NaNoWriMo was a GOOD thing. Really. But it could have been better. I went into it knowing I wasn’t going to make the target 50,000 words; I just wanted to push myself and see how much writing I could fit into 30 days of an otherwise fairly normal life. (It turned out to be just under 30,000.)

But one luxury I got very used to during those 30 days was being able to put everything else more or less on hold for my writing. It was like an extenuating circumstance, a note from your parents getting you out of phy ed, a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the bedroom door that even a 15-year-old boy would pay attention to. (Most of the time.) Don’t get me wrong — most of what I was putting off, I really, deeply enjoy. And part of my problem now is just, plain and simple, not having time for everything that matters to me.

But one thing that distresses me about the post-NaNoWriMo experience is that the ability to put the writing first is gradually slipping away. Anyone who knows me at all knows how bad I am at putting myself first, EVER…and that’s what my writing is, letting myself do something that’s just purely for me. (Well, me and the devoted band of readers who would probably hunt me down and beat me with spiky sticks if I stopped writing…) And I’m having real trouble doing that, without that excuse note from NaNoWriMo. Maybe next year the experience will “stick” a little better…