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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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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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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Post 700…or so

I completely missed it when I posted my 700th blog post the other day.  Today’s post is actually 703.  Wow!  Thanks so much to all of you who have accompanied me on this crazy trip.  It’s been such a pleasure to get to know you, to hear about your lives, to see the pictures you share with us, to have your support, and to share a few laughs along the way.  What a blast this has been.

No, no…don’t look at me like that.  This isn’t the end or anything close to it (I hope.  I guess we never know that for sure, do we?).  I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to let you know how much I appreciate your company.  I’m hoping we’ll be able to continue this journey together for many years to come.

Of course, those of you who are with me daily know I’m going to be a little busy for the month of November (a little thing called NaNoWriMo, in case you somehow missed the excitement), but I’m still going to be checking in every few days.  You know I have to let you know how my writing is progressing, right?  Wish me luck.  Spook and Scout want you to remind me every once in a while to go buy them some more treats.  A kitty’s got to have her treats.

Spook and Scout on their perch…together…

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27 Hours and 52 minutes until NaNo time

Nanowrimo logo (Photo credit: wyn ♥ lok)

Of course, that countdown will change often.  With every passing minute.  I haven’t been writing much at all this month.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe I’ve been conserving my finger strength.  Or my brain power.  Or maybe I’ve just been lazy and am trying to spin it so I don’t actually look lazy to all of you.  Whatever the reason, I’m excited to get this version of NaNo underway.  The characters are warming up, ready to approach the starting gate and charge out running full-tilt.

For those of you who will be joining me, let’s make sure we get off to a fast start.  It’s so difficult to play catch-up as the month of November winds down.  If you haven’t already become my buddy, don’t hesitate to do so.  I nag extremely well (just ask anyone I work with, they’ll agree).  Anyhow, just drop by and buddy up.

http://nanowrimo.org/participants/pasuki/buddies

November is also my busy time at work…yea for retail!  But I’ve got a plan.  I’m going to get up 30-60 minutes earlier on the days I have to work so I can get some writing in before I head out to my paying gig.  Then I’ll do another round in the evening after I come home.  Clara may not be happy with me, our visits may be a little shorter, but I’ve got some goodies to bribe her with.  She’ll like that.  And I’ve printed out some work sheets to keep her busy.  Tonight we were practicing math skills using M & M’s…if you have four green M & M’s and you eat one, how many do you have left?  Not sure if she likes the learning or the candy.  I’ll have to make time for her, but probably not quite as much as I’ve had lately.  Do you think she’d understand it if I told her I was writing a book?  Probably not…

It’s almost time…ready, set…we’ll get going at midnight November 1st!  Let’s do it!

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Another cool NaNo perk

Pen and Paper (Photo credit: qisur)

Are you sick of hearing about NaNoWriMo yet?  Well, hold on.  I’ve got something interesting here that might make you perk up your ears.  I was perusing the NaNo site this evening (I know, I lead the most exciting life of anyone you know, right?)  and came across the list of things winners (meaning you complete your 50,000 words in 30 days.  Well, complete it and have it verified.) can walk away with.  Of course, the number one thing all winners receive is immense satisfaction in setting and achieving a goal.  And that’s nice…more than nice.  There’s tremendous satisfaction in a job well done.

But what caught my eye tonight was that all winners can have two copies of their completed book published by CreateSpace…free, just pay shipping.  It used to be five copies, but I’d imagine that becomes a tad expensive for the company giving them away, so two copies it is this year.  I still think that’s a pretty nifty reward.  Being able to hold a copy of your published book in your hands would be quite the thrill, don’t you think?

While reading the forums, I came across a question that does make me think I would want to do some research prior to going that route.  Would having your book printed by CreateSpace have any bearing on having it picked up by a publishing house in the future (whew, sounds like I’ve got big plans for this book, doesn’t it?).  Like I said, I would want to look into all of that before choosing to do it that way.  Luckily, they give you until June, 2014 to redeem your offer.  I would think that would be plenty of time for me to find the answers to any questions I have…oh yeah, and maybe do a little editing…that might come in handy too.

So what do you think?  Anybody have any advice for me about the publishing aspect?  Anybody want me to shut up about NaNo?  If you answered “yes” to that last question, my question to you would be, “Do you really know me?  Do you believe it would be possible for me to remain quiet about something I’m so excited about?”  Maybe you’ll just have to ignore me until the end of November.  I won’t hold it against you, I promise.  Or you could join in the fun and frenzy of NaNoWriMo!  Come on!  You know you want to.

