One of my good mates runs the group in my city but I keep putting it off. November is always a really busy year. Also, I prefer writing at my own pace which goes against literally the entire purpose of the event. Plus I'm more of the person that comes up with ideas, says they'll write it, types up a hundred words then gives up and repeats the cycle. And every story I think of ends up sounding like I've just stolen a bunch of ideas from other shows and books.

Half way through November and I can't even decide what colour skin to give the main character :/ her "race" is frog-like so it's not as simple as "dark or light".

I pretty much scrapped the last story and started again, taking the world I was originally working on (that thought I'd lost the notes and word files for) into consideration. It's going to be a young woman being taken to a temple because she was born special and all that jazz but it's very far away and they're ambushed and taken away, and basically the rest of the story is her trying to make her own way to the temple, that obviously happens to be very far and dangerous.

I've started it, but haven't gotten far, I keep going back and changing things. I can't focus - Any ideas on how to focus?

I totally feel you on November being a really busy month. Almost any other month of the year would be better for me.

Not so much on the other bits though . The point of NaNo, really, is to finish the story. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, which is good, because only Terry Pratchett could write a masterpiece in a month. But it's practise on keeping going, pushing the story forward, not letting yourself get bogged down and finally finishing a project. All of which are great transferrable skills for writing on a more sane timeline.

SuperSimoholic, I guess it depends what/why you end up changing, really. I used to have a terrible habit whereby every time I'd sit down to write, I'd start by re-reading everything I'd written so far. Then of course I'd find things I didn't like any more and sink hours into changing them. So for me, it was about accepting that it doesn't have to be perfectly polished yet: it just has to tell the story. If something really really really bugs me, I can highlight it or make a note of it to rework it later; but the important thing right now is always to write new stuff. Ofc that's a bit of a misrepresentation - when you're writing to your own timeline, you can quite happily decide "You know what, I feel like I want today to be an editing day" - but I kind of suspect that's not a viable strategy for NaNo. :P

When I saw the thread title, I thought it was going to be about Mork & Mindy superfans and was thinking, "whoah, that's actually a thing?" Guess not!

So... I don't think I'll make it this year.

A little over a week ago, I was painting the kitchen and fell off my ladder while my brush was in the paintcan. I wasn't hurt, but paint got all over the place. And apparently the paint is evil, because paint thinners and paint strippers are not working, so I have to rely on elbow grease to clean it up.

And that's why, halfway into the month, I only have 9712 words done. Between job searches and the fact that I've discovered a really good fanfic, I probably won't finish.

I haven't even one page finished yet! I'm really busy this time of year and I honestly don't have the motivation to write or the time. I feel sorta ashamed of myself!