NaNoWriMo Update: Week 4

Okay, I may have gotten a little burnt out. I think it’s as much trying to push myself to write every day without fail that bumps up my headache-prone tension level as it is not taking days off. Normally when I’m ghostwriting I tend to work six days a week and then not at all Sundays (unless of course I had to take a day mid-week for a migraine, in which case I work the Sunday instead). That has been the best working schedule I have been able to work out for my current functional level. Not taking those days off and pushing myself to do more during the day, every day, and try to motivate others in my writing circles… it wasn’t the greatest idea, and it has worn me out. Next NaNo I may try to set up a similar schedule to my work schedule, with only a token amount of writing on the days off to keep my streak going.

My word count chart as of yesterday.

Health

As I already said, I’m pretty burnt out. I haven’t done too badly, at least in my opinion, because the headache I had was just tension, not a true migraine that would lay me low for a day or three. I’ll take what I can get. I’ve also managed to get several doctor’s appointments wrapped up and scheduled a treatment plan that I expect will help me a good deal, so I’m feeling pretty optimistic about that. I just need to slow down for the last few days of November so I don’t tip myself into another headache.

Of course the weather had to be warmer just when I needed to start using my heating pad for low back issues. It’s rather unpleasant to be hot and sweaty when it’s below 60F and not moving. I should be better at doing my simple qi gong routine in spite of things like back pain, but I’m really not. It’s a struggle to make myself start doing it again, and if I start too soon I just end up making my back worse.

Happiness

I’ve really enjoyed writing a fantasy romance project that came out of nowhere in the first week of NaNo. It was one of those ideas that tend to happen as soon as you’re trying to focus on your NaNoWriMo project, and I started writing it expecting it to be a short story for my blog. I’m now over 25k into it, and it’s definitely not going to be short. I’ve barely scratched the surface. (This is the story I mentioned last week when I loaded 12k or so into Scrivener to start working on it as a novel instead of random scenes.) I’m absolutely loving it. I like the way both characters (the romantic partners) have started revealing more of their gooey centers to one another in private, even if they aren’t very open in public with anything yet. I think that’s going to play a role in what the heroine’s job will be as more plot happens and the hero’s job gets more complex. I’m not certain where it’s going still, but little things like that are starting to register, so I am getting some idea where the plot may lead. I am really pleased with the way this started, because while it throws you straight into the action, it also prevents a whole lot of forward plot progress at the same time (the heroine was very sick and has to spend time recovering), which makes it easier to design the fantasy setting I’m completely making up on the fly.

Best Moment of the Week

I hit 50k last Sunday. I’m writing still, but there’s something about reaching a goal and celebrating that sticks with you. I’ve had a boring day immediately afterward where I’m not going to admit how few words I wrote on Monday, but that was probably just recovery time because I was so nuts the day before. Oddly enough, I’ve also had 5k-word days, but those don’t have recovery time. Not sure if that’s because I probably had a major brainwave to hit 5k, so didn’t struggle to put words on the page that pushed me harder than necessary, or if there’s some other reason. Maybe I just spaced out my writing better. I know I did on Thanksgiving, trying to insert breaks in between lots of sprints/word wars of my fantasy romance.

Worst Moment of the Week

I had a pretty rough start to the week. Even though I hit 50k on Sunday, I was feeling really lousy by the end of the day (only wrote 2100 words instead of my hyperactive 5k-word days), and that continued through the beginning of the week. I’m starting to wonder if I actually am getting migraines without pain, just the braindead side effects. (Hard to say for sure, I can get some of those symptoms from other issues I have.) I know my mother started getting them later in her life, so it wouldn’t exactly surprise me if I got them, too. It’s just irritating that I either have mood issues that act up more than average and wipe out days at a time, or I have a new kind of migraine to fight with just after getting rid of another trigger—I had been doing better, and no migraines with aura at all. What’s worse, if I start contemplating that while I’m at a special low, I can’t get out of the cycle of unpleasantness. That just made it harder, and I’m not sure if that was part of the cycle or something I made worse by myself.

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I hope everyone in the US had a good and safe Thanksgiving! I’m crossing my fingers we don’t end up with a spike in covid cases like Canada did, but with the way people have been acting a lot lately, I really don’t know if that’s worth hoping for. Just because there are vaccines in the works does not mean you can stop wearing your masks and social distancing, people! I’ve been confining myself to my apartment even more stringently than before because I’ve seen so many people ignoring all of the guidelines for staying safe. One person refusing to wear a mask who gets close to me (as I’m high-risk) could mean months of sickness and recovery for me, if I could even depend on recovering. (And no, I’m not just being melodramatic.) Please, think about the people around you. Some of us can’t afford to get covid at all for the risks it would create with already existing conditions.

