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Movin' and groovin' through these dark days

I let myself just chill and decompress all last week after the boatload of November’s challenges, so there’s not much to report.

In Writing: At this point, I need to get back to finishing the novel draft. Ideally, I would complete it by the end of December, but I’m not sure I’m going to do that. I basically need to get enough down on the page to be able to edit and I’m not sure struggling through the rest of this draft is the most productive or whether going back and beginning the rewrite process might give me a better sense of where I want to go at the end. Nevertheless, I plan to see what I can get done before the end of the year.

In Body: I kind of slacked off on the running in November, and I’m feeling drawn to get back into it. My body needs it, I can tell.

I’m also trying to get back into a better eating routine, since my habits got all wonky from the comfort eating during the challenges and the Thanksgiving aftermath.

In Reading: I’m enjoying Perks of Being a Wallflower. The structure is interesting, even if it makes for a less poetic flow of words. So far it feels very honest in the sense I think this is how a kid would write, even if this 15 year old sounds younger than other 15 year olds I’ve met.

In Other News: It’s cold outside and dark. Keep in mind I live in Bay Area, California, so those comments are relative. Also, despite spending part of my youth in Alaska, I am now a wimp.

Christmas tree is up in my mom’s house. It took a lot of laughter and two rum-strong eggnogs to accomplish this, due to the tree nearly falling over while we were putting the star on top, ornaments shattering, and light fiascoes. It was a good time, though.

What Needs to Be Accomplished This Week:

  • Write 3,500 words on Under the Midday Moon (~500/day)
  • Submit something (poem, story, whatever)
  • Do a minimum of three workouts (0/3), not including morning yoga
  • Gift Shopping for the Holidays (le sigh)

How was your week? Are you starting to wind down for the end of the year? Or are you ramping up to get some last minute goals accomplished?

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Stats for November Challenges!

NaNoWriMo Stats

nano
Nano stats for Saturday, November 30th,
just before midnight.

Total New Words Written in November: 46,419

After writing 12,900 words on Saturday, November 30th in a desperate attempt to beat the midnight deadline, I found myself with no more brain cells left over. So, I stopped an hour and a half before midnight and was just 3,581 words shy of the 50,000 goal.

Even though I didn’t reach the goal, I’m happy with the work I’ve done this month. I have large chunk of the novel now done and I know there ate at least a few of the scenes that I really like (hopefully they’re not the darlings I’ll have to kill later). My hope that I’ll be able to pull off the rest of the novel draft by the end of December, so I can edit in 2014.

With the 13,010 words I wrote pre-NaNo, Under the Midday Moon is now at 59,429 words, which is AWESOME.

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NaBloPoMo Stats

New Blog Posts Written: 27

Total Blogging Words: ~15,866

I started to fall off the blog posting toward the end of the month, because all my energy was taken up with trying to finish NaNo. It was an excellent challenge though, and got me thinking about different ways to approach my blog. I’m thinking about doing the challenge again a few times through out the year (probably not when I have other intense challenges going on).

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Total New Words (Novel & Blog) Written in November: 62,285

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Other Life Stats

Workouts Completed: ~8

I’m not entirely sure of the count, but I made sure to do a minimum of one workout a week, which is vital for my mental, as well as physical health.

Books Read: 10

Reviews to be posted tomorrow are here.

Day Job: We went to press on our December issue just before Thanksgiving. This involved me personally writing over 10 full pages of text, proofing every page of the 64 page issue at least three times, and working with authors and companies to get approval and photos. Lots of work.

On the whole it was a very productive month and I can definitely call it an epic win for myself.

epic-win

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NaNoWriMo Update, Vol. 1

710f00bb98128a5c11b3d4575560b831Things are going well in Nano land and I’ve met and even exceeded (with the exception of Monday) all my daily word count goals. Over the weekend, I managed this by making writing my priority when I first get up in the morning. Then, once I’ve met my minimum I allow myself to get out of the house and go do something fun. For example, on Saturday I went and played with my niece at the park (a cuter child never existed!) and on Sunday I walked around the farmer’s market with my sister. All good things.

I intended to come back from the fun times and get back to writing, but found I didn’t have it in me to do any more writing those days. Since I had already met my daily word goals, I just let myself relax — something I really needed.

Current Project: Under the Midday Moon
(Novel Word Count Before Starting Nanowrimo: 13,010)
Goal: Complete 50,000 New Words and Hopefully the First Draft
New Words: 7,635
Total NaNoWriMo Word Count: 7,635
Random Rough Sentences: N/A (laptop got left at home and I don’t have access to my drafts at the moment).

Novelling Notes: I’m still having trouble balancing all  the little threads of plot and relationships. When two characters are alone  in a room together, everything else just disappears. For some scenes that’s okay. For others, I think it makes it so that people forget everything else that is supposed to be going on. Though maybe that’s just my impression, and readers might have a different experience. Now I’m trying to get a better balance of the people and their concern for one another into the scenes.

