NaNo…I did it!

I did it!

 

I did it!  I really did it!  Somehow, in November, working like a maniac, tired, in pain, needing sleep, I managed to write over 50,000 words in the 2013 edition of NaNoWriMo!  I must admit, I had my doubts.  When I went 11 days without writing, I pretty much figured it was just about a lost cause.  But then I had a few days of impassioned writing…and slowly watched my word count inch up toward that line.  That line that tells you how many words you should have completed each day of the month.  You know, that line I saw myself so far below for most of the month…yeah, that one.

Then today, when I sat down to write, I needed less than 3000 words to reach that 50,000 word goal.  I knew I only had today and tomorrow to finish it.  The first time I sat down, right after I got home from work, I only wrote about 500 words.  It was then I decided I had to take a nap.  I had to.  After working Thanksgiving then going back in at 5 this morning, I needed sleep.  Driving home from work Wednesday night (I went in at 6 am, worked until 2 pm.  Went home and then came back to work at 7:30 that night, working until midnight to get the money ready for Thursday and then finishing the ad), I was maybe halfway home when I thought to myself I’d just close my eyes until I got to Patterson…whoa!  Yeah, that’s how tired I was.

So I took my nap…about three and a half hours, seriously…then sat down to write…and write…and write…finally surpassing the 50,000 word mark!  How about that?  So, boys and girls, let this be a lesson to you.  If you have a dream, don’t give up on it.  Just keep plugging away.  It sure feels super-duper fantastically exciting to achieve what you set out to achieve!

Write on!

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What a difference a day makes…

…well, make that a day and about 12,000 words.  Yesterday’s post was about me not giving up on my quest to finish my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo before the end of November.  When I viewed my stats, I laughed because it said that, at the rate I was going, I would finish on January 10.  Well, shockingly, after writing over 6000 words today, I’ve moved that finish up to December 13.  I’m actually now at a place where I need to write just over 2000 words a day to finish by the end of November.  Two days was all it took, two days!  Can you believe that?  I was giddy with excitement after finishing writing for the day today.

Sharing her giddiness with me.

 

 

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I haven’t given up on NaNo

As this is the 17th of November and I only have a little over 12000 words written, you might be rolling your eyes at that statement.  You might be thinking I should just give it up to write again another day.  Why put myself through the stress and struggle of trying to hit 50,000 words by the end of the month?  And maybe you’re right, but I just can’t find it within myself to give up.

Sad but true…average of 722 words per day.

I had to chuckle (a little ruefully, I admit) when I saw my stats after updating my word count today.  It said that, at this rate, I would finish my 50,000 words on January 10.  How about that?  But I’m going to write more than my 712 words per day average.  In order to hit 50,000 I’ll have to write a little under 3000 words a day.  Wow!  That’s a lot, I know.  But still very doable.  I just have to force myself to sit down at the computer a few times a day and actually write something.

Today, when I sat down to write (after we had tornadoes sweep through the area and after watching Indiana win another game), I’ll admit it was a struggle to get back into it at first.  But it got easier as I went on.  I’m still going to do another session yet tonight.  And I have tomorrow off work.  With Clara in school, I shouldn’t have to worry about any little intrusions until 5 pm or so.  The plan is to sit down to at least three long writing sessions tomorrow…more if I feel like it and can keep going.  I’m not giving up.

With almost two full weeks left in the month, I believe I can do it.  I believe.

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Kindle Fire…my newest toy

Kindle Fire: Out of the Box (Photo credit: Brian Sawyer)

Who knew I’d need want another tech toy?  I mean really, how many ways do I need to be connected to the internet?  But I’ve been looking at them for a while now and finally decided to take the plunge.  I have to admit it’s pretty cool.   It was so easy to set up.  Maybe because I already had a Kindle eReader?  Anyhow, I’m pleased with it, with the look of the pictures, the speed, and how easy it is to use.  I may even read the user’s manual at some point in time, but maybe not.

I’m having fun with it.  Unfortunately, Clara came over and wanted to play with it.  When I told her no (hey, I’m selfish that way), she got mad.  Then she asked me if I’d buy one for her (ha, as long as it took to buy one for myself, good luck, kid).  I really never did like to share my toys.

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It’s the cat’s meow

I’m sure I’m the only person who hadn’t already seen the commercials for the nifty new product called The Cat’s Meow.  It’s a simple device designed to give your cats hours of playful exercise.  I first heard about it on someone’s blog (I’m so sorry that I can’t remember the blog) and wondered if my kitties would enjoy it.  Then I forgot about it until we got it in our store as part of the As Seen On TV merchandise we carry.

