No, no , NaNo!

It's November. All of the writing world is a flutter, every author bent over their keyboard, tapping away, their hair sticking up at all angles while they down cup after cup of coffee...

Okay, maybe that last part was an exaggeration. Maybe. 

It's NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month, in which writers try and write 50,000 words in 30 days. I am not partaking of this insanity this year. While I have plenty of stuff to write about, and yes, if motivated I could probably vomit up 50K of utter crap that would later be whipped into shape and vaguely resemble a novel. I have plenty of days off from work in Nov. which could be utilized in this fashion. 

However...

November, if you remember, is the tail end of my Grad School semester. Instead of madly writing dialogue, I am madly writing papers, and making movies using Xtranormal (really, it's for a grade I promise) and putting together a mock year-end Library report while trying to get my lesson plans done and update the school's website (how did I get that job, anyway?). 

And, by the way, my son is still playing football. We made the playoffs. Joy. (I am being trite; I love watching them play and it's fun). And his birthday is this month. There is really no time and I just want to avoid the stress of it all. Not making that daily word count makes you feel like a failure, believe me.

So I'm working on getting everything done this next short work week (the NJ teacher's convention - thank you!) so that I can take myself off of the writing time-out in time for Thanksgiving. Then I can write like a madwoman until the end of January - when the Spring semester starts. 

Only two semesters left. Only two semesters left. 

Once it's all over, two years from now, I may attempt a NaNo. I did it once. The work has never seen the light of day and it never will. But I DID get those 50,000 words of total garbage onto the screen in under 30 days. And that's what counts. 

Do you NaNo?