It’s hard to believe there is just one week left of NaNoWriMo. To be honest, it’s kinda dragged for me, as my story began to stutter about a week in. From all I’ve read, this is quite normal but it’s still not the most encouraging thing in the world when it happens to you, especially when you read the updates from other triumphant participants claiming 4,000 words that day, or 6,000 words, or in one case over 11,000 words. Some of these folks have their 50,000 words already. I mean, don’t these people have a life?
Truth to tell, I don’t have that much of a life and I do have plenty of time in which to write. I’ve clarified to myself, however, that I am definitely a planner not a pantster! The places in which my plot outline was lacking were exactly the places I found myself stumped.
And although I don’t have that much of a life, nevertheless life still tends to happen, whether I choose it or not. I wrote off (no pun intended) one particular day when I had one of my horses euthanised and this, frankly, upset me deeply. Thumper had been with me for fifteen years. I couldn’t have written on that day to save my life, and had to force myself in the days that followed. Fortunately, now I can think of him without tears but it was with incredible sadness that today I donned a shirt that I had last worn on that terrible occasion, not even realising it until I saw the drops of blood in the fabric. Drops that evidently hadn’t come out in the wash.
Drops of Thumpy’s blood. Thumpy, who will never bleed again.
Life, and death. It happens.
We’ve also had unscheduled days babysitting our grandson, who is a delight but nevertheless extremely tiring. He’s only five and a half months old. It’s really hard to write after a full day of that! We’ve had two family birthdays, friends from the country come to visit, pre-booked British Film Festival films to see… that’s just life.
At the time of writing I have 35,091 words which is pretty awesome if you ask me (and even if you didn’t). I’m slightly behind schedule in terms of completing 50,000 words by 30th November, but only slightly, and I still have time to turn that around.
Right now, it’s looking very positive as my characters have taken on a life of their own (at last!) and are now directing the story. This makes it so much easier for me as a writer, and as a planner. I’m now eager to see where they take me!
OK I’d better get back to it now, because these words don’t count towards my NaNo goal. I’m looking forward to what the coming week brings!
This post first appeared at www.vmtaylor.com.au/life-and-death/.
Hello Vicki, NaNoWrMo first timer here and thinking I’ll make the deadline. Life can get in the way and that’s why it has been so good to have a goal – 50,000 and 30 days. No matter what, that’s what we are aiming for. My ambition as a girl was always to write and then life got in the way – and it has taken me from teenage years to early 50s before I sat down to attempt to write fiction again. And this nano has been my first attempt. I’ve been writing occasional blogs on WordPress. That began in… Read more »
I’m a lot like you, Trish. I didn’t write for years, except half-heartedly for myself. My personal blog Vicki’s Vapours is probably my equivalent of your Random Thoughts blog. Though we don’t do enough travelling for a travel blog, it sounds amazing to me. We returned just over a year ago from 2 1/2 years in Far North Queensland where we lived first on a mine site and then on 68 acres of pristine rainforest that was breathtakingly beautiful. Yes, I’m currently in Perth. Hope you are finding Albury to your liking after Esperance! I found it was a whole… Read more »