Why I'm giving up on NaNo already

I quit (just nanowrimo, not writing altogether!). I've decided that my writing needs to go on the backburner right now, unfortunately. The accounting test that I mentioned in my last post? I got a 56 on it. Yep, that's bad. It brought my average in the class down to a D, and I need at least a C in this class or I won't be allowed into one of the classes I'm supposed to take next semester (which I need to take in order to graduate in May). There are only two more tests left to take in this class for the  semester, so if I don't do well on them I am pretty much screwed. On top of that mess, I have a test in my payroll tax class on Tuesday, a test in my income tax class on Thursday, a 2-3 page paper I need to finish by Wednesday night, and a group presentation I have to prepare for and do in class this Friday. So basically school is kicking my ass right now.

And right after Thanksgiving I need to start sending out my resume to any job that looks even halfway decent. My unemployment benefits run out the first week of January (unless the government passes an extension, which I'm so hoping for, but not counting on). I will have ZERO income unless I start working right away. It's not a good situation. I need to fix up my resume and get it out there asap, and then hopefully go on some interviews in December.

So unfortunately I am going to have to forget the idea of writing 50,000 words this month. I fell behind early, and it made me realize that I've got too much going on right now. I should've studied harder for that test I just failed (horribly). I am a slow writer, I can't bang out 1000+ words in an hour like some people can. And I'm way too easily distracted, which is something I need to work on - but not right now lol.

I'm definitely going to keep working on this manuscript because I actually like my story idea and I like my main characters. But I don't plan on having it finished in the next month or two. I did manage to get 8190 words written in the past two weeks (which is probably 8190 more words than I would've written if it weren't for NaNo, heh) so for that I'm glad. As an eternal Mets fan would say, there's always next year! 

How are all my readers who chose to do NaNo this year doing? Are you sticking with it? And those of you who chose not to do it this year, are you regretting your decision or are you glad you chose to skip it this year?

My NaNoWriMo Progress: Week One

Five days into NaNoWriMo and I've written 5,659 words. I'm behind by a few thousand words, but I'm not too concerned... not yet at least. On day one I managed to hit the daily target plus 50 words, which I was thrilled about. I missed the 1667 daily goal on days 2 and 3 thanks to school, headaches and bad moods (not necessarily in that order lol). Yesterday I managed to play catch up and rocked my word count with 2,467 words (yes that's "rocking it" for me!). But today I woke up late, went to the dog park, then out to dinner, to the bookstore, and to the mall. By the time I got home from all of that, I had a nice migraine to keep me company. Two hours (and two excedrin) later my migraine has dulled but not completely disappeared, and has left me feeling exhausted when it's not even 10 pm yet.

I'm hoping I'll start to feel better in a little while, or at least better enough to bang out a few hundred words on my story so I don't have a day 5 word count of ZERO. Also I don't consider midnight to be the end of a day since I never go to bed before midnight. To me the day ends when I go to sleep, so my stats on the nano site are a bit off from my stats on my wonderful Excel tracker spreadsheet. So even if I don't feel better 'till 1 a.m. and don't do any writing 'till then, in my mind they'll still be day 5 words.

Either way I will have to start having more big word count days. This week is going to be rough b/c I have an accounting test on Wednesday that I really need to study for. And I have a group project to work on for another one of my classes, and we have to meet outside of class to work on it (which I'm thrilled about, of course). But at least I don't have class on Friday since it's Veterans' Day. Hopefully having a 3 day weekend will be helpful.

That's about it for me. Anyone else reading this and doing nano? How's your wordcount? And to those who are reading this and not doing nano, how hard are you laughing at those of us who voluntarily signed up for this torture???  *wink*