Why I'm Not Doing NaNoWriMo This Year.

To my dearest friends and followers,

As you may already be aware, I finished revising my novel Beyond the Veil last Monday (10.14.19)!! I have since sent it to my five beta readers to get their feedback. I am so excited about the progress I have made so far and continue to look into self-publishers.

So, the novel I just finished was quite a long project. I wrote most of it when I joined NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2016. That was the first time I joined. I did not join so that I would finish my book. My goal was not to write a 50k word novel. My goal was to write a novel prior to hearing about NaNo. I joined so that I would stay motivated. I finished the book roughly two months after NaNo ended.

This year, I have put a lot of thought into joining again. I finished writing my book, I finished revising it (it's currently on it's third draft), and now it's in the hands of my beta readers. I have time off!! I've been going back and forth a lot. Will I join NaNo this year? Maybe I won't. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

With a lot of thinking and consideration, talking to other writers about it, looking at my old account, I decided I will not be joining this year. Sure, I'm finished with my novel for the moment, but I'm not done. I have time to look into publishers, to decide on one, to make sure I have the cover I want, etc..

I also have time to begin my next project!!
When I finished writing Beyond the Veil back in 2017, I began to think about the next book I would write - the book that demanded to be written by the character who demanded his own story. I am finally ready to answer that call. I made my own notebook and have begun building my world, naming my characters, playing with different ideas and directions in which the story could go.
In all honesty, I haven't taken the time to even think about what the story will actually be about. I haven't even gotten that far. I've only gotten as far as an idea - an idea about another novel within the same universe as Beyond the Veil...
And I am unsure if I want all of my focus to be on my new project when I feel like the previous one isn't complete yet. Within a month, I could start to get those manuscripts back from my beta readers. I want to be ready when I do. I don't want to put them aside because I am in the middle of trying to write a new novel. I want to be ready for more editing on my part.

That being said, I would still love to share ideas with others who are doing NaNo this year. I would love to join a Write-in, if any are being hosted in my area. If any of you reading this are in the San Diego region, hit me up!!
Come NaNo 2020, I will be joining without hesitation!!

Yours truly,
Me

Additional:
What is NaNoWriMo