In Which I Succumb to Peer Pressure

I don’t give into peer pressure easily. My mother always said, “If all of your friends jump off a bridge you, would you?” And I would assure her that, no, of course I wouldn’t and besides I didn’t have any friends who would be dumb enough to toss themselves over a bridge. 

So I was thinking about how sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing. I’ll admit, there have been times in the past when I’ve allowed my arm to be twisted and spent the rest of the day thanking my peers for their relentless pressure. And those are some of the greatest experiences in my life. Besides, my mother did not say, “If all of your friends jumped off a bridge with a cord attached or out of an airplane at 14,000 feet, would you?”

(DISCLAIMER: It usually isn’t a good thing, and most of the time our peers, even if they’re super awesome friends, have terrible, terrible ideas that we should make note of from a safe distance).

Anyhow, I read blog post after blog post about National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for those who tire from typing) and got to thinking that sometimes, in select circumstances that do not involve moving vehicles or hair dye, peer pressure can be okay.

I accidentally did the whole write-a-book-in-November thing a couple years ago, which means I wrote a book in November, not realizing it was NaNo, and therefore not enjoying any of the “extras” that come with signing up.

I wasn’t going to do it. Really, I wasn’t. But then I finished this giant revision and sent my WIP out to betas and finished this ginormous deadline at the Day Job and, well, it was like the perfect opening for NaNo.

I thought about it.

Shook my head.

But then all of you, my dear writing friends, started joining and I was feeling ALL THE PRESSURE, which we know I could resist if you were, say, offering me crystal meth but writing? That’s a different story.

So I am doing it. I’ve had the idea for this story in my mind for a while, but it was pushed back into the dusty far reaches as I worked on my WIP and seriously brainstormed what we’ll call WAYWARD WIP on account of its inability to logically work out.

So if you’re doing NaNo, add me as a friend. And if you’re not, don’t you know how peer pressure is meant to work? (Just kidding. It’s not for everyone. Maggie Stiefvater has a great post about why she’s not a NaNo-er.)

Are you doing NaNo? Have you done it before?

P.S. Anyone wanna jump off a bridge with me?
P.P.S. Boo!