To Nano, or not to Nano

A friend in my writing group blogged about this very subject last month. He wasn't sure if he should spend his time writing a craptastic rough draft of something new for Nano, or just keep working on his current novel.

I think I told him to stick with what felt right. Go with your gut. Rah, rah, rah—go team and all that.

At the time I was considering skipping Nano. I've won Nanowrimo every year for the past seven years. Okay, for two years I had to do it in October because I was out of town for at least a week on vacation in November. I think New Zealand is a valid excuse for moving Nano up a month. But I still got 50,000 words those two years.

So it's kind of a tradition. A habit. Something I look forward to.

Although last year it stressed me out. I was at Dave Farland's Death Camp and finally got some of the ideas for New Sight to gel. I started re-writing that, as well as typing 50,000 words for another story. My brain almost exploded. Twice.

I'd like to avoid that this year, if possible.

I finished a rough draft of a YA Dystopian novel a few weeks ago. I've let it sit—stewing in its own juices—hoping to get a handful of good ideas about how to slim down the plot. The plan was instead of doing Nano, revise this story.

But I think I might have changed my mind. I've had a project on my “to do” list since the beginning of the year. I look at that list, see this project and roll my eyes. No time to make it happen and thus far no brilliant ideas for getting it started. Unfortunately, I may have found a great place to get it out on the web. It's not a story I imagine would ever be in print—I write it for my own amusement—but I do think people might like it.

And I have a month ahead of me that could be used for trying to make it happen. I also may have had a decent idea for a plot.

What to do? Decisions, decisions.

Sometimes I hate options.