Fall has Arrived
It’s November. The clock has already been changed to wintertime. The weather is gloomy and wet. The leaves on the trees have turned yellow and are starting to fall. There’s no denying that the seasons have changed. Bright summer has made place for dark autumn.
Many people love this season. They enjoy the colours, the smell, even the rain.
For me, it’s twofold. I’m glad summer is over, with everyone outside, the hot air and the fake happiness that seems to be expected during these months.
Feeling Down
But every year when the leaves start to fall down marks the beginning of a sad time for me. Birth- and death dates of many of my relatives fall from October to January. The holidays are nearing that I, once again, have to celebrate without them.
The month of January thereafter, where, once again, real-life wipes away the Christmas decorations. Back to regular life.
This year I’ve made a plan for the next three months. Last year depression hit me hard, so I’m trying to prevent that this year. First stop: November.
NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo. Last year was the first year I joined this competition. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept: people from around the world decide to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month. That means you have to write 1667 words per day. Your project is your own. You don’t have to let anyone read it. In fact, it’s better if you don’t, since it’s easier to write without critics.
Community
The fun of NaNo is doing it together. There are Discord servers with word sprints, where you decide on a set amount of time to write together. There are word sprints on Twitter that I particularly love because you know there are people writing with you. And there are real-life write-ins, where people come together in a bar or restaurant to, you guessed it, write together.
Can’t Hide
Last year I chose to write a reverse-harem romance. I was hesitant to join a new group of people and tell them I write erotica. Unfortunately, the stigma against people with an open mind around eroticism exists everywhere, also here in the Netherlands.
What actually happened is that after four days of writing, my tame romance novel already contained several hot sex scenes. And as the month progressed, more and more of these scenes followed, and the plot was abandoned. I made it to 50,000 words, but the book was a mess of stitched-together sex scenes that could not be reworked into anything remotely sensible.
Distraction
But: I was not depressed in November. I was stressed out of my mind because of the writing, but my stress was focused on that one project.
So this year I’m gonna do that again. My set-up is erotic fiction this time, and I hope my framework allows for enough random sex scenes, but with some plot running through it. It’s going to be a challenge, but at least it’ll keep my depression at bay.
Dark December
I don’t have such a plan for December. I hope to attend a munch in the BDSM-community that I joined, and maybe go and have some drinks with my BDSM-friends.
I dread the month of December in all honesty because I’m gonna miss the togetherness I feel during NaNoWriMo. While the whole world around me becomes more and more festive building up to the days of Christmas, I feel darker and darker.
I plan to continue blogging, if only to spout my gall into the interwebs.
New Year
In January I’m going to start planning my vegetable garden. Maybe I can even begin to plants some seeds and watch them come up. Those first green sproutings always mean the world to me. Life will once again blossom.
I also hope there’ll be a peer rope I can attend.
As a back-up plan, if all else fails, I’m going to fall in love with a rock star. Can you decide to do that? Probably not, but I can try. Just watch videos of their performances and let my imagination roam free about how I would spend the night with them.
Nothing Lasts Forever
And yes, of course, I need to continue to eat healthily, drink enough water and go for daily walks. I need to remember to keep my sexiness alive, both in fiction writing and in real-life activities.
All of this is easier said than done. But you know what? It will become February again. After winter will come spring.
It’s easy to forget that for thousands of generations humans have been much more attuned to the seasonal cycle. The months leading up to the winter solstice feeling like the world had shutdown and was dying, the daylight shortening dramatically.
It would be very odd if there wasn’t something innate inside us on which that gloom and dark cycle was imprinted and to which we react with varying sensitivity.
I hope your plans to keep busy help you cope. And best of luck with NaNoWriMo.
melody ??
Hmm, I’ve never looked at it like that. It does make a lot of sense.
We think we can rule the world with our artificial lights and office jobs, but that’s only been around for a short while.
Thanks for your insight ?
Sounds like you have a good plan started. This year seems to be shitty for everyone it seems. I tried NaNoMo I think it was. Just writing everyday for the month of November. I didn’t publish it. I basically called it journaling because there was no plot. Just writing.
Hope to hear about Decembers event ?
Thanks, I’m now at day 5 and it’s already proving to be tough. But I battle on…
You have a great plan to keep busy, too much thinking time is the worst. Best if luck eith your continued writing. I’ll look forward to seeing photos when your seedlings grow too
Swirly ?
Thanks, I’ll keep you up to date ?
Hope things are better for you this year Liz – some good tips here and I remember your SAD post c
NaNoWriMo is great, I did it for nine years in a row and this is the first year I am NOT doing it because I have too much other work going on right now. 🙁
Glad you are getting something out of NaNo, though, and I hope it helps with your depression.
Write on!
Thank you ☺️
I almost didn’t join NaNo this year because of my blogging and review work, but then I thought back to the people in my write-ins who do NaNo next to a full-time job, and so I figured I could at least try it.