These are all very good points. Reading your essay helped ease my soul as I go into yet another thirty days of binge writing. The NaNoWriMo goal itself is pretty daunting, and for those of us with full-time jobs, or kids, or a life — in other words, everyone! — it can be extraordinarily difficult to hit 1,667 words every day. Taking part, but falling short of the word count, can feel defeating. And heck, we writers need positive affirmation, not even more reasons to doubt ourselves! (Because that’s what we writers do. We often doubt ourselves. It’s a thing.)
I’ve taken part in NaNoWriMo four times (this month will be my fifth), but I’ve only managed to hit the 50,000-mark twice. Whenever I’ve taken part, there were inevitably weekdays when I simply wouldn’t have time to write, so I’d double-up, or even triple up, my writing time on the weekends. I remember one Saturday, in particular, I wrote for a total of ten hours. I was obsessed with reaching the goal! But if I fell three or more days behind, I’d throw in the towel. And I’d console myself by telling myself the wisdom you just portrayed in this essay.
But here’s the thing: For me? It paid off. Twice, at least. The relentless word count expectation forced me to go from “Once upon a time” to “The end.” It kept me moving forward, and it didn’t allow me time to doubt the words on the page, or to overcorrect as I went, or to wonder if my story was even worth telling. Even though that first draft was 80% crap, it gave me a structure to work with after the fact, and over time (years!), I edited it into a book I was proud to self-publish.
Overall, I’d say “know thyself.” I’ve had to face the fact that I’m not the kind of writer who can write a novel over the course of a year. I need to slam it out in a month, mostly to keep all that self-doubt from creeping in along the way, or it isn’t going to happen. Different keystrokes for different folks. What’s most important is finding the method that works best for you, and not letting other people convince you that you’re going about it the wrong way.
(This response is 398 words, by the way. Only 1,269 more words to go!)