Writing Forums

I love when October comes. The crisp fall air and changing leaves heralds the annual cleaning and reopening of the NaNoWriMo forums, and eager writers young and old gather together to spend the following month writing their novels. Most other forums I visit fall by the wayside for me during that time while I'm finding old familiar faces among the crowds and making new friends, plotting and helping others work out their details, playing games and recruiting artists for character sketches or cover art. It's almost like an online festival that lasts for two glorious months. In December, things slow down. There's still straglers, and at first, it's almost like it's not over yet, but slowly, gradually, people begin to vanish and the forums slow to a crawl. The party's over, time to go home.

That's...well, bad for me. I enjoy forums. I like being active and making friends and plotting and planning and playing games. It's great inspiration for me to keep going. I thrive on having connections with other people to push me onward. Thus far, the only times I've managed to finish stories have been, well, NaNo. I write my novel, edit a little, and then fall off the wagon and not write seriously again until the next NaNo. I should be writing every day, even a little, but I'm not. I have a small support group, but I don't have the people to compare myself to. I don't have the wordcount bar of NaNo that pushes me forward, to reach my goal, to keep up with the people rushing ahead, to prove I can do it.

So I joined another forum, the Absolute Write Water Cooler. God of Ephemera linked me to it, and I signed up almost immediately. I've been idly chatting and just feeling my way around for now. Not rushing to be able to get critiques or make friends. I'm the complete new guy here, not like on the NaNo forums. It's intimidating, and I don't want to mess up or get a bad reputation for myself so early in the game by saying the wrong thing or posting where I'm not supposed to. So for now, I'm just taking it slow and getting the feel for the people and the place. Hopefully this'll be part of the push I need to start and keep a schedule. We'll have to see.

Next Camp NaNo next month. Not sure if I'm in or not yet. I do have a half-finished sequel calling my name. Any of you guys up for it?