I deleted my NaNoWriMo account, today
Sep. 5th, 2024 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniThanks to the entity now embracing A.I. as a "Tool."
(After looking back at my stats).
There were a couple years where I tried to do multiple challenges in a year, burning out, not participating, and then coming back.
According to my profile, there, I started 19 distinct projects, between the November marathon proper and "Camp NaNoWriMo," with a total of 605K-and-a-bit words typed out. My last registered project was in 2020. I did not reach 50K that year; I think it was about that time that I realized simply typing 50k words at breakneck speed did not lead to crafting a story I actually still wanted to tell, come December (what really kept me coming back, over and over in spite of that, was the social permission to make a pillow fort out of an imaginary world, where I could retreat from seasonal attitudinal depression, and other pressures; Pillow forts aren't meant to be permanent).
Back when I started, in 2005, NaNoWriMo was a much different beast than it is now... There were no corporate sponsors, and the only prize you could claim was a winner's T-shirt. And the social vibe was a lot more like the spontaneous writers' communities that sprung up on old school Bulletin Board Systems, IRC chat rooms (remember those?), and Usenet forums.
(All of which I miss, BTW)
(After looking back at my stats).
There were a couple years where I tried to do multiple challenges in a year, burning out, not participating, and then coming back.
According to my profile, there, I started 19 distinct projects, between the November marathon proper and "Camp NaNoWriMo," with a total of 605K-and-a-bit words typed out. My last registered project was in 2020. I did not reach 50K that year; I think it was about that time that I realized simply typing 50k words at breakneck speed did not lead to crafting a story I actually still wanted to tell, come December (what really kept me coming back, over and over in spite of that, was the social permission to make a pillow fort out of an imaginary world, where I could retreat from seasonal attitudinal depression, and other pressures; Pillow forts aren't meant to be permanent).
Back when I started, in 2005, NaNoWriMo was a much different beast than it is now... There were no corporate sponsors, and the only prize you could claim was a winner's T-shirt. And the social vibe was a lot more like the spontaneous writers' communities that sprung up on old school Bulletin Board Systems, IRC chat rooms (remember those?), and Usenet forums.
(All of which I miss, BTW)
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 02:58 pm (UTC)...I also deleted my LiveJournal account, way back (in whatever year it was when they sold the last American based server to a Russian company), in solidarity with Queer folk who were getting their journals banned (before I realized I was queer myself). so I won't be signing up for the LiveJournal group either.
Though there are other writing communities here on Dreamwidth. And there's some talk on Tumblr about doing a writing challenge month sometime other than November (The one suggestion that makes the most sense to me, as a North American, is January, to take advantage of New Year's Resolutions, and the general cultural encouragement to develop new habits).
no subject
Date: 2024-09-08 09:17 pm (UTC)