NaNoWriMo - yea or nay?

Lovely readers, I'm vacillating about participating in NaNoWriMo.

I love the idea. I love the collective energy of the whole thing. I love participating in something that's larger than me.

Plus, I failed once at NaNoWriMo. It was a very long time ago, and I'm pretty sure I started writing without a plot, an outline or a clue. Things are different now. I've learned ways of rescuing myself from those holes.

But...

The story I want to work on next is going to be a little outside my sweet spot. It's going to be darker. It's going to be plot-heavy. It's a planned trilogy, and I have to set up threads in each of the stories that tidy up to a nice whole.

This story is going to stretch me as a writer.

Which would make it the worst story to write under a tight deadline. Because, it's a great story. I want to do right by it. I don't want to rush it.

I could write a different story for NaNoWriMo. Two in particular have been in my head for the longest time - one, a spin-off from Teaching Maya, featuring the oh-so-enigmatic Ivar Martinez. Another, a spin-off from Professor's Pet, featuring Jake's sister Grace. But both those stories will take away from the story I want to write right now.

Hmm. This post told you nothing, didn't it? It's just stream-of-consciousness ramblings. I tried to say all these things to my boyfriend, but he had a glazed look in his eyes. I understood and forgave that look though, because, let's be honest, when he's talking about bike seats, I have the same look. (Plus, he cooked last night without being asked. That's kind of awesome.)

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In other news:

- I signed up to participate in the Hot Off.  I have no idea how one judges erotica - isn't it an incredibly personal thing? But I'm curious. Livia Grant - I blame you.

- Last night, I watched the first episode of the second season of Being Human. Lots of threads were clearly been set up for future episodes, but there wasn't much to that particular episode. (Except, George was being an epic dick. He's a bit whiny, isn't he? It's all about him, all the fucking time. I called him an asshole more than once this episode.)

This made me appreciate the writing of Dr. Who a lot, because the writers there balance telling a story and setting up a narrative arc incredibly well most of the time.

- Talking about Dr. Who, Peter Capaldi is slowly growing on me. Slowly. But this is totally a pattern for me - it took me an entire season of Matt Smith to get over that David Tennant wasn't the Doctor anymore.

- I caught a tiny bit of the new Debra Messing detective show last night. Hmm. The cancellation watch clock has started counting down.

Okay. Enough procrastinating. Writing awaits.