Tag Archives: nanowrimo

Hello December – When Did You Arrive?

05 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So November is over. We saw it off with a fond farewell, a glass of Strongbow (my drink of choice), and a yippe!

Why?

Because National Novel Writing Month is over! And whether you achieved 50 words or 50,000 words, pat yourself on the back. Because you wrote, or you plotted and planned and honed your craft or business another way. There are many reasons for you to pat yourself on the back for what you did in November I’m sure.

I had good intentions of posting my stats throughout November as I went, weekly check-ins, but that kind of went down the tube.

With the year wrapping up, and finals arriving, a Holiday Party to plan, decorate and orchestrate mostly on my own for my department, things tend to ramp up here at work. Not only that, but applications for Fall are in full incoming mode as well, and I work closely with the DGS for ensuring materials are in, applications are reviewed, and questions are answered during this season – something that won’t officially end until February.

For me, my NaNo was kind of all over the place. I went through slumps, I wrote on several different stories to get my words, but I did achieve my word count.

And now December is here! With ice, snow, and darker mornings that make it difficult to want to get up for work. And I have two weeks before I am off for the Christmas Holiday. I get a little under two weeks of paid vacation off between Christmas and New Years – in which I’m hoping to both get a lot of writing done, reading done, and cleaning done.

Mom and I are hoping to move in a couple years. Somewhere maybe a little smaller, with a smaller yard that won’t take too much to manage. Ideally, I’m hoping for a three bedroom, two bath house. So we can have a guest room/library/office room, which we don’t really have now. We have a studio/office now but I guess part of the problem is it’s where everything from the living room goes when we have company – and the stuff from their last visit is still sitting in there being piled upon. So one of the goals this break is to get the living room and office cleaned out.

I’m trying to hand make some of my Christmas stuff this year. Though, that’s partially dependant on the stores shipping me the items I need make them. I’m just sitting here watching the order tracking information, waiting for them to be out for delivery. After I’m sure people have opened their presents, I’ll see about posting a picture of the final products on here. Not before.

I only have three books on my TBR this month, partially because I’m still working on writing things and with the Holidays, I’m crafting Holiday presents, and the last week of December is pretty much all Family stuff.

What books would those be?

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince is a serious need for me to read with The Wicked King coming out in January. I have the Owl Crate covered edition of The Cruel Prince, and last month they released the sales for a special edition box for the release of The Wicked King – with a special cover to make their The Cruel Prince cover. So I’m kind of super excited to see what the cover will look like when I get the box. So that’s a hard must read before the month is over.

What are you planning to read this Month? Did you reach your reading goal for 2018? Let me know down in the comments!

November Is Here! – Only a week late

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in NaNoWriMo, Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I can almost not fathom that it’s already the 8th of November. I wish I could say ‘where did the beginning of the month go?!’ but honestly, I know where it went. It went into my writing.

October’s TBR list didn’t get read. The hazard of NaNo Prep during that month. I ended up being more than a little ambitious considering just how much I really had on my plate. I’m ALMOST done with the werewolf short from October, however not completely. And of course, with the start of November, I’ve started my planned November WIP – also werewolf based but a completely different cast of characters. I haven’t fully decided if I wanted the two to exist in the same world or not.

NaNo specifically has been going fairly well for me, and I hope *knocks on wood* that it continues to go well for me. How well, I know you’re thinking. Well here’s a breakdown of the first seven days of my month:

November 1 – 526 words (I started out a little rough, not going to lie)
November 2 – 4,547 words (NaNo Total: 5,073)
November 3 – 1,949 words (NaNo Total: 7,022)
November 4 – 2,399 words (NaNo Total: 9,421)
November 5 – 2,655 words (NaNo Total: 12,076)
November 6 – 2,355 words (NaNo Total: 14,431)
November 7 – 1,771 words (NaNo Total: 16,202)

I know it’s the 8th as I write and post this, but I’m not including today because It’s only 10am. I still have most of the day to get more words in before I have to tally what I’ve written today, though I know that it’s around 800 already.

