NaNoWriMo NoNo – But it’s Okay-o. – VANESSA SHIELDS, writer

I thought I’d follow up on what happened with me and National Novel Writing Month 2012.

Not much, really. And I’m completely okay with this.

I started off well. I wrote just under 10,000 words. And then I stopped working on that particular piece of work. But there is no doubt in my mind, I am still very much a Novelist At Work.

I felt no guilt. I felt no pressure to continue. I know that I will get back to this story. It cannot be left alone. It will not be left alone. The characters won’t leave me alone!

But I wanted to tell you that, for me, even if I didn’t become a NaNoWriMo Winner this year – I’ve done it in the past. I know I can. And this allows for me to take a year off if I have to. And it allows me to use the excitement I felt upon completion last year as fodder to continue writing any new project.

NaNoWriMo means different things to different writers. It certainly feels different to different writers as it happens (or not). To each her own writing process, right? Write.

And that’s just it – what I love most about what the NaNoWriMo family does for writers around the world is this: HELP MOTIVATE US TO WRITE WITH A GOAL IN MIND. A very clear goal. A very calculated goal. A very challenging goal.

While I didn’t hit my 50,000 word-count goal this NaNoWriMo, I did write. I wrote a lot in November. And throughout the rest of 2012.

Now…about setting writing goals.