My Knight in Shinning Armor is doing his best to keep me writing.
As I write this post, it is Day 5 of National Novel Writing Month. According to my trusty calculator, that means that everyone who is playing along should have somewhere around 8,335 words on the page.
How’s that working out for you?
I am just wrapping up a 5-day weekend. When I scheduled this time off from my day job months ago, I had visions of long productive hours of writing and a substantial word count.
You’d think I’d have learned by now.
For some odd reason, the more time I have, the less time I actually spend writing. On the plus side, I got a tremendous amount of other things done during my time off, clearing the way for great bounds of productivity in the coming days.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I am, of course, determined to end my evil low-word-count ways and get back on track (I’m a sucker for those virtual-badges you can earn on the NaNo site).
Fortunately, my email box has been filled with a steady stream of Pep Talks, like the one below, from the NaNo team.
Set the habit. One hour, one page, one passage, one day at a time.
“You either start now, or it is not going to happen for you, and you are going to wake up at seventy years old (or eighty, if you are already seventy) filled with sorrow that you let your dream, your passion, gift, fall by the wayside. You start now, as is. ‘As is’ is the portal to creation, to new life.” ~ Anne Lamott
So, what’s motivating you to put words on the page today?
Eight Ladies Writing 
Weekends belong to youth sports. I sometimes write in rinks, truth be told, if it’s a practice, but during games I watch. Then there’s the hour prior PLUS the driving to and from and poof, half the day is one.
When we get home everyone crashes and simultaneously says “what’s to eat?”… (because it’s always up to mom apparently…)
So I get up extra early to write. Only this past weekend the clocks changed and kids were up early…ugh.
What I’m TRYING to say is that I still wrote my words, just not as many as I desired. 🙂
Congratulations on still getting your words in, despite your parenting demands. That’s wonderful. 🙂
Ironically, I was far more productive when I had to contend with school schedules, soccer practices, etc. than I am now with an empty nest. Perhaps I thrive on the pressure.
Procrastination is alive and well here. Seems when I really want to write and can’t that’s when all the words flow like a waterfall…ugh.
Now, I have an hour and all I keep thinking is ‘ugh, I’ll be in the juiciest part by the time they walk in the door, no point in starting’…
Anyway. We’ll get there! Good luck. 🙂
LOL, I have a very clean sink and dish drainer, and 1600 words that are just terrible (well, no. They are good words. It’s just that I don’t seem them going anywhere. The conflict isn’t showing up, and there’s no juice).
You see, this year I decided I’d use the tarot to goose my story along. I think I’ll talk about that Saturday. The spoiler is that I thought I should write a new story, but it seems that the tarot read matches my old WIP that I’ve been struggling with for about three years. It doesn’t SOLVE anything, but it does make me feel more interested in solving the problems of that story.
So, I’m cheating on NaNo again, and doing an old story instead of new one. No words written yet, but I’m going to tear it apart today and see if I can plot this one instead of pants it.
Michaeline, I figure there is no “right way” to NaNo. As long as you’re writing, you’re winning. My NaNo goal this year is 30 short stories in 30 days. Not a novel, but it’s words on the page. As a plus, I will wind up with a few good story ideas to further explore/expand.
Congratulations on your words (and clean sink!).
For me, the good news about NaNo is that I didn’t sign up, so I’m not behind there. However, I didn’t put any words on the page today. I had one zillion things to do, and then I had to rest. Tomorrow is another day!
But really? That quote from Anne Lamott is a pep talk? That about makes me want to leap under the nearest speeding train, if I had the energy after reading it to leap.
Kay, I’m pretty sure you’re still head in the word-count game; you seem to be the most consistent writer I know.
As for the Lamott quote – sorry about that – not quite as uplifting as I’d hoped. Thank goodness you were low on energy when you read it.