Breaking Up With NaNoWriMo
Dear NaNoWriMo,
It’s not you… It’s me.
From the moment I discovered you, I’ve loved you.
The idea of writing a novel in a month—I nearly swoon thinking about you. You are a wish, a dream, a goal to achieve, but I will never be good enough for you. I’ve tried to make our relationship work. I’ve slaved over the keyboard for hours and hours all in the name of loving you and making my daily goal of 1,666.66667 words. But what has that gotten me? I’ll tell you. Two and a half YEARS of editing from one month’s worth of writing.
I can’t live like that. Not again. You are a phenomenon. You inspire thousands of writers every year and I wish, I so wish, I could be one of them. But we are just not compatible. You want me to be someone other than myself. You want me to be someone who writes fast. You can’t appreciate my need to edit as I write. To go over and over a page until it’s perfect. To sometimes spend hours on one paragraph. You do not value my need for quality. And I can’t meet your expectations of quantity.
So, I think it’s best if we go our separate ways.
I will always love you, but from afar. I want you to be happy. If anyone ever mentions you I will encourage them to give you a chance, because I know it’s truly not you… It’s me.
Love, Abbie Roads
(Certified slow writer)
*I originally wrote this in 2014, but thought it deserved to be reposted*
