Well, that last post about how maybe I could write 50,000 words in November after all?  Sorry, it isn’t going to happen.

And that’s okay.

I still have six days off left in November, and three work days.  So I need to think through how I want to spend them.

Now, part of this does depend on how things go with these marathon headaches.

I did see a neurologist, and she gave me a corticosteroid that’s giving me some relief.  But it’s something of a catch-22.  When the headache goes, there are some side effects of agitation and an elevated heart rate and not feeling great that aren’t really conducive to clear thinking, either.  When those side effects let up, mostly the headache is coming back.  Actually, both the side effects and the headache were better this afternoon — right before it was time to take another pill!

Anyway, I only have a couple more days of the corticosteroid, and I hope, hope, hope that will be the end of this headache, which is on its tenth day right now.  By then, I’m hoping either the neurologist’s tests will reveal what is causing the new bout with headaches, or else the new preventative she gave me will kick in and they will let up.

So, all that is to say, it’s not the time to burn the midnight oil or skip meals.  I’m going to be gentle on myself, but decide what I want to accomplish in this last week of November.

My son’s going to be with his Dad for Thanksgiving, but I have Wednesday off, and he gets out of school early, so we’ll have a little pre-Thanksgiving feast together, and then I can have a nice cozy weekend retreat for the rest of the weekend, working only on Saturday.

One thing that working on NaNoWriMo did remind me is that I do enjoy writing an hour at a time, that this is actually rather easier and more enjoyable than doing it only fifteen minutes at a time.

It reminded me that, yes, I want to be a writer, and, yes, a writer writes.

So, no, I probably can’t possibly finish 50,000 words on my new novel by November, but I can still make some good progress, and any progress is good progress is good progress, and that is good enough.

Here’s what I’ve decided to make my goals for November:

1.  I will try to finish moving in.  This means finishing putting up my pictures throughout the house, and unpacking the boxes in my room and the spare bedroom.  This will feel very good!

2.  I will see how far I can get on my novel.  I will try to put in at least an hour a day, where possible.  It would be nice to get at least halfway to the 50,000 word goal, but we will see.

3.  I will try to get at least one review posted per day, preferably two or three.  I have a stack of 35 books I want to review, so I’m not going to get caught up in November, but maybe that can be my goal for December.  Of course, the main problem is that when I’m not feeling well, the one thing I can do is read, so the stack just keeps on growing.

As Thanksgiving week begins, I’ve been thinking of how much I have to be thankful for.  NaNoWriMo reminds me that the one thing I ALWAYS wanted to be was a Writer.  I used to think I’d accomplish that by being a stay-at-home Mom supported by a husband, but now I’m finding that being a full-time librarian is actually a bit more conducive to a writer’s work habits.  And I’m definitely more involved in the world of books.

But a writer writes.  It will be interesting to see how many words I can get written in a month, even when I’m plagued by headaches.

So far, on my novel:  13,699 words.

On my blogs: 7,535 words.

Total: 21,234 words.

Write on!

Well, yesterday on my day off I learned that I make far, far more progress if I write on my novel for an hour at a time instead of fifteen minutes.  Funny how that works!

I later did another hour, and later wrote two reviews, and the word count really spiked.  Then it dawned on me:  With 15 days left in November, I have 8 of them off and am working on 7 of them.  I made a spreadsheet, and if I do an hour on my working days, and at least two hours on my off days, I really might still be able to hit 50,000 words.

Yes, I still want to catch up on my reviews.  I still want to get moved in to this townhouse.  But yesterday I did get some pictures up and I did get some reviews written.

A lot is going to depend on how these headaches go.  The day before yesterday, I didn’t do any writing at all because my head hurt and I couldn’t think clearly.  But yesterday, I told myself to wait to take a nap until I had done an hour of writing.  I actually found that writing for an hour was a better treatment than a nap, because writing is more distracting!  And you can only nap so long.  There comes a point where no matter how sick and weak you feel, you won’t be able to go to sleep any more — and you’re left with lying in bed feeling sick and weak.  How much nicer to distract myself with writing.  Though to be fair, I think that the nap was what I needed to have the strength for the second writing session of the day.

