I first participated spur-of-the-moment in National Novel Writing Month in 2008. The following year I wrote with locals and it was magical, and it became a yearly tradition for me, because there's nothing I love more than a dumb achievement that I can brag about fulfilling. The last time I completed it was in 2020. By then, the forum community was super toxic, just about all the locals had moved away, and I was sick of writing period. If Nanowrimo is about "exuberant imperfection", being comfortable with making mistakes, then hooboy, the site has made some MISTAKES in recent years.

But it's been a lifelong struggle of mine to be okay with mistakes. I'm only just now learning to not be a perfectionist, to not give up at the first sign of difficulty. For all the awfulness it's become, early Nanowrimo really helped me get out of that funk.

So although I'm not participating anymore, November is still when I love to do a monthlong project with a final product I can show off. In 2021 I made 30 songs in 30 days. In 2022, a toon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiK5RzRueSY. I don't think I did much in 2023, and I'm in danger of repeating this in 2024. My fingers will mutiny if I keep playing Satisfactory every free moment.

Therefore my goal is to finish an album! I will post this journal (done!) and stream music making on and off this month to hopefully get myself motivated, and put the results up on Bandcamp.