I figured that I would share something that crossed my mind earlier this evening instead of whining about my lack of writing.

I was outside and I realized that the fact that I've written over 21,000 words on anything is impressive. Add in the fact that there's still a lot of the story line left to be written and I'm completely blown away. When I got the idea years ago that I wanted to write a book, I got it stuck in my head that I wouldn't be able to string that many words together. I had no idea how an author came up with enough words to create an entire book and keep it interesting.

You know, I think I understand now. With the right idea, it's not all that difficult to do.

Over the past 2 days, I haven't done much writing. My characters kept doing weird things which would then spark an idea that would "get them out of" the problem they found themselves in. It led to more of the story line which would be added later as my MC started to piece things together. So, while I haven't written a lot on the current section of my book, important pieces started to fall into place. The biggest one fell into place at 2 this morning. The entire reason WHY everything else was happening. That was a rather important piece, don't you think?

With that, I've felt a fairly strong urge to write all day today. Now, to block out my family and just write, huh? It might be a lot easier now that I know the why behind it all. I know the final piece of the puzzle. What I don't know is how my characters are going to react to it. So, it's still exciting for me.

Well, I'm going to head on out now. I can barely concentrate with a remote control car running behind me and a kid attempting to wrestle with his father. I really need to get out of the house soon. LOL Tomorrow night is our regional write-in at a local Starbucks. Maybe I'll join them again. Though I wonder if I could be a little bit more "anti-social" and sit by myself after the initial greeting. Oh, and I wonder if DH would let me take his laptop? He probably will. He's wonderful like that.
 

Don't you just hate how difficult and yet how easy it is to write your NaNo novel? I'll give myself up as an example. When I set my mind to it, I can easily crank out 3,000 words and be amazed when I'm finished. It doesn't seem to be that difficult and yet I push it off until the urge to write is completely killed off. Oh, and it doesn't even take me very long to do those 3,000 words either.

Over the years, I've always wanted to write a BOOK. For years, I've been 'stuck' on short stories. I never could see how I had enough words in me to write something as long as a book. Then, enter a single idea that expanded past short story size all on its own. Oh, that scared me to death! It's still sitting over here in a notebook, waiting for me to find the guts to finish.

Enter NaNo. Here was my chance to prove myself wrong in more ways than one. Yes, I do have enough words within me to write an entire book. Yes, they connect in some strange, coherent manner (I hope). When this is over and done with, whether I go back and edit my NaNo novel or not isn't the point. The point is to prove to myself that I CAN do it. That it's worth the work and the time and the energy to do it.

I'm trying to pep talk myself into getting to work on my book. I'm not that far behind. A few good 3,000 word days like I had yesterday, which I fit into my "spare" time by the way, will catch me right back up and get me closer to the end. I'd like to know about my book and why things are happening. I walk into them without having the slightest clue. I like to allow my characters to figure it out and then show me. That's why I'm looking forward to December. If I get to work and get the book written, it will be fun to read and see how well it worked out. As of right now? I don't have the slightest clue. LOL

With that, my hands are COLD. One of the problems for me with typing. Poor circulation leaves my fingers stiff and they lose the ability to type quickly. Drives me nuts. Anyway! I need to get around now. More stuff is needing to be done today, so I'm sure I'll find plenty of time to write. Just whether or not I do it is another story.
 

Ooh, get this one, it's great. I'm finally nearing the end of Chapter 6 and I started to read the notes to Chapter 7. You know, just to familiarize myself with what's going to happen. I wrote those notes down at the beginning of NaNo, only 2 weeks ago. However, they're like someone else wrote them. I had completely forgotten what was to come next. So see? Plot points are a good idea. LOL However, I can't "feel" what it was I was thinking and feeling when I wrote them. The story seems to be unfolding in a slightly different way. Not in a major way that will distract me from the original plot line, but slightly different. My characters are definitely taking over more of the story than they should be allowed to. LOL

Well, as I wrap up Chapter 6, I will stroll into Chapter 7 and see what they have planned for me. Though I might take a few moments to reacquaint myself with Claire and Russel, the next 2 characters to make a brief appearance in my story. I'm not sure how excited I am over my book. Technically, midnight ends week 2. If I'd stayed on top of things a bit better, I wouldn't have to make up over 7,000 words this evening. I'll just get as many written as I can, but I have to be in bed by midnight, so this should be interesting. I'll just make a bigger effort to write more during the day.