Cheers,
~Marie

NaNoWriMo Update: Week 3

How goes the battle, Wrimos? This week has been pretty hectic for me, I’m not entirely sure why. My days are fairly straightforward at this point, as I’m only really focusing on three things: X number of words for NaNo, one other major task for the day, and one thing checked off my housework to-do list. (This was a strategy I mentioned in last week’s update; it has worked quite well, at least until the hectic days.) That seems like it ought to be easy, but it really hasn’t been! I did hit 40k on Tuesday, which felt pretty good. I’m a little sorry to say that I hit 20k of my ghostwriting project the day before that (Monday), so of all the words I’ve written, only half of them are for the project that should’ve been primary. Oops? I’ve also gotten rather stuck in that project, since I apparently missed a few things when I outlined… like the hero’s and heroine’s goals are so contrary, there is no middle ground between them.

Health

I’ve been doing pretty well, but I’ve started noticing that the longer I go into NaNoWriMo, the more tension I’m storing in my neck and shoulders. Either I’m not sleeping as well (which is true) or I’m not doing as well relaxing in the evenings as I’d thought (also very much true the longer this week dragged on). I’m also not eating as well, or at least I wasn’t until I realized that early this week and made an active effort to do better. I did order take-out at one point, so that didn’t help, but at least it got me focusing on food again. Caffeine and protein bars are not actually a balanced diet. Who knew?

I also realized I was feeling dragged out because I ran out of multivitamins and failed to actually open the next bottle. I dug that out and made sure I was also drinking electrolyte water more during the day (one 500mL bottle minimum, two is better). I hate being an advertisement, but Propel has really made a difference in my chronic fatigue. My body dumps electrolytes along with the inflammatory marker it’s trying to get rid of, and putting some back makes a major difference.

Happiness

My cat Honey had been sulking a bunch last week, and I think I was neglecting her a little. I’d throw toys and laugh as she chased them all over, but then I’d sit at my desk and pretty much not move except to give her lunch and dinner. I have remedied that somewhat, and I am now making sure to spend time petting her in the middle of the day, throwing toys while she’s active and interested, and it’s really making a difference in how much I smile and laugh. I can’t even say how little I was smiling on a daily basis before, but it wasn’t this much. I heartily recommend finding something that makes you smile every day! Your overall mood gets a boost each time you do, in my opinion.

Best Moment of the Week

Best writing moment was on Thursday, when I took the random story start I had written earlier in the month and loaded it into Scrivener. It’s gotten far more elaborate, with strange worldbuilding – I don’t normally write fantasy of this variety. Most of my fantasy settings are humans in medieval times with magic or monsters, probably from my Dungeons & Dragons background. Even if I do branch out from humans, it tends to be in a rather D&D-esque way; elves and dwarves and the like live among the humans. This story is elemental fae, magic, and currently in the capital of the water kingdom where the main character was about to be sold as a slave until a magus (to whom she reacted with terror, so I’ve more worldbuilding yet to come to develop the reason why) saw some strange magical disease/poison in her and interrupted things. It’s also more than a little explicit, which is amusing but I’m not entirely sure where it’s coming from – it’s mostly relevant, but still a bit out of left field. It’s fun to get out of my comfort zone, but I find myself wondering where the story is going.

I guess I did too much planning for NaNo this year; my pantser self decided I was going to pants a novel whether I liked it or not. I’m definitely enjoying it, so I shouldn’t complain too much. It’s just a bit of a disconnect when I go from writing a structured story to random words that seem to be going somewhere but I’ve no idea where.

Worst Moment of the Week

Bureaucracy and bed bugs. I got so angry I gave myself a migraine and ruined several days in a row with pain and irritability. I’m going to leave it at that.

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It’s actually beautiful today, instead of being freezing out (literally), so I’m going to kick myself outside to run some errands. I hope wherever you are the weather isn’t too chaotic. Sunshine is really nice. Stay safe, be healthy.

