NaNo November…anyone pulling their hair out yet???

Balancing work, family, and my love or writing is proving to be a true test of my sanity this month. For those of you hibernating in a hermit hole and have no clue what I’m talking about, let me fill you in. I’m talking about National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a. NaNo, in which the goal is to spew out a fifty thousand word novel in thirty days. As a novice writer, I must say that task seems nearly impossible. But, I’m amazed to say on day eleven some of my writing buddies are already sitting at twenty thousand words. Can you say WOW?? If it wasn’t for the constant personal need to keep up with the pack, I’d probably still only be at fifteen hundred words on my SNI, but I’m happy to report I’m at just over seven thousand. How I managed to get my brain to produce that much material in less than two week, I have no idea.

Now, I know most of you are probably saying that isn’t that much, but in my defense, like most writers, I have a lot going on. Lately, I’ve averaged a six day work week with my current nursing position, have a hyperactive toddler that demands most of my free time, and of course the never ending household duties that go with being a wife and mother. Ugh. I know some of you feel my pain. So what I’ve ended up doing is setting aside one hour a day for my NaNo project, and so far it seems to be working, whether I’ll meet the fifty thousand word goal is still yet to be seen.

With that being said, I have a question for my fellow writers: Do you have a writing schedule??

Now, back to the grindstone. Good luck to all my fellow NaNo participants.

Happy Writing!

Original post published on Old People Writing for teens by GotYA contributor Annie McElfresh. To view the original post and reader comments, please click here.