Wednesday, November 1, 2017

DAY OF THE DREAD

This post is part of the monthly blog hop/therapy session known as the Insecure Writers Support Group, founded by the one and only, Alex J. Cavanaugh. If you're a writer, insecure, or just supportive of writers—insecure or not—please join us. It happens the first Wednesday of each month.I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words will be appreciated. 

Optional Question: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

Today is November 1st...
Known here in Mexico as...
The Day of the Dead! 
Me as a catrina with my jungle kitty, Indie




But if you're a writer...
You probably know it as...
The Day of the Dread!
The NaNoWriMo challenge!
AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!



Me? Will I do NaNoWriMo?
No, not this year.
I did do NaNoWriMo several years ago.
It was exhilarating…
It was brutal…
It was also…
Never finished.
I wrote almost 30,000 words…
But just couldn’t find the oomph to go on.
I know, wimpy, wimpy, wimpy…
But in my defense…
I used to write copy-on-the-fly all the time…
When I worked at a radio station writing spots.
On a typical day…
A salespeople would fly into the creative department panicked…
“Client needs a :60 on the air in a few hours.”
Now mind you, I didn't write the average rip'n'read spots...
I wrote creative, well produced spots...
And because radio is 'theatre of the mind'...
I often incorporated SFX, music...
And sometimes character voices (I do over 30).
I had no option to say, “Eh, I don’t feel like writing today.”
Or...
“I’m busy with another project.”
I gotta say, as hectic as it often was...
I loved the challenge of writing fast and furious copy...
But unlike the NaNoWriMo challenge…
I had to finish...
And sometimes I got rewarded...
Winning many ADDY and Crystal awards. 
So each November 1st I ask myself...
Do I need a drill to force myself to write?
No.
So, it’s no, no, NaNoWriMo for me this year.
But what about you?
Will you do or not do NaNoWriMo?
Got any scary NaNoWriMo stories? 

Always,
Em-Musing

P.S. Hmm? Come to think about it - being part of thousands of writers  around the world racking their brains out for a month does sound kinda, sorta fun. So maybe next year I'll do NaNoWriMo. But before I even use one brain cell thinking about that challenge,  I'm going to concentrate on another upcoming challenge - the 2018 A-Z Challenge!