Okay, I'd better venture forth. I'd like to pretend I can make a dent in that 7,000 needed word count. Not to mention see what Claire and Russel have to say.
 

Have any of you looked at the Procrastination Station section on the home page of NaNoWriMo? It has some interesting topics to read. One of them was where a lady received a glow stick and she proceeded to write until it stopped glowing. Or rather, she attempted to. It was a long-lived glow stick. So, I decided to adopt the challenge with a few twists of my own.

First of all, I bought my glow sticks from the dollar store. That right there ensures that they're low quality. They won't glow as long. So, enter in a "difficult" challenge for myself. By the end of tomorrow night, I want to have 25K words. Gotcha. I bought bracelets instead of the bar. Ooh, even shorter glowing time. I have 3 boys who think that anything that glows is awesome. See the challenge yet?

Here's my challenge: Write 8,900 words before my bracelet stops glowing and/or before my kids find it and run away with it.

I'll probably wear the bracelet. Sort of a constant reminder of what I should be doing. It can nag me as it follows me around. However, you never know with children. I might take it off and sit it on my desk if it gets in my way when I'm typing. If I leave it unattended to go to the bathroom, Poof! It just might disappear due to children. So it's dangerous! I'm going to cheat and start later this evening when they've gone to bed. However, that makes it harder for me because I'll have to go to sleep at some point. Will the bracelet still be glowing in the morning? Ooh... The horror of it all! LOL

Okay, I'm nuts. Never did deny that. It will be fun, though! I'll let you know on Monday if I won or not.
 

Okay, that does it! Our Municipal Liaison hit her 50K mark last night. She says that she's not finished and will keep working hard until the end of the month to see if she can finish it. She said that she got this far because she doesn't want to worry about it and just wants it out of the way. LOL

So, I will attempt her philosophy. When I'm just sitting here in front of my computer doing absolutely nothing but staring at the screen (you'd be amazed how often that happens to me), I'm going to power up Write or Die and write for 10-15 minutes. Just a little spurt to keep it going. I think I'll be amazed how quickly I'll get my novel knocked out if I do that.

Also, that might allow me to work on breaking the hold this psychotic machine has on me. Okay, maybe not. But I might get my novel kicked out. That's better than nothing! Heck, it might even be something I want to continue after NaNo is over. The writing in small spurts on whatever occurs to me. I might even re-read my book and see if it's worth editing. I'm not sure right now. I won't know until I actually read it. LOL

With that, I just wasted 5 minutes telling you what my plan was. Right then! Time to get back to work.
 

If found, please return to me.

One thing after another keeps happening this month. I'm so tired right now that I just want to throw my hands up in the air and call it quits.

The newest happening came in the form of our cat and it happened at midnight last night. Our son has this bed... The mattress was removed earlier last month and it has a wire grid on the underside. This is a bunk/loft style bed that has a desk on the underneath side. I didn't realize that the cat was still able to get up there. I sure found out last night! He got his hind leg wedged in-between the bars and he got stuck. In the process of trying to get him out, he bit my husband and scratched him up pretty good. It was that bite that got him unstuck actually. It hurt my husband so bad, that he jerked real hard, bringing the cat with him. The cat is still limping a small bit, but he'll let me touch his hind leg without reacting too much and he jumps to his favorite spots without hesitation. So, the cat is okay. My husband is currently in the emergency room being treated for an animal bite. It might not have been the smartest thing, but he waited until this afternoon to go when it became obvious that it wasn't going to heal on its own.

I'm just tired and worn out. The idea of working on this story is right there along the last things I want to do with my day. I keep telling myself that if I want to be a "real" writer (i.e. published), I have to make it a point to write every single day. Hasn't happened yet. All I can think about right now is taking a nap. Unfortunately, my husband's still at the ER (I think the clinic could have gotten him taken care of faster but they sent him to the hospital), and I have to feed the kids before long. I think I'll go to bed early tonight and see if I can't find fresh drive and determination in the morning. It's seriously gone for now.
 

Okay, that does it. If I want to hit my NaNo goals, I'm going to have to disconnect my computer from the internet. Either that or elect to write at least 4 pages every day by hand somewhere away from my computer. I'm hopeless! I'm painfully addicted to my internet and Facebook. Ugh. I knew there was a reason why I stayed away from it for so long. I blame my brother-in-law for this addiction. No, okay. It was not his fault that I got sucked up into the games and the like on there. That was my fault. But I never would have known they were there if he hadn't made me make a Facebook account. hehehe When he comes to visit tomorrow, I think I'll tell him that, too.

