I’m still hearing a lot of chatter about NaNoWriMo on Twitter. I’ve even had some lengthy chats on there with folks who are firm believers in the movement. For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Or so I’m told. It’s a movement that is used in the world of writing to motivate folks to write.
Today I don’t want to write. Honestly, I don’t. I stayed up late playing Destiny for the Xbox and even watched a few episodes of The Office. I love that show! This morning I woke to to a beautiful wife and two very energetic children. My backside is dragging. Still, as a full-time author, I know it’s time to write. That’s why I don’t really understand the NaNoWriMo movement? If you have been a part of it in the past and successfully written a book within a single month’s time – why are you not writing professionally?
To me, NaNoWriMo is kind of gimmicky. People need something to be a part of I suppose, I don’t know? I started my own version of NaNoWriMo a while back. It’s called #IfIDontWriteIDontEat and it motivates the hell out of me. If you need a gimmick to keep you motivated when it comes to writing, don’t ever expect to do it for a living. That’s today’s lesson. Because I understand that every single day, brand new authors are arriving by the thousands and in order to continue doing what I love to do, I have to outwork them. Writing professionally is a marathon that never ends. You either continue running or folks who are a bit hungrier will pass you by.
Let that motivate you.
bookcommander.wordpress.com 
Thank you for writing this. I thought I was alone in my disdain for NaNoWriMo. A friend asked me to participate, but I didn’t understand why I should. I’m my own motivation; I don’t need someone digital badge to validate my writing. Plus, how much quality can there be in 50K words written with such haste. Good post!
Also, after writing 50K words in such haste, if you want said novel out on the market during the same month, it won’t be much time for editing, beta reading and other things needed to create a good book.