Anyhow, I ended up buying it at work yesterday.  I came home super tired last night so just sat the box on the counter.  Got up this morning and thought I’d pull it out and put it together for the kitties to play with.  Oh, right…C batteries.  Let’s see, I’ve got AA, AAA, D, 9V…but no C.  Needed to go to the grocery store anyhow, so picked up a 4-pack of batteries (it takes 3).

I put the batteries in and turned it on for them.  They just sat there and watched it at first.  But they finally got brave enough to touch the little wand moving under the layer of fabric.  After a while they seemed to think it was fun.

“Come on, Spook…let’s trap it.”

 

So I was thinking I’d managed to find something fun for them to do to entertain themselves…$20 for the Cat’s Meow itself, another $4 or so for the batteries.  Then the UPS guy showed up with a couple of boxes on my Subscribe and Save orders from Amazon. One of the boxes was fairly large.  I took everything upstairs and put the things I’d ordered away.  Next thing I knew, both cats were playing in the box and with the packing paper that came wrapped around some of the merchandise.  Why do I always forget that I can just give them an empty cardboard box and some newspaper and they’re purrfectly content?  Head thump!

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There’s a reason they call it work

It’s just around the corner… (Photo credit: ecstaticist)

It sure felt like work today (and yesterday and the day before…).  On what was a day off work for a lot of folks, it was another busy day for us.  People rushing through the doors as soon as we unlocked them.  I know we had some good bargains and a lot of people have already started their Christmas shopping, but I’m just not into it yet.

Unfortunately for us, we had a huge delivery today (I know, I know…you might think they wouldn’t send a shipment on a holiday when they know it’s going to be crazy busy.  But, if you happened to think that, you’d be wrong…way wrong.).  The store did not look its best.  It really bothers me when our customers have to run an obstacle course to get to what they want.  I know I hate it when I go into a store and it looks like that.  But that’s another story for another time.

With everything going on, I was exhausted by the time I left.  And, uh, yeah…in more than a little pain as well.  I’ve taken some meds for my pain, but am still fighting it.  I think the weather may be contributing to my increased pain levels too.  They’re talking a little snow tonight.  NO!!  I don’t want snow.  But not a lot I can do about that, is there?  I guess I need to go to bed and try to get a good night’s sleep, but I’m still wide awake.  I’ve got one more day to work before I get a day off.

I know I need to take care of myself, but oh my!  I have so much that needs to be done at work.  It just seems like a lot of, oh you know, work.  I guess they really do call it that for a reason.

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NaNo going slow

Postit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, yeah, I was super-excited to get this version of NaNoWriMo underway.  And yes, I did get off to a great start.  But…and you knew there was going to be a but, didn’t you?  But now I find myself exhausted, in pain, and brain weary.  I’ve been working a lot, like six days a week and more than 8 hours a day.  That’ll be nice on the old paycheck, but it sure makes it difficult to do much of anything once I get home.  I also have to try to get in enough sleep so I don’t get sick.  I sure don’t want to have to go through that again.

I’ve been coming home, feeding the cats, throwing a load of laundry in, doing the dishes, preparing my lunch for the next day…and that’s pretty much it.  We have been so busy at work that you’d think it was coming up on Christmas or something.  I do have Wednesday off, but it’ll be after closing Tuesday night.  That closing shift really wears me out.  It might not be quite so bad now that we have extra people working.   Guess I’ll have to wait and see how that goes.  Right now, my plans for Wednesday are to get a little extra sleep and to do several writing sessions.

I know I can still hit the 50,000 word mark before the end of the month and possibly the 70,000 goal I set for myself…just have to sit there and write every single day.  No excuses…no giving up.

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Monday can be a fun day

Monday Morning too^ On the Job Monday – NARA – 534696 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I know, I know…most of the time we all dread Mondays.  That day when we have to go back to work after a nice relaxing weekend.  The day when it hits us (once again) that the job we’re doing isn’t necessarily what we thought we’d be doing.  The day when we question just how much does the job we get paid to do benefit the world.  Or am I the only one who thinks about things like this?  I can’t imagine that I am, but…

Anyhow, I somehow got distracted.  Despite all of these Monday questions, Mondays can still be fun.  On the first truck day of the month, we always have a pitch-in at work.  Well, today is that day.  We try to come up with themes for our pitch-ins (do you realize how difficult that can be with who knows how many people shouting their suggestions at you?).  Well, Chris (our silly, funny, wonderful boss) came up with this month’s theme.  Brace yourself…it’s a strange one.  Bring something that starts with the same letter as your name.  Really.  Who knows what we’ll end up with.  Could be all desserts, and other than the sugar highs and lows, that wouldn’t be a terrible thing.

