The widgets are working! The widgets are working!

Two things:

1) The widgets are working (as you can see on the right-hand side of my blog).

2) The fact that I care about the widgets makes me a total loser.

 

Slow and steady wins the race

My NaNo word count is 6,725 as of yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t able to get any more done last night because somehow Griffin has managed to get sick…again. Hopefully it’s just a headcold this time and nothing else.

During the weekdays, I’m sticking to my plan of trying to write in the morning before Griffin wakes up (hasn’t been happening because of the time change and his cold). Then I write during my lunch break at work – supposed to only be 20 minutes, but I stretch it to 30. Then I write at any other time I get the chance, but it better be before 8 PM because after that, I’m toast.

So 6,725 is pretty much on pace with the 1,667 words/day goal. In fact, I’m a few words ahead of that pace, so I will go ahead and pat myself on the back.

This weekend will be the true test since Patrick is leaving for Charlotte, NC tonight and won’t be back until Sunday night. Oh, and there’s a Bears game on Sunday afternoon (hey, a girl’s got to have her priorities, right?).

So basically I want to tell all those NaNoers who cranked out, like 15,000 on the first day to suck it because my measly little 6,725 words after four days is still on target to win.

 

I came for the drinks, but I stayed for the love

My back-up husband will be performing at the Double Door  in Chicago this weekend, and once again, I’m going to miss him. Timing and geography are not our friends.

Ceci – if you’re reading this, he’ll be in Bloomington on November 8th. Lucky girl.

 

Another e-mail from my dad

He’s the best dad…ever:

Rocky:

 

I like the writing project you have successfully begun today. It is like running a marathon of 26 miles, except you are writing a marathon of 50,000 words!

 

Rocky, you can do it and by making a public announcement, we’ll be checking in on your progress as you reach various milestones like 5000, 10000, 15000 …. words.

 

Good luck.

 

Love, Paw

 

In case you’re wondering about the nicknames Rocky and Paw, I wrote about them here a couple of years ago.

 

I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride

So I think I mentioned that we were going to dress up as an 80s rock band for Halloween. Between getting our costumes together and someone’s crankiness (I’ll give you one guess), we almost didn’t make it out the door for Halloween. OK, I admit, I was the one ready to throw in the towel, but it all turned out OK. Griffin loved going up to people’s doors even if he wasn’t getting candy.

OK, enough chit chat, here’s a look at our costumes:

I think our band name should be Moore Than You Can Handle...

I didn't have to ask him to make this face.

Don't ask

Patrick's pants were so tight that when I saw him from behind I almost peed my pants

My baby Griffin rockin' his Chuck Taylors

And one more post-Trick-or-Treating picture:

Digging into Duncan's stash of candy

 

And we’re off…

I started writing at 5:30 this morning. After 1 hour and 15 minutes, I’ve written 1221 words. I have a word count on my blog, but I don’t think NaNoWriMo has gotten the links up and running just yet.

 

Awww…

On the eve of NaNoWriMo, I received the following e-mail from my father:

Tracy:

 

Good luck on your November writing project. May the words flow.

 

Love, Paw

 

Thanks Dad

 

Just playing around a bit

A lot of people participating in NaNo have created “book covers” for their upcoming novels. I thought this was so silly. Why do that when you haven’t even started writing? But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the cover of a book can speak volumes. I’ll even go so far as to say that at times, I’ve picked up a book based on the cover – just to read what it’s about.

I honestly think that the whole process of thinking about what I’d want on the cover was helpful. It made me think about the whole feeling of my story.

Besides, it was a good diversion for me – it let me play around on the computer and also helped get my mind off the fact that with only two more days left before we start writing, I still feel unprepared.

But hey, if I could create a cover for my non-book, it might look something like this:

 

Down to the wire

NaNoWriMo starts on Sunday. That leaves me only four more days (counting today) to finish prepping for this challenge. I’m getting nervous and I’m not exactly sure why. OK, so I’m afraid of “failing” – not making it to at least 50,000 words. I’m also afraid of getting one-third of the way into the novel and then freezing, having absolutely no idea what should happen next.

I haven’t written anything in a really, really long time and I’m worried that I’m going to be rusty. Then I start thinking about all the little details that I still need to figure out. Like what the heck does one of my main characters do for a living? And how much do I need to know about that profession before I start writing? I know it doesn’t sound like a bg deal, but it makes a difference. I don’t want to be in the middle of this when I decide what his job is and then have no clue about the logistics of it all – what kind of work schedules do they have? How much would he earn (which affects what kind of lifestyle he has)?

I’m feeling overwhelmed by all the details and the very little time I have left. Why the hell did I even agree to try this? What on earth possessed me to try to write a novel in 30 days? How can I get this done while working full-time and dealing with all the other aspects of my regular life?

I want to win the challenge. I’m afraid that if I don’t make it to 50,000 I’m just going to give up. This challenge is giving me the opportunity to finish something on that big ol’ to-do list of life that some of us have.

Tonight is going to consist of finishing up our Halloween costumes and then I hope to go home and get more work done. I tried last night, but Griffin had other ideas.

Four more days.

 

Sunday sucked big time

I’m not even going to try to make this post funny. Today sucked. The morning started out OK – played with Griffin, took him grocery shopping, and then we got home and everything went downhill. He wouldn’t take a nap even though he was exhausted. We had a similar problem with him going to bed the previous night. This morning he was not having it…and Patrick was growing frustrated. I was getting tired (I’m also fighting a cold and a fever). He wasn’t just fussing. He was screaming. Ear piercing screams with tears. It just got worse and worse. He finally wore himself out and slept for 30 minutes. When he woke up it started again.

This went on until he fell asleep in the car at 1:30 PM. He slept for 50 minutes (yes, I drove that whole time – don’t forget he was a colicky baby and this is how we survived for almost four months).

I took him to clinic that’s open on weekends and it turns out he has a nasty ear infection. When I told Patrick, he said, “I feel bad for yelling at him.” In his defense, he didn’t really yell. We were exhausted and frustrated and confused.

So the little man is on another antibiotic. That makes two in a little over a week.