“Woman Writing” by Pablo Picasso. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Some people swear by the contact high they get from attending meet-ups during NaNoWriMo. Some of the stories about it on the NaNo site are really inspirational, about how connecting with other writers tackling the same incredible feat you are is so great and amazing.
I spend most of my writing time either at my desk or on my couch — even a coffee shop is too distracting to let me really get into flow with my writing sometimes, particularly when I’m struggling with a section and ohhai shiny objects!
But I kept reading about how great it was and I do want to make more writing-inclined friends and that sounds awesome! So I went to one last year.
It was fun. The organizer had candy and treats — I still have my DFWWrimo Rhino in a Place of Honor. She further had a grab-bag of writing prompts every few minutes to get us moving. And there was a big group there.
But I got almost no writing done in the two hours I was there. Actually, I felt incredibly self-conscious of my writing, because… well, I was serious about it.
{insert srs busns image}
And while I won a prize for writing 500 words the fastest (yay typing a whole helluva lot!), I actually felt bad about winning because I felt singled out — oh, well, you write for a living, so yeah.” 😦
I realize this is probably a problem I have more than a reflection on any of the nice people I met, but I wrote for two hours and then had a deficit, so I had to catch up over the next few days, and that upset me. I didn’t find it invigorating; I’m powered by the deadline pressure and the ideas finally coursing through my hands and into my keyboard. Plus I was stressed the whole time because I was afraid someone was going to spill their drink on my Very Expensive Laptop.
So I sort of fail at NaNoWriMo meet-ups. And that makes me sad. But I’ll be writing this years’ novel from my couch, in my PJs. Sorry, guys.
What’s your writing-marathon strategy?
M.E. Kinkade 
Personally, I feel that if you have time for NaNoWriMo Meetups, you’re not really pounding the keys and making time for “really writing.” If you get in your car and drive somewhere and back, that’s time you could be spending writing. So, yeah, I’m a professional writer, too, and the only way you get writing done is by sitting your ass in your writing chair and putting your fingers on the keys. I’d fail at the Meetups, too — though I wouldn’t mind having a glass of wine with fellow writers AFTER NaNoWriMo!
I would LOVE to commune with other writers, but it’s just too hard when I’m trying to type like the wind. I’m jealous of those who can manage it.
The reason I’m a writer is so I don’t have to talk to anyone. 🙂
So, no nano meetups for moi.
Ha! At least I’m not alone, then. Let us write together in solitude, far far away from everyone else!
I’m lucky this way. As far as I can tell there’s not another NaNo participant within 100 kilometers of me, so meetups are not an option. I do find it helpful to check in with a couple of writer friends every day on Facebook. We bounce ideas off each other, encourage and console as necessary and perhaps do a quick virtual wordsprint, but then we buckle down and write in our separate little corners of the world.
On the one hand, I’m sorry you’re in writer isolation. On the other, hurray for building your own support group!