NaNoWriMo Sacrifice

2014/October by Marji Laine 6 Comments

I LOVE November. Last year, I wrote almost all of the 100,000 word contemporary romance that I just handed over to my agent. The year before that, a romantic suspense that is currently in play.

I love the challenge. Love meeting new people. Love logging in my words at the MBT NaNo Challenge as well as the main NaNo website. And I TOTALLY LOVE spending October planning out the novel to the last detail. One of my favorite things.

This year I’m viewing NaNoWriMo differently. The last few months in our family have been pressured by too many activities. Now that they are starting to end and release their holds, the last thing a mom needs to do is add something new.

It took some hard evaluation to make this decision. My son first suggested me taking a writing break, and I pouted all weekend. He wanted me to give up writing? Now? I hadn’t been able to really write in weeks. But he suggested a sabbatical. And I couldn’t blame him. If I had reached the level to where I was paid for this career, I’d have trouble “taking a month off.” But I’m not paid. Not yet. This is still a … gulp … hobby. No matter how I treat it like a serious occupation.

And then there was the Daily Grind post I did last week. I have to have my activities lined up with my Heavenly Father’s plan. And writing a new novel at this point, even though I’ve already laid it out, isn’t part of His plan and won’t be blessed.

This month, I’m vowing to put in the same amount of effort that I use on my stories to “get my house in order.” I remember the nest-feathering before each of my kids were born. Cleaning, decorating, expunging. Don’t my growing kids deserve the same type of attention?

My home-schooling home has taken quite a beating now that the final two are in high school. Time has become utmost in value, so with the new-found gift of about 20 hours per week that I’ve realized from the release of volleyball season, I need to pour that back into my family in a labor of love.

And that means sacrificing NaNoWriMo this year. Doesn’t mean I won’t add another novel to my agent’s growing shelf, but I won’t add it during November. Think of me fondly, NaNo-buds.