I always get into work a little early, so I’ve been trying to get words in before I officially start, and if I haven’t reached my word count for the day by the time I get home I make sure to sit down and get the words in after dinner before I get to read, watch tv or video game. It’s been a real motivator recently because I’ve started playing a new game that has daily stuff to do and I enjoy winding down and just getting those dailies done. Which gives me a great motivator for getting my word count in so I can do that.

I’m also being a NaNo Rebel this year. I’m not working on one full-length novel, but instead my goal is to get three 20,000 word shorts done – which does mean that keeping ahead of the word count isn’t a bad thing but it’s almost mandatory because I have to be able to squeeze an extra 10,000 words into my NaNo Goal personally this month.

And on top of working on NaNo, if I’ve reached my word count for the day and I’m feeling it, I’ve been adding to my October WIP to continue to try and get it finished. I’ve currently got about 1,300 words that I’ve written on it during the month of November that I haven’t counted toward my NaNo word count. I haven’t decided if I’m going to add them in at the end or not. Technically they are words written, toward a body of fiction, during the month of November so they should count. But part of me wants to be stubborn and only count my dedicated November WIP because it will push me to ensure I get those words on that work.

How is your NaNo going so far? Not participating, how is your November going so far? Let me know down in the comments.

Where oh where did October go?

22 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by in Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I do not know where my month has gone. I’ve been elbow deep in a werewolf story all month, pushing to get it written before November arrives. It’s one less story that’s off my mind while I strive for 50,000 words in 30 days.

The weeknights have been what have caused me to lag a bit, and it’s something I need to work out before November gets here because there are no excuses for my November daily word count and it must be achieved.

I’m close to the end, so I am pretty confident I can get it done before November. And I’m slowly working on planning out my November story so it’s ready to go on the 1st.

Reading is going slow but is going. I’ll get that updated soon. Mostly I’m just super focused on my current WIP and the planning for my November WIP. I have faith for getting November done and getting a win!

And this is going to be a super quick update because I need to get back to writing. Plus, aside from being elbow deep in words, I nothing else is happening. Like literally, my last two weekends I’ve been locked in my room writing.

When not writing, I binged Haunted and The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix, and caught up on all but the final two episodes Wynonna Earp. And to be fair, I wrote while watching Wynonna Earp, so multitasking for the win there.

Are you ready for NaNo? Are you a pantser or a planner? Let me know in the comments!

Also, if you want to be my writing buddy on NaNo’s website, my name is MerisCorner.

September Wrap-Up / October TBR

02 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by in reading, TBR, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I went through a stage where I hadn’t been reading as much, and when I was it tended to be absolutely nothing off my TBR list. And so doing the lists fell by the wayside for a while.

But.

and I do mean BUT!

I’m picking them back up again. Dusting them off gently. And refreshing them so they are 100% doing well again.

Now, not to date my poor TBR list, but back in May *coughs softly* I had set myself a list to read. And SOME of it ended up being read. About 50% of it if we’re being honest.

The books I finished in August and September are:

  • Twisted gifts by Jessi Elliott
  • The Elite by Kiera Cass
  • Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau
  • Doppelganger by Alyssa Drake
  • Daughter of Persephone by Helen Scott
  • Vicious by VE Schwab
  • Tasting Gretel by Lidiya Foxglove
  • Prisoner of Silk by Lidiya Foxglove

Three of those books were on my May TBR list. But overall seven books is nothing to shake a stick at for reading purposes and all. And to be fair to me, Stalking Jack the Ripper would have been read if I could have found the book. I remember finding it when I was cleaning, but I was reading something else so I put it aside for later. After finishing the book, I went back to grab Stalking and it was gone. -_-

So, the May TBR that was not complete was:

  • Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
  • Chosen by Harlow Thomas & Anastasia Jones

For An Ember in the Ashes, it was less I didn’t want to read it and more, my Mother has a kindle that’s attached to my library and she’s currently reading it (63% done with it) so I’m going to wait until she’s done before I try and read it. If that happens in October and I am doing good on my TBR list I may dive into it. Otherwise, it will be back on my list in November.

For October I only have five books on it officially, and then there are two that are on it, if I finish my list early and still have some October left.

  • Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
  • Hope in Paris by Donnalyn Vojta
  • Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart
  • The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
  • Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

The two maybe’s are:

  • Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaar Tahir

For Stalking, I’m planning to borrow it from the library so I can read it if I can’t find my hard copy. I don’t want to have to buy it again if I don’t need to, and I already know that the moment – and I do mean the moment – that I purchase a new copy and get three chapters in the original copy will magically appear and be all ‘what, I was just chillin’ next to this chair you checked by seventy times’. Because that’s always how it goes. The dragons and/or the ghost of my dad – or both teaming up together – have a very twisted sense of humor.

Writing wise, I have two shorts that I’d like to get finished, one a dragon story and one a werewolf story. As well, I have my Prep’Tober work to do so I’m ready and Prepared for NaNoWrioMo in *checks calendar* 30 days.

Currently, my NaNo project has the main characters name, nickname, minor description, her two brothers have names, and the town has a name and the center of town has a layout. oh! and the series itself (it’s a collection of 12-13 shorts) has a name!

I have a vague idea of where I’m going to start for plot and the like for each short, but nothing concrete, nothing set in stone, and nothing that will make sure I can get myself through the month with actual words on the page. But, I have a few weeks to get it there. I have goals! And they shall nay be ignored! =)

What are you reading for this October season? Are you participating in NaNo next month? Are you ready for NaNo next month? Leave me an answer in the comments below!

Feelin’ Accomplished

18 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Personal Thoughts, reading, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I just updated my little bookshelf with the books I’ve read this year and realized that to last the rest of the year I’m going to have to extend the little drawn bookshelf to the next page. It’s lucky that I left it blank just in case. I had enough books on the shelf for my GoodRead’s challenge of 24 books, but I’ve surpassed that this month. And I have high hopes and goals for the remaining months of the year to get through lots more books.

My writing has been slow the last month or so. I’ve been feeling under the weather, so I’ve been focusing on reading and resting versus plotting and writing. Though lots of plotting needs to start because I fully intend to participate in NaNoWriMo this year.

I have started some of my planning for NaNo. As I mentioned before, I’m going to be a rebel and do a collection of shorts instead of one Novel. I finally figured out the overall theme of each of the shorts in the collection. Now I just need to work out the plot for each of the individual shorts. I’m getting there and I should be done in plenty of time to settle into November and my massive word demands. =)

I know this has been a short update, but I don’t have too much to report past plotting for NaNo and my reading. I was under the weather, but I’m getting better and so there’s not too much to report there. Work has been super stressful as well, which hasn’t helped me to keep up on everything. I have a backlog of reviews I want to get up and out, so I’m hoping to work on those this week and see if I can get them scheduled.

I have a review coming out tomorrow, super excited for it. So definitely be sure to come back for that!

NaNo – Closed

04 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by in NaNoWriMo, Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

NaNo has closed. Did you win? Did you win by succesfully writing 50,000 words, the traditional sense? Did you win because even though you didn’t get to 50,000, you broke through and were able to write down your novel? Did you win because you were able to get the best word count you could?

Did you write this last November? Then you won! You got out those words! You didn’t let fear or work or life stop you, at least not completely. You showed that novel who was boss and at the very least started the process of getting it out of your brain.

I wasn’t able to reach 50,000 words this year. I tried. But I paused due to health and family, and that small pause was all it took to crash my motivation and kill my word count.

Total NaNo Count, like last Monday, is 24,227. Just a hair under half way.

I do plan to continue this novel and get it drafted. It’s just going to take a little longer than I originally was hoping. But that’s okay. I’ll get there. I did better than last year, at least.

December is going to be a whirlwind though. I have Wicked this week with mom, but I also had a close family friend pass away Saturday. So this week is already starting emotionally heavy. Three weeks of work before my work closes for a week and I get some vacation. I also have a Writer’s Group meeting this Thursday. A lunch with my cousin and my Aunt, it’s our annual Christmas tradition. Lots of events.

I’m also working on doing paintings to give away as Christmas gifts. The picture on this post is my favorite from the ones I did this weekend.  Hopefully I can finish the painting soon, so that’s done.

I also want to try and get back into reading. I want to get to the point where I can post book reviews on the regular here.

