NaNo Update

I am now 15,000 words into my new story. Not bad for a week and a half of work. Some days it's really difficult to come up with my 1143 words for the day, and other days I have to remind myself that there are other things needing my attention. The challenge is good for me. I have a goal to meet each day, and I don't get up from the table (or recliner) until I have met it.

I love to write in the morning. Somehow the day seems to go better if I have my "words" done before I start in with the things I need to do and places I need to go. But sometimes (like the three days a week when I have to be at work at 5 am) it's not feasible. There have been days when I was up and motivated and was "in the flow" and I was able to write 750 words before leaving for work at 4:45, but those days are few and far between.

I managed to get a day ahead and have tried to stay that way, just in case I get bogged down with "must dos". I'm getting to a point in my classes (the ones I teach) when papers are going to be turned in, and I need to keep up on grading them. And the grandkids have had programs to attend. And my mom needs to be transported to various places. Life goes on, and it doesn't revolve around my laptop, despite my tendency to have it surgically attached to my lap.

So right now, things are progressing as they should. I have a story to tell, and it's being told. I have a goal to meet, and I'm managing to meet it.

All is well.

I Think I Can ...

Gotta blog. Gotta blog.

I feel like a zombie. I go to work, I come home, I write, and I play my computer games. And then I try to sleep. It is a very busy semester for me. Sometimes I wonder if I bit off more than I can chew.

I have a mom who needs help, grandkids I want to see, and a husband who doesn’t complain much but does like attention one in a while. How am I going to get it all done? My bathroom and bedroom look like pig sties (I’ve never actually seen a pig sty, but I imagine it wouldn’t look any better than those two rooms in my house), and I can’t stop throwing chocolate down my throat, which is a sign I am stressed.

I need help. I need sleep. I need a Sugar Daddy.

But I think all the Sugar Daddies are taken. So I’m going to close this post and go to bed, hoping against hope that when I get up tomorrow, somehow my bathroom floor will be swept and mopped, my clothes will be put away, and all my papers will be graded.

Of course, after I see all that, I’ll have to wake up and go to work.

A New Challenge

Tomorrow I am going to start writing a new book. I still don't have my first book done. Or my second, or my third. But I'm going to start another one. Why? Because I have been challenged.

For the second year, my writers' group is issuing a challenge that we call Winter Nano. It's loosely modeled after the National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November. Most of us have too many family obligations to participate and complete a novel in November, so we decided to do this in a slower month. The challenge is to write 32,000 words in 28 days, or 1143 words per day. That's a lot of writing, especially since most of us have jobs and/or school to take up the bulk of each day. But we're taking it on.

Last year, I completed the challenge by doing a lot of planning. I outlined my story, decided on not only the characters' names, but their issues, and wrote it all out. And then when the time came, I simply followed my outline, fleshing it out into actual scenes. And the writing happened. I loved it!

So this year, I'm working on a sequel. I have characters, and a conflict. I'm not sure it's a strong one, but I'm adding to the outline each day. And tomorrow I will open a blank document and start writing. I hope. At the end of the month I will have three stories completed, and needing editing. I'm about halfway done preparing the first one for submitting. (That was supposed to be done by January, but life got in the way - I'm still doing it!) And then if I get on a roll, I'll work on the second, and then the third, and then somebody will love all three books and publish them!

Dreams are wonderful. Making the dreams into reality requires work. Right now I've got the momentum, and that makes me happy. Wish me luck!

Our New Little Miracle

Her name is Bridget. Bridget Grace.

I love the name. It's unique enough to make her stand out, but not so unique as to make people furrow their brows with a puzzled expression on their faces. It's fun, and reminds me of the quirky title character in Bridget Jones' Diary. It was one of my favorite movies. There's a girl who's a survivor. And the story has a happily ever after ending. I'm not sure if Bridget Jones was the inspiration for the name, but she's not a bad character to be named for.

She is a tiny replica of her mother, with a little of her father's light coloring. She has nice long fingers, which means she the potential to be a great piano player. As a musician, that makes me very excited.

I'm sure her parents have lots of great plans for this child. They are both ambitious, well-educated people who love children, and they would want nothing less than the best of what life has to offer for their child. She is one lucky girl. And she lives exactly twenty-five minutes away. I know where I'll be headed as often as possible.

And I plan to spoil her rotten!