It's My TV….It's My Peanut Butter

I’m sure there are some out there who would deride me over this, but, I’m willing to take the hit.  I am, once again, failing to even bother starting Nanowrimo.  November has to be the single most craptastic month of my year to attempt this.  In school, it fell in the midst of tail-end mid-terms, and the opening season of finals.  I mean, I definitely could have more than made my word count some years….it just would have been in the form of a legal brief rather than a novel.

And in my particular line of work, well…..not much better there.  For some very particular, but sadly dull business reasons, it’s a highly inauspicious time of year to attempt taking on anything else.  And my pay-the-bills job would have zero understanding for an attempt like this.  Not that they’d fire me, but they would look at me like I’d grown another head, and it would probably take 3 attempts to explain what it was before the meaning would even start to sink in.

The one year I started….and clearly didn’t finish….was 2008.  That one started out strong…and then got completely derailed by a very happy event–I got my passing score on the Texas bar exam, and had to drop everything to drive to Austin and get sworn in.  Then I wound up going back home with my parents in anticipation of Thanksgiving….and it was all down hill from there.

So, here we are again.  The general job issues are actually magnified more than normal this year.  I’m  missing enough posts right here because of meat-space.  If I were to try Nano, you’d basically have to write me off for the month.

I’m strongly considering declaring my own month.  Unfortunately, half the greatness of Nano is the effect of the masses and the support group atmosphere, and I can’t recreate that if I try this in, say, February or June.  So, either I fire up my own gumption, or I can cling to the hope that one day, I’ll see a November where joining the rest of the would-be authors will not be total stress-inducing folly on my part.

I would dearly love to participate in NaNoWriMo.  I actually made a half-ass attempt once.  Unfortunately, there are few months of the year more crappy as far as timing is concerned.  Honestly, who the hell picked November?

In college it came at the end of the mid-term crunch which extends into the hellish push to the end of the semester.  When you’re pulling all-nighters and paying the kind of money you shell out for an education these days, it’s hardly the time to try and churn out a novel.

I thought once I was done with school it would be better, but it’s not.  I’ve found that in my meat-space job, November is a push month to clear things out before December which is a hell month for business with people constantly going out on holiday.  It’s like everyone’s last ditch effort to get real work done before the year ends, and the closer you get to the end of November, the worse it is because you also have the kink of Turkey day thrown in.

Even when I was unemployed (the one year I attempted the run), November proved to be a nightmare because of the number of family get togethers and my continued ass-busting to find a job.  Thanksgiving week was a total bust.  Telling my family I need time to work on a novel just isn’t going to work.  No one believes you’re serious.  And even if they do, they don’t grasp what it entails.  And then they want to know why you’re not polishing your resume to find a job.  That was a week gone.  Plus an additional week gone since I was sworn in as an attorney that month and the family made a to-do there as well.

Even December works better.  For students you get a chunk of the month off (the first part’s a bust, admittedly).  The family togetherness is still an issue, but for my family it’s always spread out more than the November blitz of Thanksgiving.  In my job, things at work tend to slow down a lot as people take off.

I’ve considered doing my own novel writing challenge in some other, less poorly-timed month, but I lament the lack of mass support of other writers, and the fun of badges and kick-off parties, write-ins and bragging that you made it.  There’s something to all of that.  In my one attempt to participate, I found that solidarity with other writers quite heartening and helpful.

Anyone out there want to rebel with me?  Name the month.  Seriously.  Leave a response, or, you can drop us an e-mail–all addresses are @mytvmypeanutbutter dot com (before the at you have your choice of Kristy, Cammy or themanagement).

Separate Note:  Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.  I did not do my duty and post Sunday.  I’ve got company in town and it totally slipped my mind.  You may feel free to either suggest punishments, hurl virtual rotten food, or just tell me that it’s actually nicer when I don’t post.