And actually, I’m finding that writing a review with a headache is a little harder.  With the novel, I’m writing a first draft, and first drafts are supposed to be bad.  But with the reviews, I very much would like to be coherent and thoughtful, and that’s a bit harder to do with a headache than writing a bad first draft.

So, my progress so far, at past the halfway point:

On my novel: 11, 158 words

On my novel plus my blogs: 17, 512 words.

Still a long way to go!  But it’s still just possible….

Why do I always, always, always think I can get more done on my day off than is humanly possible?

Today I slept most of the morning.  But I refuse to get down on myself for that — I figure I’m still recovering from the prolonged headache, getting my strength back.

This is only the first of quite a few upcoming days off, and I’m hoping they will get more and more productive.  And, again, ANY progress on my novel is good progress!

So far, I have written 4,895 words on my novel and 2,011 words on my blogs, for a grand total of 6,906 words.

Write on!

I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month!

I wasn’t going to.  It seemed foolish.  Here’s why:

I’m currently working on revising my earlier book, completely rewriting it, but still a revision.  I want to finish it!  So if I take a month off, it will take that much longer.  Still, in the big scheme of things, at 15 minutes per day, a month off just isn’t that much.

I had decided that I have two goals:  1) Catching up my Sonderbooks site with the huge stack of books I have read that are waiting to be reviewed.  I also want to implement some of the fantastic blog-related ideas I heard about at the Kidlitosphere Conference.  2)  Getting MOVED IN!  We moved in May, for goodness’ sake!  I want my pictures up and my boxes emptied.  I’m so close… and yet so far.

I’ve been plagued by almost daily headaches for the last two months.  I have had to do less, not more.

I’m currently taking a wonderful online class on the Newbery Medal.  It’s keeping me busy.  When it finishes, I hope to learn that I’ve been selected for the Bill Morris Seminar in January, complete with assigned reading.  Even if not, I have stacks of books I’m dying to read.

I’ve never written a novel with Word Count goals, always time goals, which suits me better, or so I’ve always thought.

Okay, those were my reasons why not.  But the very thought of doing it made me smile.  That alone seems like a good reason to consider it.

Here are some more reasons:

1.  I have a book for which I’d thought through the plot and written a couple key scenes but hadn’t started the first draft of — ideal for this sort of thing.

2.  One of my goals for the year was to write another novel.  I got sidetracked by my revision, but this could make it happen.

3.  If I don’t meet the goal of 50,000 words, so what?  I would still be that much farther, and I can do it as part of a big community.

4.  In a way, it’s a way of thumbing my nose at my headaches.  Gives me something else to think about and focus on.

5.  I was already writing 15 minutes a day.  I can even keep that up and add in that word count.  So what if it’s not very high?

6.  I’ve never used word count as a goal before, but isn’t it worth a try for a month?  Especially when I have a novel idea all ready to be started as a rough draft?

7.  Just thinking of doing it makes me smile.

So — I’m going to do NaNoWriMo.  However, I decided that right up front I will modify my own personal goals.

Because I really really do want to catch up on the reviews on my website, for my own personal purposes, I will count any words I post on a blog.  My goal for the month of November will be to write 50,000 words on my new novel and my blogs.

For the novel, I will only count words on the new rough draft I started this morning.  That will be the word count I post on the NaNoWriMo site.

I will still do 15 minutes per day, and more when I get the chance.  For this month, I will only work on the new novel, rather than revising old ones.  Here’s hoping this will bring a fresh perspective!

This morning I took a half-day off.  My word count so far is:

Novel:  1635 words

Blogging:  606 words

Total:  2,241 words

Write on!