Winning (NaNoWriMo 2019, Day 12)

[ladyheatherlly]

Won NaNoWriMo a couple hours ago. That's a new record… the earliest I've finished in the past was the 15th. I'm going to keep writing, but I probably won't update about my progress until the end of the month.

Comments

[mr_fried]

Your future plan sounds sensible
Just go for a reset, just getting over the 50k line is enough
You are supposed to be doing this for yourself after all, not for anyone else, so don't worry about what others say and don't put yourself under so much pressure.

[ladyheatherlly]

You're 100% correct (as usual). Thank you. ♥

[ki]

Grats on your win! But yes, please do take care of yourself! I know we all like a challenge but I've been asking myself.. why do we do this one month out of the year? Are we contributing to that "work until you drop is the only way to go" mentality that is a problem in so many industries (I'm looking at you game devs)?

I want to win NaNo because, as you said, if you've done it once it's sort of expected of you. And now I've come to expect it from myself. But more importantly, I want to have a writing community and the drive to write every day (okay, most days) in general - even if it's just a couple of hundred words. I'm grateful for NaNo and the things it has taught me, but I think it's not always the healthy choice anymore. For me, anyway. (:

[ladyheatherlly]

The funny thing is, my usual mentality is the OPPOSITE of this. I have a little community of writers who have stuck with me for the past seven years or so - in that time, I've come up with hundreds (literally) of writing challenges for them. None of them have a time limit. None have ever had a huge word count requirement. Everything I plan for those folks is designed to be as flexible/low-pressure as possible.

Hell, even NaNoWriMo… I realized years ago that some members weren't up to the "50K in a month" challenge. As such, I always tell them that they're free to set their own goal - it might not count for NaNoWriMo, but it counts in our community. They participate right along with us, and they receive equal encouragement/support.

This is the question I've been asking myself lately - why have I gone out of my way to make a safe place for others, while being so hard on myself? Something I tell my members (which I strongly believe in) is that it's not about how much you write - it's how often you do it

[webgirluk]

[deepseasiren]

Just be happy for yourself and don't mind other expectations from other people. My God what you just wrote in a short period of time is fucking amazing in itself.

[ladyheatherlly]

Thank you! Yeah, I'm doing my best to make it more of a "me" thing.

[deepseasiren]