Cheers,
~Marie

NaNoWriMo Update: Week 2

This has definitely been a different sort of week from last week. I wrote so much last week that I had broken 20k words by the end of the day on the 7th. Unfortunately, now I’ve been writing barely enough words daily to hit 50k by the end of the month (based on the calculations the NaNoWriMo stats page does). 1400 is roughly my average for the last week instead of nearly 3k. I guess I knew that would happen, the week two slump hits me pretty accurately on the 8th each November, but I would have preferred to be making at least 1667 words a day still. It’s not a problem until I can’t make 50k, but I’m still crossing my fingers that I’ll get more out of the next week.

My ghostwriting is going pretty well, and I’ve already conquered one potential hole without even meaning to. I’m ahead of my schedule for that project, at least, which is definitely good. I’d hate to fall behind in what’s technically my “primary” NaNoRebel project and irritate my client, this has been too convenient a gig. Other prose has fallen flat a lot, so I still don’t have anything ready to post for December prose, but I’ve set aside time this weekend to try and remedy that. In theory I should be able to have at least a couple stories ready to post, but the ghostwriting does have to come first. Contracted schedule, and all that.

Health

I was happy to be able to tell my doctor that I was doing better, which is a rare thing. I sort of crashed after I finished book one in this ghostwritten series at the beginning of October; it was a vacuum of energy and motivation that felt out of the blue after working so hard to get it finished. Now that I have NaNoWriMo and the local community that I enjoy being part of each November, I’m doing a lot better and my motivation to write can tug along my energy levels, which in turn affect my ability to handle chronic pain. The rain on and off this week has been trying to prod my fibromyalgia, but so far I’ve done pretty well with that, too. I like being able to say this week was an improvement over last week and last month both.

I’ve settled into a better routine for NaNoWriMo, and now I’m able to get my work done, my word count done, and keep up with the chores around the apartment that I have been dragging my feet with. I still have some big tasks ahead, but I seem to have balanced out the energy level swings (from hyperactive writing to having trouble dragging myself out of bed) to an acceptable middle point.

Happiness

It’s funny when I’m happier doing work than I am doing relaxing things (my crochet lap blanket is coming along nicely), but that’s how it is in NaNoWriMo now that I can be working and writing novels at the same time. Best job ever as far as I’m concerned. I should probably get back to doing a mix of writing, editing, and ghostwriting, but that can wait until after this book is done as far as I’m concerned.

My cat has been acting like I’m neglecting her during NaNo, so I’ve been spending time petting her or tossing mouse toys for her to chase. It makes me happy like nothing else; this cat is my soul. I love it when I can set aside even five minutes to spend with her. Don’t forget to pet your animal companions! It’s supposed to be very relaxing, and I’d have to agree.

I’ve watched a bunch of old movies lately, like Dragonslayer (1980). That movie was really awesome for its time, I think, and it was one of those epic fantasy movies that actually happened even before CGI made LotR a better possibility. It’s pretty slow compared to the action adventure movies of this decade, but I don’t care. It’s still something that I remember fondly, and I watch it as much for the smiles the memory of seeing it when I was younger causes as to actually enjoy the movie itself. I don’t know what else I’ll find, but it seems like I’m bingeing movies that I watched first at least ten years ago. I’m enjoying them and getting to crochet at the same time. Works for me!

Best Moment This Week

Oof. This week hasn’t been as spectacular as last week, which makes it harder to pick out a high point—this week has been more stable middle-ground than highs or lows. But I think I’d have to say I really enjoyed the 13th Age game I’m running on a play-by-post forum (think Dungeons & Dragons in prose form). The players in my game are at the midpoint of the campaign, and they’re facing off against demons for an epic battle. It’s always fun to be able to game with them, and this combat is pretty enjoyable for me as the Game Mistress since I’ve added new enemies each round so far. Piling on gets a more evil-GM laugh out of me.

Worst Moment This Week

Similarly to the lack of high points, there weren’t really low points either, unless you count getting less done each day than I’d like to. There always seems to be more, somehow, even when I think I’m planning ahead adequately. I’m psyched that there were no bad moments, so I’m just going to leave it at that.

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If you’re NaNo-ing with me, huzzah! You’re halfway through! (Tomorrow.) We’ve made it this far, we can power through the rest of the month. I am certain of it. If you need inspiration, try some music from your teen years or childhood, it sets a very different mood in your head and I like to think of it as a half-remembrance/half-just-not-2020 sentiment—for me that’s all i need to get into a better headspace to write. If you haven’t found your local region for the challenge, it’s easy to find from the Community drop-down menu on the main NaNoWriMo site. Once you’re in a region, there are others who will be writing alongside you, and it’s amazing the way just being in good company can motivate. I know there are regions which have fewer people participating, but there are virtual write-ins being held by NaNoWriMo themselves, so you have options. Shout out to NaNoBoston for being awesome. You guys make my day, and it’s always more fun to write when I’m sprinting along with you.

