Well, I'm quite a bit ahead in terms of word count at this point. In terms of plot, however, I'm way behind. I do not think the story will end at 50k, but even if I do reach that point, I'm going to keep writing until the bitter end.
Lately, I've been thinking about perspectives on participating in National Novel Writing Month--particularly my own perspective. It's not a very interesting one, I'm afraid. It's hard to get excited about a person who likes banging her head against the wall every November for no practical reason at all.
1. I've done this for many years. But not enough years to be in any way impressive. I jumped on the bandwagon when Nanowrimo was already three years old. In internet terms, that's like being middle-aged.
2. I write because I want to write, with no intention of publishing the output from Nano. I view Nanowrimo as a writing exercise. I only post chapters to this website because it helps me to write more. I suppose I would be more worried if writing was the sole passion in my life, but it isn't. There shouldn't be any stipulations for writing for fun. And if this makes me an unambitious twit, then so be it.
3. I am a municipal liaison--which means I'm basically a volunteer who organizes Nanowrimo events in my region. I sort of stumbled into the job because, well, the previous ML was kind of flaky but this isn't something that I regret doing. In fact, I sort of view this as giving back to an organization that really added something worthwhile for me to participate in.
4. As an ML, I think I've been very, very lucky with my region. Because Nanowrimo is an internet phenomenon, there is always the chance that there may be weirdos, creeps, trolls, and some genuinely nutty people trying to horn in on this writing event. I've read some horror stories from some other MLs and I know that things can be a lot worse than just not getting to that 50k.
5. If I had any sense of hubris before posting my first Nano novel, it was completely quashed afterward. It is a myth that anyone will read your Nano novel. No one cares. And if they do, they don't have the attention span. The only people who will glance at it will be perverts searching for busty ninjas and bots from Poland. The most visited page on this site so far is the links page. Everyone wants to read all the blogs (except this one of course--I'm way too boring).
6. After reading a particular thread on the private ML forums, I've decided that I do indeed have a stance on politics and religion in terms of Nano--that those two subjects are off limits unless they specifically pertain to writing someone's novel. I am a fairly non-confrontational in person. I do not like other people going ballistic on me because I happen not to agree (or even do agree) with them.
Recently I've also been following the 30C/30D forums. It's an interesting concept which I had high hopes for, but frankly I don't see any variety because they all sound like literary fiction. This is not the fault of the cover designer as the novels are being picked by Nanowrimo HQ. Judging from the types of stories selected so far, I would be extremely surprised if something blatantly genre (such as fantasy, mystery, romance, sci-fi, horror, etc.) will be picked. You're probably more likely to be picked if you're writing about angsty sentient banana slugs living on a cabbage farmer's watering can in the Czech Republic than about an intrepid farm boy who goes on a quest to get rid of the Ebil Overlord and marry the princess.