Any Holiday/Christmas suggestions for reading? Leave them in the comments below. (I predominantly read fantasy, sci fi, cozy)

NaNo – Week 4 Recap

27 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by in NaNoWriMo, Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey Everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

And for those that don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you just had a wonderful week. =)

For those of us in the States, Thanksgiving is a time when we gather with family, enjoy people we may not see all the time, cook some delicious food, and be thankful for the time we have together.

My family also celebrates my Uncle’s birthday, and one of my cousin’s birthdays, at the same time, so it just adds to the joy of the day. Over all it’s a good day for my family. We all gather at my Aunt’s house and she cooks the turkey (wrapped and cooked in bacon). My Mom makes a mushroom pie that is just divine. And my uncle gets enough beer as birthday presents to last him until the new year – a gift that my mom and I started when I was little and everyone and their brother decided in the last few years to jump on the bandwagon and do for him.

While it’s a good day, it’s also a long day. The mushroom pie has to be baked so that it comes out of the oven just prior to us leaving the house, so the morning is spent eating a quick breakfast and then baking. We’re out the door and to my Aunt’s for a serve time of 1pm, and then we’re there until 5/6pm. Leaves little time to really get much else done.

Not that I’m using that as an excuse. Not completely anyway. I mean, I didn’t have family obligations for the rest of the weekend. A dentist appointment and getting together with one of mom’s friends to talk about writing, yes, but nothing that ate up the whole of my day either.

Truthfully, I just needed a weekend off I think. I didn’t get a single word written from Thanksgiving through the weekend. I focused on what I felt was important to me this weekend: Family, Friends, and my Health. I also took this weekend to read, something I’m still sorely lacking a majority of the time. But it felt REALLY good to be able to just pick up a book (or well download it to my phone through kindle) and read. I started it Friday while sitting in my dentist’s office waiting to be called back and finished it Sunday morning. I pretty much did nothing but read Saturday night. And I took a little time to enjoy some video games Sunday afternoon when Mom decided to crash for a little bit because she wasn’t feeling well.

You guessed it though. It means that my NaNo word count did suffer greatly. So let’s get into the numbers, shall we.

Day 20 – 964

Day 21 – 0

Day 22 – 1562

Day 23 – 0

Day 24 – 0

Day 25 – 0

Day 26 – 0

Total: 24,227 (Goal: 43,333)

So. I’m roughly 20,000 words behind. I didn’t even bother to look at what day NaNo’s site suggested I would complete my 50,000 words, or look at how many words I would have to complete per day to catch up.

We only have four more days left of NaNo, counting today. I can safely say that because I took the weekend off, I’m not going to.

This isn’t to say I won’t continue to work on the story I started, I totally will. I want to see it to completion. And NaNo helped me to get a good portion of the way through the first draft. For that, I’m always grateful.

I will say, I have had the habit of bringing a novel back for a round two of sorts the following year if I don’t finish it or NaNo, but my goal for this novel is to have it finished before NaNo is even a blimp on my radar for 2018.

Ideally, and I’m not sure just how feasable it is yet, my goal will be to have my second Faerie novel planned out and ready to start for NaNo 2018. It’s a year off, which gives me a year to finish this year’s Fantasy novel and finish editing my Faerie book 1 novel, polishing it up before I start to save and potentially look for an editor to take a wack at it. Even, pending how long the first two goals take me, potentially have it back from said editor. We’ll see.

I’m still back and forth on if I want to try and quarry my novel or just ship it off into the world myself. There are a lot of pros and cons in both categories for what I should do. I’m still trying to feel my way through what I think might be the best route for me though.

I still have time before I get there, though. A couple rounds of edits at least.

Until next time, dear readers!

NaNo – Week 3 Recap

20 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by in NaNoWriMo, Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

So we have completed Week 3 of NaNo! Do you feel good about yourself? Do you feel good about your word count? Do you feel good about your words? Even if you’re behind, if you’re writing, you should feel good! Because even if you’re not writing as fast as everyone else, or as fast as you’d hoped, at least you’re getting those words out!

Without further dilly dallying, lets get into my word count!

Day 13 – 1,692

Day 14 – 640

Day 15 – 0

Day 16 – 1,787

Day 17 – 129

Day 18 – 0

Day 19 – 1,700

Total: 21,701 words (Goal: 31,666 words)

It’s not looking good, is it. Every week, because of those low days or those 0 word days, I grow further and further behind. I’m roughly 10,000 words behind to finish on time. And part of me wants to be the eternal optimist and pump my fist in the air with a “I can do it!” attitude.

