NaNo, NaNo....

So, the first day of NaNoWriMo went swimmingly. I wrote 1500ish words. Just shy of the daily goal but so be it, I wrote 1500ish words!  Cause for small celebration. I'm on the move.

Then yesterday came. And went. And no words. No WRITTEN words. Not on the story, at least.

But I did accomplish these things:

• voted (important)
• went to my PO Box and picked up mail (Bed, Bath and Beyond catalog)
• trimmed the three bushes in front of my house (now Clio and Calliope can better see out - me, too)
• weed-eated my front lawn and rid my front lawn of a lot of dead stuff (long overdue)
• edited 30 pages of a novel plus three short stories for an upcoming anthology
• checked and wrote a lot of emails (daily task)
• checked the sales numbers on books (I'm addicted to the numbers)
• and watched Dancing with the Stars

Productive day, you say? I say not. There were NO WORDS.

Procrastination, pure and simple.

What, say you? That I accomplished a lot? That these things needed to be done? That my day was full and busy already? Pshaw. Excuses. Bottom line is, I didn't make it a priority. I chose other things. I did not make room. I failed Day Two of NaNoWriMo and now on my web page it says: 2 unsuccessful days (you know, because I didn't actually make the Day 1 goal either).

So now, with all of you as my witness, I vow I will do better today. Okay, so I'm off....

Three Things

I love it when things align in threes. I mean, this has to mean something, doesn't it?

I've been waiting for November 1. Kept telling people all fall--let me get through October, I'll get on that in November. Why "get through October?" Well, because of three weeks (18 days and nights) of work out of the house, which means it's more difficult to get writing and publishing work done while on the road traveling.

But October is through, and November is here, and now--I have work to do. (I just hope I haven't bit off more than I can chew!)

Item #1: I must write. And lucky for me, this month, starting today, November 1, is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo (Mork comes to mind when I say this.) Now, I have never signed up for NaNoWriMo in the past even though I have known about it for years. But this year? I need the motivation and the discipline of daily writing. I am way past a novel deadline and I have vowed to finish it by the end of the month. Hence, I signed myself up, for the very first time, for NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck, and I'll keep you informed.

Item #2: Today, November 1, is also National Author's Day. Who woulda thunk that NaNoWriMo and National Authors day would strike at the same time? I managed to post another blog post about that on the Turquoise Morning Press blog this morning. Hm. Come to think of it, I also have a cookbook deadline at the end of this week. Geez, my week is filling up already, isn't it?

Item #3. I started a diet. South Beach. Again. 18 days of eating out last month and little exercise. Ugh. I need a jump start and I'm not waiting any longer.

I'm really not sure what dieting and writing have in common, except for in this case that they are all falling on November 1 for me, for some reason. Just hoping that I can keep up the pace with all involved. Suddenly, this feels like an accountability thing.

I guess this all means there is no time, or room, for cupcakes, huh?

Okay, so keep me accountable, all right? I'll report in.