Strategies for Survival:  Failure is an Option

So we spend a lot of time talking about success and winning and pushing through, and believe me, we mean every bit of it.  You can be ten thousand words behind and I still still be right there to tell you that you can TOTALLY do it!  We are all about the success.

But you know what?  Failure is also an option.  And that is NOT a negative statement.

There comes a time in a wrimos life when they look at their word count at some point during the month and realize that fifty thousand is just NOT going to happen.  Let’s be real about that.  Sometimes it just does not happen.  So let’s talk about what happens when it doesn’t.

A lot of people quit.  It’s a thing that happens.  They get discouraged by failing, and they give it up.  Maybe say that they just can’t do it.  Maybe feel bad about it, like they’ve REALLY failed something.  Like it says something about them as a writer.  And in the worst case circumstances, sometimes people never try nano again.

It’s understandable to think why a person might think that way, to be honest.  After all, for all of the encouragement we offer each other, and we offer a LOT of encouragement, most of it is centered around success.  People crow about their successes.  It can throw inevitable failure into sharp relief.

But it doesn’t HAVE to be that way.  Did you write a thousand words?  That’s a thousand words you didn’t have before.  Can you get just a thousand words more in the rest of the month?  That’s reason enough to keep going.

So you don’t win.  So what?  The glory of nano is that it is absolutely and hundred percent risk free.  Nothing bad happens if you lose.  You just give it a try again next year.  You work on your writing throughout the year.  You maybe try a different strategy for planning.  (You maybe try planning?)  Or maybe the reason you didn’t make it this year was because LIFE HAPPENED and you know that things might not all fall apart like that again next year.

But you DON’T have quit.  You can keep trying to get as many words as you can before the end of the year.  Give yourself something to build on!  Still come to the writein.  DEFINITELY come to the events.  Remember, nano is mostly about the community, and the having a good time with like minded creative people.  You don’t have to be winning to have a good time.

So take it easy on yourself.  Go ahead and have fun losing.