Well, the end is in site. My brain is seeping out of my ears. I still have a job. My story is coherent and moving right along. Quizz is still loyal and loves me (that could be because I do remember to feed him every morning and night).
I’m tired. Turkey day loometh. Family is descending. I’m excited to see them. But I still want to maintain my focus. Life is marching on, over, and through my time. Grrrrrrr.
All this unbridled creativity has brought other story ideas to the top of the roiling pot of creative brew I call my brain. I just have a bunch of big notes that I have to translate and convert to idea files. I’ll get to the stories when the time is right. But as usual, capturing the idea is half the battle.
So far no one has died in the commission of my NaNoWriMo journey, but the month isn’t over yet! Bwhahahahahaha!
Even My Ultimate Pathetic Pout Won't Get Her Away From The Evil Box!
I mean really. My mom has been paying attention more to the stupid box on her desk in her room than me. Type, Type, Type. That’s all she does. Oh and mutters about dragons and weird sounding people.
THEN, when she needs a break. Does she play ball? NO! Oh no, she sings songs and makes me dance with her. Doesn’t she know that only Miss Honey the Great Dane dances? I Don’t Dance!
I want to play! Charlie the Cat can’t throw a ball. And he doesn’t always like to wrestle.
I have to say that this year has proven to be a bigger challenge. At work we launched Google Apps as our email application. Six months of hard preparation paid off. Most of the employee population actually did their part. Very little panic.
Between all of that madness I found escape and sanity in my writing. Pushing me ahead of the curve. If I can keep this up I’ll hopefully be almost finished by the Thanksgiving holiday. I have family coming in and don’t plan on getting much done that week.
I think that part of the challege of NaNoWriMo is time management. Time management & finding inspiration everywhere I can – music, news, people, etc. I’m bolder this year in my writing. I’m writing from a place of no fear. The story is mine. Maybe because I have a solid goal in sight. I’m one with the characters. The story has become complex and meaty. I see it unfold in my mind, I just have to get my fingers to keep up.
So, here I am, declaring myself free of my shackles. Declaring myself free of the shackles of others expectations. If I crash, well, I’ll only have myself to blame.
Noah sent out a memo asking for wood for an ark and to start pairing animals and people. Charlie is panicking to be paired with Quizz.
You know it’s a bad morning when Quizz won’t go down the front steps in the rain. It’s been raining since Tuesday afternoon. The rain gauge said 3 inches this morning. Since it’s November, it’s a cold rain.
Quizz is NOT happy. Charlie is about to be played with, whether he likes it or not.
Instead of our normal 3 mailbox rainy day walk, we walked across the street. He stopped. I think he peed on the curb, but I’m not sure. He turned around and led me straight back to the house. On top of things, on rainy days he won’t go outside without me. Yes, that means I have to get wet and miserable with him. How kind of him to share the joy.
Does anyone really know how much a dog’s bladder can hold and how long it will hold before bad things happen?
I wander in the desert of words. Flurries of punctuation flies around my head like gnats, landing in my eyes, buzzing in my ears.
Eyes watering, I see a shimmer of hope on the horizon. The elusive thread of story, taunting me. I race to catch it only to fall into a pit of despair.
Ahem, this is Charlie, the Cat. Clearly Minion #1 is losing her grip on reality. I will escort her from the box that beeps so ferociously as I walk across its massaging stones.
November 1, 2009, I start my yearly odyssey into the insane world of NaNoWriMo.
Pray for me! I need all the help I can get.
50,000 words in 30 days. That works out to be 1,666.7 words each day. Okay, I’ll round up, 1,667 words per day. In real life that is 3 and a quarter single space pages and change a day.
Every November I start with a clean Word file and go forth. This year is different. Different I tell you!
How you ask?
Well, I have a Novel in progress. A plan in place. Characters developed. And Magik run amok! I won’t count what I’ve written so far, which is significant. I hope this is my push to finish the manuscript, or at least see the finish line.
I’ll make sacrifices to whichever Creative muse I must to see this through. Chocolate, Diet Dr. Pepper, Family (if they get in my way). With my loyal pooch at my side, my literary feline editing as I go. I’m ready.
There is nothing more loyal than my boy Quizz. When I discovered iTunes had absconded with my ENTIRE mp3 library (6.5 Gigabytes of music! 1,785 songs) and converted to its own file format, I freaked. My Music Library was empty! Woe is me!
He bravely sidled up to my chair as I muttered and said things I had to repent for, laying his head in my lap. His eyes saying, “Mama, step away from the box that makes you so mad. I need a belly rub. I’ll make it all better. I promise.”
The moment my hand laid itself on top of his blocky head, settling on his soft ears, I realized that I could find a fix but my loyal companion was right. He needed a belly-rub more than I needed to strangle Steve Jobs and the entire iTunes programing team.
Leaning down, I kissed his forehead and said the magic words.
“Chicken?”
Tail wagging, feet prancing we headed for the treat closet. Belly rubs are good for the soul.
Everyday is a new beginning. I wake up having hit the reset button the night before for a new start.
Birthdays while, yes, significant really aren’t high on my priority list right now. I’m not anti-birthday, anti-aging or even anti-celebrating. I just have a lot to do. A birthday on a Monday is not fun.
So, I’m low-key this year. Appreciative of everything that I have. My friends, my family, my dog, my job, my talents, the world in general.
So I’m not planning on blowing out a bunch of candles, but I am planning on counting my blessings.
Thank you to my family and friends for helping me make it through another year.
91% Done
