Creativity, and NaNoWriMo

Fall is coming. That means November, a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month is also rapidly approaching.

For the last few years, I’ve been trying to work on drafting another novel- a couple of them, in fact- and I haven’t been able to put enough time into it to really make a dent in it. I’ve discussed it before, in fact.

My friend(s) who are single are writing up a storm, and then asking me “when are you going to have time to edit my book?” to which I have to laugh. (I love you, man, I really do.) I don’t even have time to work on mine, much less edit other people’s. I don’t have time to work on my bikes, fix my car, work on my music projects. I certainly don’t have time to work on other people’s. But they still ask, and I still want to help, because I’m just that kind of guy.

In fact, I’ve gotten so busy, I’ve had to slow down my creative freight train (thank you, ADD brain) just in order to get simple things done. Like cooking dinner, showering, sleeping, and other semi-important stuff.

I’ve been working on outlining my novel plots, which is new territory for me. I generally enjoy writing off the cuff without an outline, but this poses problems for me when I’m trying to bring the story to a close.

I have to be satisfied to just keep thinking about it, taking notes, and when the opportunity presents itself, I’ll pull the 100+ hours it takes to actually write the book (not to mention editing it).

We’ll see how it goes. I have nine weeks to decide whether or not I want to try to “win” NaNoWriMo again this year.