Probably the greatest hurdle of my writing so far was actually finishing a book. Usually I would start all full of hope and good intentions, and then the lull would hit in the middle. And some other awesome idea would pop into my head and I abandoned that manuscript to begin another. Which would then be abandoned for another. And so on and so forth. When I first found out about NaNo (or rather, the July camp) it sounded perfect. And it worked. I finally finished a manuscript. And then another in November. And another in April. Then wrote a giant chunk out of an epic medieval drama in July. Then wrote another one the next November. I've never not "won" NaNo, and I've set goals as high as 75k. But this last November, it just felt like a chore to meet the goal. I found myself actually dragging my feet to do my writing for the day and being so preoccupied. And at the end, when I finally got around to editing the four complete manuscripts, I found a slew of extra words. The word "actually" and "really" was always popping up. I ended up editing out hundreds of words. I was so caught up in the word count, it started mattering more than the story. I'm forever grateful for NaNo, finally helping me to regularly complete the drafts I begin. But I think I have to pull back for a bit. I need to edit and actually send out queries to agents. I want to take my time and remind myself of what I love about writing. Is there anyone else that struggles with being burned out on NaNo? Have you ever avoided doing it?
I'm a NaNo Rebel, so burnout isn't an issue for me. I use the month of November to write everything EXCEPT my novel. This year it was one article for a magazine and three short stories for competition. That said, I've been known to hang out with NaNo Folk and this is what they do . . . Write like crazy in November. Edit the rest of the year. We have "Edit and Write-ins" every Saturday, all year long. Some people go religiously, I go when my work schedule permits. It's laid back, we all drink coffee and work on our own projects while blissfully ignoring the other writers around us. Twice a month we meet for dinner and swap chapters for critique. We have two weeks to read and review, then the critique is delivered the next time we meet. This keeps everyone involved and feeling like they are part of a writing community, rather than "OMG it's NaNo!" each November and then feeling like you're all alone in a black hole the rest of the year.
I work in a builder's warehouse, and our busiest period is September-November, so I am usually too worn down with work to do anything like NaNo in November.
True. I don't really have a lot of writer friends, as most of my friends come with a wrestling podcast network I'm on or my Museum Studies graduate program. Although I did meet one girl in the network that's published before, so we're definitely going to be chatting.
