Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Of Turkeys and Word Counts

November means two things at my house: NaNoWriMo and Thanksgiving. Both are a little different this year.

I'm thankful to be able to say that it's been a good year for writing. My debut novel, Going Through the Change, came out in April. The sequel is in editing now, and I'm trying to draft the three-quel for National Novel Writing Month. I've also had some short stories accepted for anthologies, that should all pop here in the next few months. Of course, since it has been a good year for writing, I've had new things to fit into my calendar like promotions, sales, author events, and Atomacon!

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This means I'm seriously behind on my word count. In fact, I have substantial doubts that I'll make my 50K this year. That makes me a little sad, but it doesn't feel as bad as it might have another year. I know I'll finish the novel regardless of the timing, and it's not worth driving myself crazy just to fit the words into this particular month. After all, every month is novel-writing month for me, though I don't usually produce 50K in one month. I still have a day job, kids, a dog, and a love life to consider, not to mention a need to read and play video games once in a while.

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Often I catch up on the word count over Thanksgiving (this is my third NaNoWriMo, and I won both other years), but I haven't been this far behind before. So we'll see what we see.

Thanksgiving is going to be smaller this year with only my own family of four gathered around the table. I am both grateful for this and a little sad. Thanksgiving can be a great time to get together with your loved ones, but most of mine live pretty far away and none of us want to spend our precious holiday hours in the car all day.

So, I'll be having a quiet holiday in comparison to other years. I think I'm most thankful of all for that. Quiet can be a lovely lovely thing.

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2 comments:

  1. Don't forget that you're living the dream. Bask in your own glory every now and then. You have a proven track record. You'll get the job done.

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    1. Thanks, Jason. I'm about as okay with not finishing something I said I would as someone with my combination of Jewish guilt and German work ethic can be :-)

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