Hey, are you one of my writing friends? Next year, you need to join me on NaNoWriMo (www.nanowrimo.org) if I've recovered by then. National Novel Writing Month has consumed me, overtaken me, and has the potential to completely kick my ass, but I'm moving forward, word by word. Today's count, 30,014. The challenge is to write 50,000 words by November 30th. Just write. Don't edit, don't re-read. Do these people not realize that there is a Thanksgiving holiday coming up? How can I work in my 1600-2000 words a day when there is sleep to be slept, birds to be carved, movies to be seen, parades to be viewed? I'm desperately trying to "UP" my word count so that I have some sort of Thanksgiving cushion, or else please come find me on the Monday following Thanksgiving at the Hudson Library. I will be the one in a sobbing heap on the floor, trying to find a way to write the last 10,000 words before mindnight! Bring diet Mountain Dew.
On days when I find myself behind in my writing, I tend to set up my days with bursts of writing, and small breaks. Write a thousand words, take a break. Repeat. Four or five times. The other day, my breaks were things like, "do laundry" and "pay bills." By the time I was finished with five cycles of writing, I was craving air and a new vantage point, but I was well ahead of the game, and had gotten lots done in my house as well. Can I keep it up? We'll see. I might need to work in better breaks, like "go shopping," "take a walk" or "do a shot." Just kidding. Kind of.
Yesterday, I was sick, and wrote over 5,000 words. Or, at least, I think I did. There was lots of DayQuil involved, so come December re-writes, I might find pages and pages of complete nonsense. Or brilliance.
A very cool thing happened on my other blog. (If you only read this blog, don't feel like I am cheating on you. Come and read: http://blog.hudsonucc.org ) Anyway, I was quoting a book that I am currently reading and very much enjoying, The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, and guess what? Meg Waite Clayton herself commented on my blog! It was very lovely and unexpected. And in this month of NaNoWriMo, it was nice to get a boost like that.
Remind me, please, when I am a published author, to turn around and do the same for someone like me.
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