The greater part of me, the serious part of me that knows reality, knows how I work, and knows what’s going on in my life knows that it’s going to be a real struggle for me to catch up and, MAYBE, finish on time.

BUT!

Yes, there’s a BUT!

I’m not going to stop either. Even though I’m behind, and even though there’s a seriously good chance of me not finishing at 50,000 by the end of November, I WILL keep writing. I want this novel out, and I do want to try and catch up if I can. Life and my brain may surprise me and give me the solidly good days I need to do so, and I won’t know unless I keep going.

I will admit, this week doesn’t look greatly in my favor. My sewer line is busted and the guy is coming to repair it tonight. My tooth is cracked and I’m seeing my dentist to get it crowned tomorrow. Thanksgiving is Thursday and it means a long day of being with family who, yes I love but let’s be honest I’d rather be home writing in bed with some chips and chocolate. (I’m not a terribly big fan of turkey or some of my extended family that will be at this gathering too.)

I’m hoping, crossing fingers and toes, that I can push through my toothache related migraine to get a kick ass word count today, and even tomorrow before my appointment. And I’m hoping that either Thursday morning, or Thursday night the muses will be kind enough to me to get at least my daily word count so I don’t fall any further behind than I already am.

Currently, without adding words today, NaNo is telling me I’ll hit 50,000 on December 17th. That’s not a terrible extension, but I’d definitely like to try and reign that date closer to November 30th if possible.

It’s too bad these weekly blog posts don’t count toward NaNo, huh. I’d be about 1500 words closer to my goal. That’s almost a full day of writing right there! But, I want all the words I count toward NaNo to revolve around my novel, not talking to you, my lovely readers. So these words will just be here, written in and for November, but not counting toward November in the way that words tend to this time of year.

Keep on writing, everyone! Don’t fret about the deadline. Don’t worry about the goals. The real victory is getting those words on paper however you can.

Until next time! Stay productive! =)

NaNo – Week 2 Recap

15 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by in NaNoWriMo, Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

Whelp, we’ve finished week two. And I totally meant to write this Monday but my Monday was a crazy day of never at my desk even when I had lunch. And because I took Friday off, and didn’t get much done Monday due to the running around Tuesday was the zomg kill me now catch up day. Yay?

Which leaves me today, Wednesday, finally, to catch up on all the other things in my life. Like updating this beautiful blog and you lovely readers on what is going on.

My story is coming along. I just, completely randomly and out of the blue, decided to give the story three perspectives that we rotate between occasionally. Because I decided this in chapter 5, I’ll be spending today trying to look over my first four and see if there’s somewhere I can reasonably slide character B and character C’s perspectives in so it’s not a surprise when in Chapter 5 we follow them as well.

And if I can fit in their perspectives, I’m looking to write it in today as well. I want to get everything written while I’m still in the beginning of the novel, instead of trying to remember where I should have been with these characters after I finish the story as a whole.  Hopefully it will do a good job bumping up my word count as well.

If you’re wondering, I’m still behind. Sadly. So let’s get into it. How did my week two do?

Day 6 – 1,674

Day 7 – 1,727

Day 8 – 1,786

Day 9 – 1,703

Day 10 – 0

Day 11 – 825

Day 12 – 2917

Total: 15,753 words (Goal: 20,000 words)

So, you’ll probably notice that there’s this really hard, serious dip in the middle there. Day 10 happened to be Friday. I took Friday off, and set everything aside. Not to write, but because Sims 4 released the Cats & Dogs expansion. As a giant Sims fan, that’s pretty much all I did on Friday.

I mean. Look at this little girl (the cat).

How could you say no to that little face. She was my world all of Friday. And Saturday, I donno if I was just so tired of looking at a computer I couldn’t think or what, but words just did not flow. I spent the whole day staring at my computer screen and only managed to squeak out those 800+.

I’m striving to get words done this new week, though yesterday ended up a little pitiful. Currently NaNo’s site is telling me I’ll finish my 50K words on Dec. 12th. We’ll see if I can’t push that date back to be closer to Nov. 30th. I’m definitely trying to keep up. And in the grand world view, I’m already doing better than I did last year, so that’s a win, right?

