Aside: On the Importance of Backups

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Reason #9: Put the Thesaurus Down

You just picked it up because you want a better word than the first word that came to mind, the simplest and most obvious word.

Maybe the obvious word isn't sufficiently fine, and you seek a preferable substitute. Maybe you don't want to repeat the obvious word -- you think it's more fitting to use two different terms for the same thing, one of which is superior. Maybe you want to echo a phrase or idea, but in a worthier, surpassing way.

You want your writing to be better, and you're prepared to make it better, one better word at a time.

A good idea, you think, a laudable aim, a truly meritorious aspiration.

But a better word here and there won't make your writing suck less. It just shows that you own a thesaurus, and don't know when to not use it.

Better to just stop writing. Better for everyone.

Reason #4: That's a Lot of Words

NaNoWriMo aims for a novel of 50k words, but they admit this more of a novella (~175 pages). A more typical novel is around 90k+. Stephen King routinely goes over 200k.

That's a lot of words. How long would it take you to write 50-90k words, even if you (shudder) aren't concerned about quality?

Georges Simenon, legendary Belgian mystery writer and legendary pantsman, could write 60-80 pages a day. He published 425 novels in his lifetime, 2-3 per month, and still had time to nail 10,000 women (so he claims).

You are, however, not Georges Simenon, much as you might've liked to be.

NaNo's need to average 1,666.666 words per day. You probably haven't written that much since your high school English exam. Realistically, you're going to need 2-3 hours per day to maintain this. 90 hours over a month, that's two working weeks.

If you have that kind of time, you need a better hobby. Even if you make it, you've just worked your ass off to produce the first draft of half a novel. Whoopee.