worse a writer than any other Nanoer, I just don’t ever tell myself I can’t do it, and I never lament what I’m missing out on by doing this every year. If I start to do that, then it’s time for me to stop taking the challenge.
Whining is not attractive, nor is it productive. If you have enough energy to whine, then you have enough energy to write, so get to it!
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