I’m also getting a better feel for the relationships themselves, which in previous chapters had come off as a bit flat. I’m hoping the relationships seem more interconnected and messy and multidimensional now, but until I get feedback, it’s kind of hard for me to tell.

Advice for Nano-ers:

  • Try to push past the daily minimum in order to build up a word count cushion. That way, if you have to miss a day later in the month, then it’s not such a big deal.
  • Get the writing done first, then allow yourself to get outside and play, or even just relax. I find that mental breaks from all the writing helps me be more focused when I return to the work.

Things To Be accomplished in the Coming Week:

  • Write a minimum of 10,000 words
  • Do three workouts (1/3)
  • That’s it

Good Reading: Over at The Bell Jar is a lovely post called “Learning to Love My Nose,” which talks about body perception. It’s a fantastic read, and one that made me want to try to love myself more and judge others less.

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“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” – Philip Roth

Goodness, it seems it’s been almost two whole months (!) since I’ve last posted a Monday Update. During that time I have completed next to no writing and, while I have been doing my weekly training at the gym, my running days have been sporadic at best. Since all my traveling is done for the year, I’m planning on hoping back on the wagon and getting some thinks done by the end of December in the hopes of completing most, if not all of my primary goals for the year.

November is NaNoWriMo, in which writers from around the world attempt to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Technically this is supposed to be a new novel, something you haven’t touched before. But since I really want to complete the draft of my werewolf novel, Under the Midday Moon, I’m planning to use the challenge for that purpose with the hope that 50,000 words will be enough for me to finish the draft. If I can get this done, then next year’s big goal can be focused on editing the dang thing.

As for the running…, it is still possible to reach my goal of running three complete miles by the end of the year, I suppose. So, I will still keep working toward that goal. If I can get to where I’m running one mile, though, I’ll be happy. I’m also thinking of buying the zombie runner app, just because I think it would be fun and would add some variety to my training.

To be accomplished in the coming week:

  • Write a minimum of 5,100 words on Under the Midday Moon as part of Nano challenge
  • Submit something (poem, story, whatever)
  • Do a minimum of two runs.

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Good Reading: I’ve found two posts that could be helpful in my own goal setting this week.

“Visuals for goals make an impression” talks about how adding a visual element to your accomplishments can help spur continued progress, like awarding yourself gold stars on the days you workout or pinning up your race bibs as Lisa J. Jackson did. I’m thinking a calendar for the year for posting stars would be great. I might also incorporate not only stars or smileys for exercise, but also for when I submit some of my writing for publication and/or when I receive an acceptance. I’ll have to get a variety of stickers for that purpose. Posting rejection letters, acceptance letters, and/or race bibs is also a great idea, and I may do that as well. 🙂

And on Courage 2 Create, Ollin Morales talks about “How To Add More Time To Your Day (AKA: How to Make The Most of The Time You Do Have),” something that I’ve been definitely feeling as a challenge lately.

“I have tried to see how I can literally add more time to my day. Unfortunately, I have learned that there is no way to actually add more time to your day, but I have learned that there are ways to make the most of the time you do have, and also how to make it appear as if the time is stretching out longer, rather than shrinking at a rapid pace.”

His advice is pretty darn good, and I’m going to try to practice a few of his suggestions in the hopes of getting done what I need to get done.

We’re in the fourth and final quarter for the year. How are you doing with your year long goals? Or, how are are you doing with your day-to-day goals?

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Wonderland Lettering Completed

I’ve been avoiding writing. But since I’ve been avoiding writing by doing something creative, I don’t actually feel too bad about that fact. I spent much of my evenings last week and part of my weekend finishing the “Sienna in Wonderland” art work for my niece’s room by adding layers of paint to each panel. I always kind of kick myself when I do super thin lines in the forms of spirals like this, because I don’t have great brushes for that kind of detail work. It turned out fine, though, and I’m happy with the final product.

Sienna in Wonderland wall art

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Sienna in Wonderland wall art

I have also painted the frames, so that one will be bright blue and the other bright purple. It should make a great addition to my niece’s bedroom.

The wood cutout of a teapot will be painted by my sister Pilar (aka, Auntie No. 2), so once it’s all complete and hanging on my niece’s wall, I’ll be sure to take a final picture to show you guys.

I’m not posting a goals list this week and probably won’t next week either, since it’s impractical to expect myself to complete a big long list of to-dos when I’ll be traveling both this and next weekend. The first weekend trip with be half for work and half for play with me spending a few days on the Pensacola, FL beach. The second weekend trip will be to Washington, DC to meet up with some of my tumblr buddies, and we’ll be checking out the local museums and other fun stuff.

Still, there’s opportunity over the next couple of days to, as Pilar says, “get sh!t done,” so we’ll see how it goes. Mostly I don’t want to overwork myself, because I want to stay healthy for my trips.