Phew.

Go ahead, click on it.

Despite Thanksgiving, life, the flu (acting like the black plague), my kids, the interwebz
And with the help of my crit partners, NANOWRIMO pep talks, diet coke and chocolate
I won!
I did.
Really.

And I learned A LOT!
And I had fun.
And I know, now, I can do really hard things.
And I love my writing buddies. No, really love them.

I already miss getting daily word count messages from them.

And now I have to finish the novel that I began. So, if you'll excuse me....

What I've Learned From NaNo So Far.

Writing the beginning if fun. Writing the middle is hard.

I have amazing Crit partners who offer advice, listen to whining and send care packages.

Also, they write beautiful words like these.

Some days are easier than others.

Some days are impossible.

The people in the rest of my life have no concept of what I’m doing, nor do they want to hear about it (excepting, of course, my husband and kids).

I draft well with music. (I think it mostly drowns out the noise of the kids)

I wore a hole in the butt of my favorite jeans. Yep. And I’m not ashamed.

After this month is over I’m going to:

Buy new jeans. Go to dinner to celebrate. Go to a movie. Not write on the weekends. And try to keep the momentum going!

How are you doing? What have you learned?

Things I Have to Do Before I Can Start Writing.

Otherwise entitled: Procrastination.

Exercise. I know. I can’t help it. I get up really, really (I know, two adverbs) early (ok, three) in the morning to do this.

Make bed. I didn’t do this the first day and it didn’t get made for two days. I know, not necessary, but just a little something Martha Stewart taught me.

Clean up breakfast dishes. Something about the hum of the dishwasher creates a nice background noise for noveling.

Procure four-year-old playmate for Jane. The moms in the neighborhood are loving me because I’m begging them to bring their kids over. If they don’t, Jane ends up watching TV all day. Not good.

Stock desk with glass of ice water or, if I’m cold, hot herbal tea (I like the peach with sugar and milk).

Also, does anyone know how many calories the little bite-size Halloween candy bars are? Just wondering, cause I may have eaten twenty yesterday. I consider chocolate collateral damage during November.

So. What do you do to prepare for your writing day?

First Day Stats

First sentence: Apparently making a star isn’t that big of a deal.

Last Sentence: A bulldog sticker peeked from the corner of the scrambler’s back window.

Word Count: 2001

Emotional Stability? This took longer than I anticipated. I'm hoping it's because it was the first day and as we all know, the first page/chapter is the hardest. I had to keep reminding myself this is just a draft. I can fix it later. I WILL fix it later.

How did you do?