I guess I'd better stop blogging about my book and start writing it, huh? Think I could change my Nano book to a book about someone writing a NaNo book and all the distractions she goes through? Could I then use all of these blog entries to boost word count? LOL Just kidding. I like my story line. Guess I'd better go write it so I know how it ends, huh?
 

Now this is odd. In the past, I've written most of my stories by hand. I love the feel of the pen in my hand and hearing it scratch across the paper. With the start of NaNo, I figured I'd just type it all out because so much has to be completed so quickly. However, I stopped writing the past 2 days. That darn shooting here at Ft. Hood just threw me for a massive loop. Some in our area took refuge in their writing, though many did take that day off. Our Municipal Liaison has over 25K words, so she really booked it yesterday. Me, I fell flat on my face. I used everything as an excuse to stop writing. Throw in my son and bleh!

Last night, I stayed up way too late. I blame the cat. He found a marble or a die and was chasing it all around. As we have all linoleum floors on the ground floor, you can just imagine how noisy that can get a 2:30 am!

Okay, I think that does it for the excuses. I printed out my next chapter's notes and started to keep an open notebook in front of me with one of my favorite pens handy. It worked, too. I picked up the pen and started working on the next part of my story. Even though I'm so tired I can barely think in a straight line, I'm able to write by hand. Typing right now requires my mind to work faster than it's capable of. LOL So, here's to hoping for at least a 12K mark this evening. Though, if I haven't already written 73 words, I'm in trouble.

Best wishes to all the other NaNoers out there. We'll make it to the end somehow! I just might have to do it by hand.
 

Dang it! I'm so undisciplined right now it's not even funny. Today, I had a good 2 hours of quiet, uninterrupted time. Do you think that I used it wisely? Of course not! Geez!! With all that happened here lately, I've gone completely goofy when it comes to writing. I'm not doing very well. I wrote a whopping 400 words yesterday and that's been it. I did nothing today. AND I have to go to bed soon because hubby's going to work and I have to take him there so that I have the car. Twenty-four hour shifts are a bugger sometimes.

To top it off, my house is slightly in disarray, but it usually is, and we have company coming on Tuesday. At least I have warning, right? So, I need to do some cleaning. Oddly enough, it shouldn't take too much. Larger house = more space to clean, but our stuff spreads out better and makes the house look naturally cleaner. Interesting how that works. Anyway! Need to clean over the next 2 days.

I can write several thousand words in 2-3 hours. It's really no big deal once I get started. I just have to make myself get started! Tomorrow, after I drop hubby off at work, I'll sit the kids down with a movie or something and do just that. Let's see how many words I can get tomorrow. By the looks of it, I have to add at least 2K, but I can do that. I'm going to push and see how many I can really get. I think the 2 week blahs hit me early. I personally think that's not fair. Actually, now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. I ended last night right at the end of the spot where I had it clearly thought out. Now, I'm meandering off into uncharted waters. There's a very loose map drafted in and I think I'm scared. LOL Time to cast off that fear and keep going. Wish me luck!
 

I'll tell you, I could stand in an office supply store for hours and be so happy. Even happier if I got to bring any of those neat doodads home. Today, while doing school supply shopping for my son, I found some really nice hardbound journals. Oh, how beautiful they were. What I wouldn't have done to have purchased one to write in. Only... I have this tendency to just grab the nearest spiral-bound notebook and call it good. It's cheap scratch paper. Odd how I think of my writing as only "good enough" for scratch paper, huh? However, if I did write more often and I preferred to write by hand all the time, and if my mind ever once continued in a straight line, then I probably would see that it was useful to invest in one of the nicer notebooks. So, why I was looking at those price tags, I realized that I could easily cover a composition book with a lovely cover and it would work great! Especially, if I stocked up at the back-to-school sales when, if you're lucky, you can find them for $0.10 each. Then, if I worked on them during the year, I could probably even sell them. Great idea, huh?

If I ever get my idea of creating nice notebooks out of composition books, I'll let you know. As for this weekend? I'll be hemming polo shirts and working on my NaNo book. My son has to have men's shirts because his shoulders are so wide. However, he's not all that tall. Good thing I'm handy with a sewing machine.