No NaNo Win But That’s Okay

Well, I failed at NaNo, but what a good way to do it.

I didn’t finish my project. Hell, I barely started. But I learned two important things: the Venice memoir has no So-What yet, so it must sit on the back burner for a while.

And I learned that I don’t mind not winning Nano. In fact, on the contrary – I’m almost proud of my non-accomplishment! (I did write a whole book in October, so that does help with the feeling.)

But what I’d still really like to do is to blog more. Simply to write here, on ye olde blog. I’d like to catch a few words every day and tell you what’s going on around here. I forget to do that, as I get so busy with all the Shoulds. And I don’t want to make a big deal of it. I don’t want to be smart and insightful unless that happens on accident. I want to be okay with typos and half-formed thoughts.

So I’ll tell you what’s around me right now: a coworking space! This one is cheap and not as fancy as many of the others in Oakland, but I’m liking it. I’m not sure I’ll commit – I’m here on a single day pass. There IS something pretty great about working around other people who aren’t paying any attention to anyone else, and it’s especially great that I can leave my laptop out when I go to the bathroom, something you can’t do at the library or the cafe.

I have this idea that if I work at a coworking space that I’ll be able to go home and leave work behind, something I can’t do when I work at home. I’ve said for years that I love working at home because I love being at home, which is true, but the problem is that it’s almost impossible to get up from my desk sometimes. Today, when I leave, I’ll stop working. This is my pledge. And I almost believe it.