Well, today is it!

Day 1 of National Novel Writing Month.

My original goal was to draft the sequel to my current work-in-progress, but I did not actually finish my current WIP by the end of October, so my NaNoWriMo goal this year is to complete my first novel. It’s currently at about 57,000 words, and it should probably be much closer to 75,000 (minimum), so that is what I’m pushing for in my NaNoWriMo goal. It means some adjusting to my 2023 writing schedule, but I would rather adjust my writing schedule and continue to make consistent progress on my work, than force myself to rigidly keep to a schedule that isn’t working and burn myself out before I even get started.

If my M.F.A. taught me anything, it’s that writers need to adapt to the changes in their own lives, bodies, minds, and emotions to continue to be successful.

I also need to be kinder to myself considering that I am working full time and I’m still in school full time. I may not have the energy to write everyday, and that needs to be okay. I’m not in competition with anyone, not even myself. I need to do what’s most conducive to my writing process long-term. Otherwise, like I said above, burnout is inevitable.

I think this is something I’ve seen a lot in people who “want to be writers.” I definitely saw it in my M.F.A. I think part of it is that, as students, we’re told that we need to write every day to be successful, that if we don’t keep to a writing schedule we’ll fall out of the habit of writing entirely, etc. It’s a lot of “writer’s doomsday” stuff that, while they can be helpful to hear, really bury the most important point, which is that writers need to adapt. Our lives change, our work changes, our bodies change, our health and responsibilities and finances and locations change, and it’s simply unrealistic to expect that, through all of that, our writing practice will remain the same as it has always been.

Another part of this issue is that I’ve encountered writers and students who expected the industry to adapt to their perspective on how things should run. And that’s not to say that the writing community or the publishing industry doesn’t have a lot of room to grow (because they absolutely do), but when it comes to an individual writer and the ways they want the process to work, it seems to me to be a waste of time and energy to focus on all the ways they want things to be different, rather than trying to make the process work for them. Because ultimately, I am only in control of my own process. I can choose how I respond/react to the industry as a whole, and I can actively call out the horrible racist and homophobic practices of the publishing industry, but my writing, my process, are my own to worry about.

That’s a longwinded way of saying, if you want to be a writer, you’re going to have to force yourself to create some kind of writing schedule. It’s not going to get done on its own, and without a schedule – even a very inconsistent one – it won’t get done at all. Go at your own pace. Give yourself as much time as you need. Some people write multiple books every year, and others take five or more years on one project. There’s no wrong method, no wrong way to do it.

Embrace the change.
Adapt to your needs as well as the needs of your work.
And let yourself create.