NaNoWriMo 2021 - Never Give Up

Oh, yes, it's that time of year again. Fall has descended in my area of the U.S. and winter is just around the corner. Halloween and Thanksgiving - holidays to be juggled (Black Friday, too, which is a holiday for some).

Wait, no, that's not right. Right, r...wite, WRITE! That's more like it. It's that time of year where a bunch of crazy writers attempt to write 50,000 words in a month. NaNoWriMo time! (There are some crazy writers who write this and more almost every month of the year - I feel burnout coming on just thinking of that possibility for me.)

So, this is my yearly National Novel Writing Month post. Not sure if you'll see any other updates on Born to Write in November, though I may add some updates to this post if I feel so inclined.

This year, I initially had the intention of aiming for the 50,000, since I've never hit 50,000 in a month (not just during NaNo). Then I made a schedule for myself and realized how unrealistic aiming for 50,000 was at this time. I think if I go for 50,000, between the holidays and kids, I'd burn myself out for all of 2022, and I don't want to do that.

25,000 sounds way more doable, and a goal I've aimed for many NaNos in the past, though I also never reached it. My best NaNo year was 2015 when I hit 20,214 words. Even if I simply eclipse that by a handful of words, I'll be happy. As I've said before, NaNo is a way for me to challenge myself and push my limits. But there's a fine line between pushing limits and being completely unrealistic.

Of course I'll be a NaNo Rebel this year in more than word count. I'm planning to add onto Magic Morsel so I can at least finish the current "arc" of the episodes and have enough to publish one episode every Friday through the rest of the year on Kindle Vella. And I've also been chomping at the bit to get back to Gemini's Echo. Therefore, those are the two titles I'll be adding words to come November 1.

I'm going to try the NaNo Bites thing again. Here's hoping it imbeds nicely into this post, but if not, here's a direct link: NaNo Bites 2021.

Stickers are fun. XD Here's hoping I can at least get 50 of them - 500 words = 1 NaNo Bite!

Both of my kids want to take part in NaNo this year, too. That'll be extremely interesting for the grade schooler. I'll likely make her older sister help her on the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program website. Oh, and another reason 50,000 seems crazy is because the kids have off the WHOLE week of Thanksgiving week. Oy.

For those undertaking NaNoWriMo this year, good luck and happy writing!