{"id":6442,"date":"2022-11-02T07:44:06","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T14:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/janetalcorn.com\/staging\/1364\/?p=6442"},"modified":"2022-11-02T07:47:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T14:47:25","slug":"i-forgot-its-iwsg-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetalcorn.com\/staging\/1364\/2022\/11\/02\/i-forgot-its-iwsg-day\/","title":{"rendered":"I forgot it’s IWSG day!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I roll up to my computer this morning, take my time reading my email, and see a post notification from a blog I follow. And in that notification are four letters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IWSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s IWSG Day–and I totally forgot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I swig Diet Pepsi and, as the caffeine jumpstarts my brain, I decide: I can do this. I can pull an IWSG post out of my [redacted]. Yes, I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As you probably guessed, this post is part of the IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) blog hop. IWSG Day happens on the first Wednesday of the month, whether I remember it or not. This week’s awesome co-hosts are Diedre Knight,<\/a> Douglas Thomas Greening,<\/a> <\/strong>Nick Wilford<\/strong>,<\/a> and Diane Burton<\/strong><\/a>. Stop by and leave them some comment love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each month our fearless (yet insecure) leaders provide an optional question we can answer in our posts. This month’s question is: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I’ve participated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whew, there’s this post done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just kidding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo<\/a> with varying degrees of seriousness since 2014, when I first started writing fiction. In fact, when I attended my first-ever NaNo write-in, I met the person who would become my first writing teacher and co-found my first-ever critique group. She helped me build the confidence to let other people read my work and even submit it to a contest–which I ended up winning. Thanks, Cherrie! I owe you more than I can say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is a worldwide… movement? effort?… to write 50,000 words in November. Most cities of any size have NaNo groups that host events, and participating is a great way to find support (in-person and virtual). I’ve “won” NaNo (i.e., written 50,000 words) twice, in 2014 and 2019. Last year I participated as a NaNo Rebel, revising rather than writing (see November: a month of stress and delight<\/a> for more detail on that experience). <\/p> This year I’ve decided not to participate, because:\n\n\n\n