How is your NaNo Journey going? Is the story getting away from you? Are you keeping it under your pen just where you want it? Let me know in the comments.

NaNo – Week 1 Recap

06 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by in NaNoWriMo, Personal Thoughts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s the end of Week One of NaNo! Or was that technically yesterday? Or do you actually count NaNo Weeks by the dates, so 1-7, no matter what day they fall on counts as Week One?

For me, it’s the end of Week One, and the start of Week Two. I always start my weeks on Monday because for me it’s the start of a new Work Week, it’s the end of my relaxing after a long week, and because I just like to.

So, no matter what you count today as, we can all agree that 5 days are gone. We’re one sixth through NaNo. And by the end of today we should be one fifth through our word goal. How are you fairing?

Do you smell toast? Are there crumbled bits of paper around your work area? Does your work area still have pens or have you thrown them all in frustration (because throwing the computer would be far more costly)? Are you on count? Are you below count? Are you above count? These are very important questions! And very important answers follow.

Personally, I’m close to smelling toast and below count already. Would you like to see a breakdown of how my first five days of NaNo went?

Day 1 – 1,598 words

Day 2 – 500 words

Day 3 – 450 words

Day 4 – 147 words

Day 5 – 2,426 words

Total: 5,121 words (Goal: 8,333 words)

I’m a wee bit off. And I have roughly 5,000 words to write today if I want to be all caught up. Something I’ll try to do but I won’t count on doing because it’s a work week. The first five days of NaNo, while not terribly eventful for work, have been incredibly eventful life wise.

Wednesday, our loving starting day, I actually had a fairly light day which is why I ended up very close to my daily goal. It’s 100% backstory for one of my characters, but at that stage of the month, I figured since it factors into my story later, and I wrote it during NaNo, that it would completely count toward my word goal. Now, I do realize that this will factor into the novel itself, because that’s almost two thousand words I’ll have to pick up on the back end to finish the novel. But to me, that’s doable.

Thursday is what I like to refer to as my hell day. My office does a weekly seminar that I set up, run, manage, clean up, and reconcile payment for every Thursday. It means that I don’t get a lot of personal time or breaks, or a full hour lunch. I also had started to feel sick, so I was just happy to get any word count really.

Friday slowly tanked as well. I’ll be honest, for the first part of the morning, I played the new Assassin’s Creed: Origin instead of writing and catching up. It was my choice and I only have myself to blame. But to be fair, the game is stunning, the story is interesting, and I get to free wander around Egypt during the time of Cleopatra. How could I say no? The rest of the day (you’ll notice if I was playing a video game I didn’t go to work), I ended up sleeping because I was feeling sick to my stomach. The reason I was able to play video games all morning was because I wasn’t moving while I played. Soon as I moved, my world tipped upside down and I ended up in bed until dinner time. The nap helped, and I was off to a wedding rehearsal – one of my amazing friends was getting married and I was a bridesmaid. But being sick, word count was low because I also had trouble concentrating.

Saturday was WEDDING! Lots of primping, lots of prepping, lots of kneeling — my knees still hate me for that part, and lots of joy at seeing my friend married. However, as you’ll notice, it’s the smallest word count yet. I rolled in around 10pm from the wedding and was able to squeak out that tiny word count before I ended up falling asleep on my phone.

Sunday I did better. I pretty much locked in the afternoon for writing. It’s not my best word count for an afternoon of writing, but my back was killing me so I did my best. I surpassed my daily, and was able to inch into what I was missing at the same time. So while I’m not all caught up, I am climbing in that direction.

My goal for this week is to, naturally, write write write! I want to, at minimum get my daily in so I won’t fall any further behind for the week, and if I can write extra to catch up but if I can’t, use the weekend to write longer stints and catch up. Over all, I think it’s a reasonable goal to accomplish. I’ll be back Next week to let you know how well I’m doing, or you can keep up with me over on my NaNo Profile!

While you’re on the site, feel free to friend me! Also, drop a comment to let me know how you’re NaNo is doing? And good luck as we head into Week Two!