My EPIC FAIL at NaNoWriMo this year

I really meant to win NaNoWriMo this year. For whatever reason, I thought this year would be different. 50,000 words in one month? No sweat.

Around 5,000 words later, and I have massively failed. Epically failed. In fact, I would consider this an EPIC FAIL.

Except, it's really not. I've come to terms with a lot of things over the past month, including the fact that it's hard to juggle a freelance career, a day job, a family, a faith, friends, and even more freelance work at the same time. NaNoWriMo bit the dust, and I can attribute this failure to one thing.

I saw the goal as a whole, and it made me freeze. The novel I've been working on has been banging around in my head for years. For the past month, I've had one genius idea after yet managed to only write a few of them down.

Don't let this happen to you! Here is a good tip for anyone starting a new project, whether it be a novel, a short story, or an article- Make realistic goals for yourself. If you keep your eyes on the prize without breaking the steps down into manageable chunks, you might succumb to your fear. And, we all know that fear is the mind-killer.

With that said, how did everyone else do this year?

Comments

[Cate]

Good luck with your new blog, Wendy.

I can't believe I actually completed NaNo this year - last year was my epic fail. :)

[Wendy Withers]

I think I will do what I did with my last NaNoWriMo fail. I actually finished the first draft of the novel after NaNoWriMo ended. I'm hoping I'll actually get past the first draft phase with this novel, though.

Good job with winning!

[Colorado Writer]

I failed miserably at Nanowrimo also...of course, I really didn't even try...but still.

[EZG]

Fear is the mind killer. Well said. I knew that I would get lazy towards the end and wrote like 12,000 words or something my first three days. From there, I didn't have too much trouble staying ahead and finished by the 26th. Sorry to hear it went so poorly for you, though.