To Nano or not to Nano

Why I do not do NanoWriMo anymore
by Kim Smith

Because it is far easier to just sit my butt in the chair and write if I don’t have all the pressure of a contest to turn out a certain word count.

For some people, they need a bit of pressure. It encourages them to “get ‘er done”, or at the very least get ‘er started. I believe that anything that gets a writer going is okay. So, if you are hot on the trail of the next bestselling book, and it is thanks to Nano, then you are okay by me.

But we should all remember that writing is easy if you don’t care much about what you are putting on the page. Most times, writing is something akin to pulling out your own jaw-tooth with a rusty pair of pliers. It just ain’t gonna come out.

Sometimes we have issues that crop up. I have them nearly every day. I cannot write and take care of issues and worry about a contest that requires me to get in 1667 words. It will shut me down and I will NEVER get anything done. But there are a lot of folks who can do it and do so every dang year.

One of those great fall Sundays where I had a belly full of stew and football on the tube and man, that couch was just a ‘callin’ convinced me that Nano is timed all wrong for me.

I don’t need Nano. I write my utmost best in fall and winter. It’s too chilly or bad weather then to do anything outside, so naturally my attention turns inward. And my muse is always waiting.

But if you are a Nano-er and still sitting here reading this post, best hop to it. Your word count is calling. I just penned 300 words for you on this blog and it was pretty darn effortless. If I can do that, you can succeed too. Best of luck, and let us know how it’s going.

What inspires you?

image courtesy of VideoVision Entertainment

This morning when I got out, the cool air caught me by surprise, and all I wanted to do was grab a comfy chair and write. The problem is my laptop died last weekend and so now writing will have to be done the old fashioned way. Not that that is a bad thing, and if I'd had time, I would have done just that.

Fall mornings with its crispness, and beauty always inspires me to write. (Proof positive : check out this post from 2008! WRITING PROMPTS ) Don't know if it is the old feeling of going back to school from childhood or what, but I can write like the wind in the glorious days of September and October.

Other things that inspire me to write are good questions. You know the ones I mean, the ones like, do writers write because they have to or do writers write because they have no life? I heard something on television last night that sent me off on a "Oh, I wish I had my laptop" moment.

Television shows are great fodder for inspiration. Especially ones with good what ifs. We, as writers, can always turn a what if into a whole story, and the good thing is, if we all took the same what if we would all have a different outcome.

Isn't being a writer great?

So, what inspires you to write? Where do you get those aha moments from?