NaNoWriMo 2016

I'm in a writerly quandary.

It's the start of NaNoPrep season, and I don't know if I'm going to participate this year, let alone which WIP I should work on next.

For those who don't know,  National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a challenge that takes place in November, where those writers who thrive on pressure, competition and deadlines (as well as those who just need a running kick up the backside to get started) try to write at least 50,000 words in a month. I did it last year, and finished my first novel, Baby Steps, and then took part in camp NaNoWriMo in July to finish off the WIP I have been working on *forever* - Before Digital Dreams.

NaNoWriMo is really good fun, and I've met some brilliant writers through it. It's a good way of keeping in the habit of writing each day as well, and I find the progress graphs a really good motivator. But I will be a lot busier this November. Last year Youngest wasn't particularly mobile, and had two naps a day. Now he is a curious, exploring toddler who isn't keen on naps and hasn't yet developed any sense of danger.

I have been asked to contribute my political thoughts over on HeavyMetalPolitics (and with that as my outlet, I won't be putting my political thoughts here anymore, just chatty posts like this and fiction). I start in a couple of weeks though, and I'm not sure if I will have the energy to NaNoWriMo on top of researching and writing for HPol. 

So the sensible thing to do would be not to participate in NaNoWriMo this year.

But I know once it starts I will wish I had.

And I do have at least two novel ideas that have been badgering my brain for ages - A clone story called My Better Half and a young adult novel exploring the back story of Malcolm, one of the characters from A Tale of Two Princes.

The coloured post-it notes are calling me.

I'm going to need a *lot* of coffee in November...