I do know that one of the guys is bringing stuffed manicotti (Salvatore), so I’m sure we’ll at least have something good to eat.  I baked pumpkin bars last night.  Kind of a pumpkin brownie deal with orange frosting…fits in with the theme (you know, pumpkin…Patti) and it’s got that whole seasonal thing going on too.  I have a whole pumpkin board on pinterest so you might think I’d have made something from scratch, but no…I saw this mix when I was at Kroger the other day and thought it would be good.  And it’s okay…but not as good as the pumpkin cake I made a few weeks ago.  I’m kind of wishing I’d have made that again…but it’s a tad too late to worry about that right now, isn’t it?

Whatever (don’t you hate it when people say that?  I couldn’t resist.)…we’ll have lots of goodies to share with our work family today and it’ll make the day go faster.  So wherever you are today, whatever you’re doing and whoever you’re doing it with…make your Monday be a fun day!

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Cat on the run

Oh my, I had a scary experience  yesterday.  One of the little neighbor girls (not Clara this time.) stopped by to show me her Halloween costume before she went out trick or treating (the costume was really cute, that’s not the scary part).  She must not have closed the door all the way.  When we went into the kitchen, the wind must have blown the door open.  When I realized there was a draft blowing through the house, I looked into the living room and saw the door standing wide open and Scout out on the front porch.  Yikes!  My cats don’t go outside…ever.

Heidi shouted, “Baby Goat” and started running toward her.  I got her to stop before she scared the cat and I walked outside, talking quietly to little (?) Scout.  I was able to gather her up and get her inside without her making a mad dash for the road, but it sure did scare me.

Then later, I heard that cat making just the most pitiful crying sound (for such a big cat, she has the daintiest meow).  I was worried that she had managed to get into something and was stuck.  But, no.  She was just sitting in front of the door.  I do not want to start this behavior.  Spook never makes a move to go outside and, prior to this, neither had Scout.  I’m going to have to keep an eagle eye on her for a while…and make sure those kids shut the front door!

aka: Baby Goat

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And they’re off!

How to enjoy a successful NaNoWriMo (Photo credit: nuanc)

That crazy, wild, frenetic dash to finish 50,000 words in one month has begun.  I didn’t get up early like I’d planned to this morning.  Heck, I did well to roll out of bed when the alarm went off at 5:30.  I had to be at work at 7 and had so much to do.  I managed to accomplish most of what was on my list today and I didn’t feel like I was going to have to drag myself up the stairs when I got home, so that’s a good thing, right?

I stopped at Pet Smart and had a nice conversation with a complete stranger in the cat food aisle, caught myself pulling some of their merchandise forward on the shelves (hey, those retail habits are hard to break), then decided to stop at Kroger to pick up a frozen pizza.  Well, I tell you, when I pulled into that completely full parking lot, I decided I didn’t really want pizza enough to fight my way through the hordes of shoppers.  So pulled back onto the road and headed toward home.

Clara had to come over before she went out to trick or treat (it was postponed here because of the severe storms that were moving through the area last night…never heard of that before, but hey….).  I’m not sure what she was supposed to be…a Disney princess wearing Mickey Mouse ears maybe?  Of course, she was cute as a button.  And I was the first person to give her some treats.

Then I decided to sit down and get in my first writing stint.  Wrote just over 1000 words and decided to take a break.  Did dishes and checked out what all was happening with my friends.  Then sat down and wrote about 1700 more words to finish the day with 2713 words.  Now those of you who are familiar with NaNoWriMo might think that’s a pretty good start, but I decided to go all nuts this year and up my goal to 70,000 words instead of 50,000.  So, instead of 1667 words/day, I need 2333.  But I made it!

I have tomorrow off work and I’m aiming for at least 4000 words…whew!  I wish I could say the words just flowed from my fingertips, but it didn’t happen that way today.  Had to force myself to keep going up until just about where I quit.  I was going pretty good about then.  But I’ve figured out something that works for me, not sure if it would work for anyone else or not, but I stop writing in a good place, a place where I’ll be able to pick up the story and keep it moving at a good pace.  At least that’s the theory…I’ll let you know how it works tomorrow.

So how was your writing today?

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