The first week of December I hear from countless writers that they are struggling to continue writing. Undoubtedly, they were writing machines during the month of November. In my mind, it’s no different from athlete coming off the field and the adrenaline dump that usually follows. I’ve termed it “The Nano slump.” It’s a writers slump, it will clear up. It will get better, but you need to realize that your practices during the month of November aren’t sustainable long term. This is where you need to take a hard look at the strategies you used to achieve your fifty thousand word goal and decide which ones can stay.
Some people clear their calendars for NaNoWriMo. Many of us lock ourselves away, skipping every social event except for Thanksgiving in the US, or give up television for the month. This isn’t sustainable long-term, not if you want to keep your friends and family happy. This is where you need to put on that detective’s hat. No, I’m not giving you murder mystery to solve. What I want you to do is find out if writing is going to be a long-term feature in your life or November only project. There’s nothing wrong with confining your writing to November, if that’s what you genuinely want to do.
I thought I was walking away from writing. I was heartbroken. Our cat Phillip had knocked a hard drive with all of my writing on it off my desk. I know you are supposed to have backups. So how did this happen?