If it wasn’t obviously already between some miserable illness, getting a late start, and usual procrastination/life hectiness, no NaNoWriMo again this year.

However, Monica Valentinelli posted on her blog about the December Marathon. It’s an idea she came up with for a lower key NaNoWriMo. For one thing, you set your own goal. Secondly, for fun, you pick something that you will do if you fail to make writing progress on a day. This sounds like it might be more fitting for me right now than a full on NaNoWriMo. Both because life is just busy right now (even the kids are complaining about it being too hectic!), and I’m also more interested in producing a finished product than just pure word count (with the corollary that I’m not polished enough to presume pure word count grinding will lead to a finished product).

I’m still trying to figure out my choices. First off, should I try taking a chunk out of the novel I was starting on for NaNoWriMo? I still have plenty of planning I’d like to do on it first, however. Monica has also mentioned RPG products since she’s quite a seasoned pro in that realm.

Since:

1. I’m more comfortable with RPG writing (having published a few things over the past 8 years),
2. psychologically, I could use an “quick easier win” to get my writing mojo going before I try jumping into the fiction deep end again,
3. I set a goal for myself to either be ready to release some of my eRPG product ideas by the end of the year, and here it is the last month, and
4. I’ve been jonesing for more RPG since both of my main groups have gone on hiatus,

I’m set on working on a RPG adventure. Gotta pick which – either the standalone “Adamantine Prison” idea, or the beginning of the planar Adventure Path. Considering #2 above, I think I’m going standalone.

Now, for the “punishment”. My pain in the butt house chores, I have to do either way. I’ve considered exercise things, but that seems like a mixed message since I mean to do more of that anyway. Hurm… I suppose basement cleaning could work. It’s an overwhelming job that has been waiting to be done for years. Plus I can always set it as “Do an hour of cleaning in the basement”. That way, I can pick an hour and just decide – spend it writing or cleaning. Kind of a nice cop out. Sure that’ll work. If I think of anything more interesting, I’ll go with that. But for now, that sounds reasonable. Plus if I do end up cleaning down there at all, I have quite a bit of old RPG material stored away that can work as nice research/motivation. Win-win!

So, let’s give this another try with the December Marathon.

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