The month of November was a bit of a doozy for me. First there was obviously the presidential election, which I was following closely, and then there was the apartment move that took place over the span of about two and a half long weeks.
Oh, and of course there was that little thing called Thanksgiving, along with all the requisite cooking, gorging, and shopping.
To top it all off, I decided to attempt the Nanowrimo program - the National Novel Writing Month - for the first time. Needless to say, I didn't quite reach the goal of 50,000 words in the month of November. Heh heh....ah, no. But it did succeed in taking up any spare time I had, which effectively kept me away from my dearly beloved blog.
So I thought to myself today, you know what? I should get back at it. Write a blog. Let the world know I'm still here, whether or not it cares!
And then I hit a wall. Wait...what do I write about??? There's no more election coverage to delve into, no more Sarah Palin to gape at - there's not even a horrible landlord to gripe about!!!! The candidate I ardently supported won the race, I moved into a wonderful new apartment that is everything I hoped for and more - what the hell am I supposed to write about??????
Panic sets in. Concentration is becoming difficult, and I'm enveloped in a cold sweat. Cold because the new apartment does tend to get drafty from time to time - hey, nothing can be perfect, ya know.
Then I thought, wait - maybe I shouldn't try to jump right back into blogging, perhaps I should attempt to re-start the ol' novel instead! Yeah, that'll be SO much easier!!
Or maybe not.
A novel is such a daunting task. Yeah, I already knew that, but once you really start trying to sit down and write the damn thing, you start to understand just how painstaking it really is. I thought the words would flow out of me like a river of imagination, that I would just need to focus on keeping my fingers moving as quickly as my mind. Instead, the process has been somewhat akin to eating taffy (which I hate) - you sort of dig your teeth in, then you pull and you pull, the taffy ever so slowly stretches, then suddenly it snaps, and you have a few short moments of sweet reward before it's gone and you've gotta go back to digging your teeth in once more.
I mean, it is tough, people. And with all that I had going on during November, I was only able to make it to about 10,000 words - a measly fifth of the way to the nanowrimo goal.
But I'm trying to focus on the positive - hell, I got to 10,000 words!!! That's 10,000 more than I had before I started. It may not be a novel, but it's a chapter or two at the very least. I've got a base. I've got a platform to dive off of.
So yeah, it's fucking daunting as all get out, but I'm gonna get back at it and try to keep digging my teeth in until the taffy runs out. I gave myself a little reprieve first - did a few chores around the new place and told myself I could write one little, teeny blog to get the gears turning - oil up the ol' candy factory, so to speak, before I start trying to crank up the big assembly line.
Wish me luck, friends. And if all turns out well, maybe I'll even let you read the finished novel one day. Like in 2014.
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