Yesterday was my first zero word day of NaNo 2012.
These days exist. In some years more than others — like in Camp NaNo August, when I would go a week at a time without working on my novel. Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes you just need to lay on the ground and scrub your grout with a toothbrush and baking soda — because there’s nothing creative about it, and holy shit, did you know that your grout isn’t black?
But that’s not in the spirit of NaNo. There a lot of goals for NaNoWriMo, and for me the biggest one is that I write every day. For the rest of the year, I write in spurts. I might spend a month on a project, and then write nothing creative for a month or two. I might start something small and silly, then file it away and forget it exists. (John Watson & Donna Noble broship fic, I’m looking at you)
During NaNo, I shine. I don’t necessarily thrive under pressure, and like I said last week, the words aren’t always good, but they’re all mine. So when I have days like yesterday, when I’m stressed about my real life and wondering what I’m doing with this whole writing thing, it’s easy to just sort of… stop.
I can’t take yesterday back. What I can do is write today. I can write tomorrow. I can regain my momentum, and remind myself not to take NaNoWriMo as a whole — Who writes 50,000 words in a month‽ Crazy people, that’s who! — but a day at a time.
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