It hasn’t even started and I’m quitting. At the beginning of November, I always feel a push, urge, desire, impulse to jump into the NaNoWriMo waters.

Some of the reasons I’ve loved joining this movement of National Novel Writing Month:

1. Love saying NaNoWriMo (Nanno Wry Moe!). It’s fun to say. It’s hip.
2. Dig the curriculum for the young writers’ program for my afterschool creative writing classes. They’re so funny! Kids love the worksheets and lesson plans.
3. A social and structured movement that gets people to write and write fast?! — What’s not to love?
4. All the Twitter #amwriting hashtag love. #writesprints and timed writing. I write well with a pack of writers. I’m a woman who runs with wolves (and words).

But I ain’t gonna do it. Instead,

1. Going to clean my tiny little closet, stuffed full of clothes from so many seasons.
2. Support my darlings — the girls are in a play and H.’s applying for college.
3. Plan Thanksgiving and Christmas road trips. (If we have friends or family stay at our place, it’d also be nice not to leave our apartment such a disaster.)
4. Might organize some holiday parties.
5. I just completed another writing challenge — the blogging challenge (posted almost every day for 31 days). Phew.
6. I already finished one novel this year and I’d like to shop that baby around before I produce more literary crap.
7. Want to embark on a week of querying for possible magazine articles. I’ve had good luck when I did this before.
8. I don’t like waking so early or staying up so late just to push my word count up. I love sleep.
9. I need some time to update my websites.
10. Want a haircut; maybe an eyelash extension. Manicure?
11. Freelance work pays; NaNoWriMo doesn’t.

But for anyone who enters NaNoWriMo this year, I wish you happy writing. Fun times. New friends. High word count! And much coffee.

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