NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo

Yes, this is about NaNoWriMo.

When I signed up to be a Municipal Liason for NaNoWriMo this year, I promised to do my best to finish the competition with 50,000 words. But since the very beginning, I have been woefully behind. The story isn’t the problem this year, actually, it’s my motivation. It just doesn’t seem to be there. I can’t bring myself to push past that point when I’m uncomfortable or tired or distracted to write more, and meet a daily word count.

I have a feeling that this might be the year that I don’t finish, that I can’t win. I hate that feeling. But I need to decide soon, is this the point at which I just say, yeah, it’s okay to let this go this time? Do I give up? Or do I keep pushing and fail despite my best efforts?

Is it better to quit and maintain your sanity (or health), or keep going until you collapse, knowing you did your best until it wasn’t possible to do it anymore? I see arguments for both options, and they both make sense. On one hand, keeping your sanity is a good thing. Pushing until you break isn’t always healthy, and you could be out of the game for longer that way.

On the other hand, giving up sucks. I’ve learned something from The Biggest Loser this year, and that’s never give up, no matter what, no matter how sucky things are. Failure is not an option for those guys.

But I’m not on The Biggest Loser, and this isn’t a television show where outrageous workouts and extreme diets are monitored by doctors and specialists and personal trainers. It’s me and my family, and that’s it.

I don’t want to give up, but is slogging across the finish line when I know that I could do better more humiliating?