Happy NaNo month!

It's 2nd April today. That means yesterday was the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo, and it passed me by completely. How did that happen? I blame coronavirus. That might seem a flippant thing to say, so let me explain.

Due to the outbreak, I am currently on furlough from work, staying home and looking after my son. Not being at work means that I'm not keeping track of the dates as easily. Also, being down to just one extra pair of hands (my husband's, when he's actually home from work) I have even less alone time to write. That sounds like I'm whining. I'm not. I'm extremely lucky to have even one extra pair of hands around the place, let alone the usual extra support from family when there isn't a pandemic. Some parents are single and are doing it completely on their own. Some parents don't have any family support. I salute these parents. That is hard work, right there.

The fact remains that it's difficult to get much done around here at the moment. The green-eyed monster isn't coming out when I see the boom in productivity that most creative types are having right now. Not at all.

Anyway, given the usual plate-spinning exercises, I'm going to have to cheat at NaNo a little this time by including word counts from projects that aren't necessarily the one I've listed on the site. I've foolishly listed my current project as my first draft of book two when I'm nowhere near finished with editing book one. (Oops!) This blog will be going towards the 20,000 word count goal I've set myself, and if I write any other articles for other purposes, they'll be counted too. The point is that my goals as a writer rest on far more than a single book. Yes, I know I'm probably asking for trouble by taking on so many writing projects all at once when I struggle to find the time to sit at my computer at all, but here we are. I'll just have to make my peace with the fact that I can't do it all, though I'd give it a damn good try, given the opportunity.

I've only participated in NaNoWriMo once before, in November 2017, when I was pregnant and bored and a friend suggested we could both take part. We both managed to hit the 50,000 word count target with only two minutes to spare. I wrote the first half of my first novel and couldn't believe I'd managed to get so far with it. Since then, I haven't been brave enough to set myself up for failure. Having only managed to hit the target of NaNo 2017 by the skin of my teeth, I very much doubted that I'd come anywhere close now that I can't keep my child alive by merely eating, drinking and breathing.

It's something I always intended to take up again. When I accomplished my goal of finishing book one for beta reading by the turn of 2020 (this time accomplished just as the clock struck twelve) I had a sudden surge of confidence. I can actually work to timeframes again! This is my year, even if 50,000 isn't possible come November. At least with "camp" in April and July, you can set your own targets and make it manageable.

Progress of some sort is the important thing. Even if a specific target isn't met, any progress is a step in the right direction. Each word is a step forward. I think I spend far too much time dwelling on what I haven't managed to achieve and what I wish I'd done by now, but that's not going to help me to accomplish anything. Yes, it would be wonderful to have the entire trilogy that's in my head traditionally published by now. It would be great to be working on yet another plot bunny that keeps niggling away. But that's not the way things have played out. All I can do is look forward and do what I can from now on. My productivity may well continue to flourish one month and dwindle the next depending on my circumstances at the time. I have to stop beating myself up about the dry spells in my creative output. With any luck, NaNo will bring the motivation to make April a month when it really flourishes.

So, off we go into camp. If you're participating, I'd like to wish you the best of luck. Let's create something beautiful.

V.