Words, words, words ...

"The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get."

That was a favorite quotation of mine when I was a child. It appealed to some quirky little corner of the humor center of my brain. I know that there are other pithy quotes to apply to my topic for today, but at the moment I am too tired to remember them. There is at least one about knowing when to cut your losses, yadda yadda yadda.

All of this is to say that I'm officially bowing out of NaNoWriMo. It took a week for it to become not-so-much fun any longer. Yes, I know, I waxed poetic about it in the car Saturday evening on the way to a friend's birthday gathering, and I still believe everything I said. However, I have no way of catching up on my word count and still retaining my sanity. The fact that we will be in San Francisco from November 24th through 30th had a lot to do with my decision. The deadline for NaNo is the 30th, and there is no way I can get my minimum daily word count (1,667 words) while on a family trip, especially not with all of the things we have planned. We were on family trips in 2006 and 2007, too, but the holiday fell on dates that made this easier to manage. Also? I wasn't working then. Hello! All day at home to write!

We were out for the evening both last Friday and Saturday, and most of yesterday was spent either in church or at meetings. That was three days with hardly any writing at all. Could I really force it and still finish? Maybe, but at what cost?

This isn't the year for me, but it is the year for many of my friends! So, I will be here cheering you on and if you need advice you all know where to find me. Now shoo! Why are you still here reading? Go write!

"It's November, do you know what your word count is?"