Writing a Book in a Year is No different Than NaNoWriMo

I'm sure most of you have heard of National Novel Writing Month. I'm sure some of your writing buddies have started, quit, still going and barely hanging on. You may think they are insane. I may agree, but only about the pace of NaNo being insane. But it's the theory of getting from a blank page to a novel I'm curious about today. Specifically, the why, not the how.

I understand and believe in the rule of thought that the only way to write a novel is to sit down and write one. You can have the best story ideas, but if you never get your butt in that chair then you all you have is a good idea. The same goes for writing out the first three chapters of a novel and then you get hit with another brilliant idea. You close that pesky word document and write out the next story. Rinse. Repeat.

And, then there are the chosen few who sit down and write a whole novel. Doesn't matter if you write it out of sequence. If you start at the beginning and then you write until you type 'the end'. There is something larger at work: stubbornness, ego, your contract says so. But you finish, knowing what you write may never see the light of day. It doesn't matter if it takes you a year or thirty days, but you see your novel until the very (most times bitter) end.

The true insanity is that you open another word document and do it all again.

I want to know what drives you to keep on writing.