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Life is complicated

P writing blue (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At least it’s complicated at times, don’t you think?  I haven’t been doing much (anything) with my blog lately.  I’ve been working, then falling into bed when I get home trying to recover from the pain and fatigue.  My house is a wreck, my car needs cleaned, the “garden” is overrun with weeds, and I’ve not devoted much time to writing.  I don’t know what the solution is to everything else, but I’ll be doing plenty of writing next month (yes, next month really is November) when I take part in another NaNoWriMo event.

I really enjoy the NaNo writing frenzy and feel like I accomplish an unbelievable amount of writing during that 30 days.  At the end of November, I’ll likely still be hurting, my house will still be a disaster, my car will still need a trip to the car wash, but at least I’ll have another book well underway.  I’m even upping my word count goal from the 50,000 I’ve done in the past to 65,000 this year.  Am I crazy???

On the health front, I saw the rheumatologist again today.  I feel like we’re not making much progress.  She squeezed my joints (some of them harder than necessary…ouch!) and had me go through some range of motion type movements.  Then wrote out a prescription for a stronger dose of my pain meds…said to call if it gives me any problems.  Then she said she wanted to see me again in February.  It just seems to me this is all stuff my regular doctor could do.  Honestly, I’m starting to feel like I’m getting depressed because I’m not seeing any real improvement, I’m struggling to make it through the days.  I had today off work and was in so much pain that I didn’t do much of anything (why do you think my house is a mess?)

I’m trying to find a positive ray of light in all of this, but it’s pretty dim right now.

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Technically the last day of NaNo, 2012

…I mean it’s the official final day, hours, minutes, seconds of frenzied writing for a lot of people.  I’m glad I finished a couple days early.  As tired as I am tonight (worked 12 hours today and still didn’t come close to getting everything done) I think I would have been struggling to finish.  Woohoo!!  Maybe I’m finally learning some life lessons…like, oh I don’t know, don’t procrastinate?  I think part of the allure of procrastination is the big adrenaline rush you get when you’re faced with an emminent deadline…okay, okay…that’s not really why I’ve procrastinated in the past…yes, I’ll admit it…it was laziness.  There, are you happy?  It’s taken me a while, but I’ve learned to start on projects early (or at least on time), so I’m not so stressed out when faced with a deadline.

Oh, and Spook reminded me, in a very soft, reasonable voice, that I’d neglected to let everyone know that she’s also an IU fan…

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Ahh…NaNo completed!! I’m a winner~

Yep, I finally managed to complete my 50,000+ words for the month of November.  I had meant to sit down for 3 sessions today, but ended up not getting any writing done at all.  Then I sat down at around 6 pm and knocked out around 5000 words.  And it was actually a really good stopping place.  There are several more scenes I want to add.  I kind of left out about two years of that little boy’s life.  My plan is to have that novel be about the first five years of his life, then write the next one encompassing his growing up years.  Hey, it’s good to have a plan, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel a sense of accomplishment and, yes I’ll admit it, relief that I finished.  A big sigh of relief.  Now maybe I can clean my house.  Because when you’re working so many hours six days a week, then writing almost every night, something has to give.  For me, that was housework.  So I have some catching up to do.  Too bad I didn’t do a better job training those crazy cats to clean house.  They may not be much on housework, but they do like their basketball…Scout joined me watching the big game last night.  And yes, for any of you out of touch with college basketball…the Indiana Hoosiers won once again!  Oh yeah!

Hoosier kitty

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NaNo, Day 27…so close, so very close…

Bits of Me… Stacked (Photo credit: smittenkittenorig)

Ahh…yes, less than 5,000 words to go!  This has been a challenge, more so because of the time of year the challenge has taken place than the actual writing itself.  Not that I’m saying the writing has always been easy, but sitting down to write after working 12 hours adds another layer of difficulty to it.  But I’m just about there.  So close…Tomorrow is going to be the day, I can feel it in my bones…or maybe that’s just exhaustion I’m feeling in my bones, my muscles, my brain…nope, nope…it’s the approach to the finish line I’m experiencing!

And for anyone who was curious, concerned, or just plain interested…the zone vice president didn’t stop by our store for a visit after all.  And the thing is, we were looking really good…and at this time of year, that doesn’t last long.  One day is all it takes to sell out an entire side counter and then have to figure out what to fill it with…So yeah, I was maybe a little disappointed and a little relieved…but there’s always the next time~~

Now, who’s ready for some Hoosiers basketball???

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