For those of us in the US, Thanksgiving is coming up. I hope you find a way to share the holiday with family in a socially distant way, even if that means you just have a Zoom call to see one another and have your own holiday dinners at home. Stay safe, this winter is going to be a challenge for all the areas fighting with covid19, which, to be honest, is still everywhere.

Cheers,
~Marie

NaNoWriMo Update: Week 1

So far this week has really been par for the NaNoWriMo course, by which I mean my fingers fly across the keyboard and a ton of words get churned out even if I’m not sure they’re the greatest words. I hit ten thousand words on Tuesday, day three. (Was I avoiding paying attention to certain events in real life? Absolutely.) I doubled my word count in a single day, which was pretty epic. Now I just need to make sure there’s something of value in there before I get too much further. Unlike most NaNo novels, I can’t really afford to just whip out a first draft that’s a piece of excrement. A lot of the challenge of NaNoWriMo for me is to turn off the inner editor and just get words on the page—not the greatest strategy for ghostwriting.

That’s part of why I decided I would be a NaNoRebel this year and work on more than one thing, because I can work on other prose and let the ghostwriting percolate in the back of my head until I figure out the next direction I’m going. (Did I mention I don’t actually have an entire outline yet? Another less than great strategy for ghostwriting…) I’m not looking forward to the week two slump (usually day 8 or 9 for me), but if I’m not writing only one thing, perhaps I’ll manage to avoid the worst of that? I certainly spent some time on a strange new story that I have no idea what’s going to happen, which suits the pantser in me just fine. It already feels like it’s going to be longer than a simple short story, so it may or may not grace this blog in the near future. I’ll have to decide if I can make it serial once I’ve got more of the storyline written, and at this point (3500 words in), I’ve barely scratched the surface… which is a turn of phrase that amuses me since they’re currently underwater. That’s just one of many stories I expect I’ll work on while the ghostwriting gears turn toward a workable plot.

Health

I’m doing better this November than any of the last five or so years, I think, which I can’t for the life of me rationalize. It’s 2020, how did I come out better than before? Maybe I’ve just learned to use the day lamp (high brightness sun-like lamp) when it gets darker, and I’ve gotten better at compensating for my energy ups and downs. I wouldn’t have said I was doing all that well even a week ago, I’ve been pretty stressed and not able to shed the tension very well. It could just be week-one-NaNo excitement, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough now that we’ve reached the end of the week.

I am a little irritated that so far it seems like my mid-afternoon siesta—which is usually an hour that I use to unplug and lie down so my body doesn’t hate me so much—has suddenly become three hours instead of one. Yes, I’ve been churning out a lot of words in the mornings, but that doesn’t mean I can afford to skip the other tasks I need to do. A sink full of dishes, for one, can be rather limiting when trying to figure out what to eat! Since I won’t let myself write less for NaNo each day, what’s being impacted is basic household chores, real life requirements like paying bills, and other things I said I’d do but now suddenly am two hours short on time. I’ll have to test how much control I have over this; I might need the three hours for a reason, and have to rearrange my schedule to not tire myself out so much. Work in progress!

Happiness

I’ve said it before (I think), but I love my regional group for NaNoWriMo (NaNoBoston). The in-person events were always a huge part of why I keep doing NaNo, whether I hit 50k words or not. This year, due to covid, NaNoWriMo banned in-person events and everything has moved digital—forums, Discord servers, Zoom meet-ups. The covid ban on in-person events wasn’t entirely certain until the end of the summer, so there’s been some definite adjustment needed, but I have to say, having the writing community I’m familiar with from my years in NaNoBoston online and active in a much bigger way is so much fun! I had tried to set up a Discord server for off-month writing connections and events, but it wasn’t something many people took to until now. 

If any of you actually stumble across my blog, I love you, NaNoBoston Wrimos! You really make my day, pretty much every day. I’m definitely hoping this online activity will continue after November, even if we only really get together and laugh once a week instead of every day.

Best Moment This Week

I mentioned it before, but Tuesday’s writing completely surprised me. I had trouble reaching my week one goal of 2,000 words early in the day, but after a few sprints, a dream idea was prodding me and I had to write it down. 3500-some words later, I was exhausted, but I felt amazing. (Successfully avoiding Election Day was a big plus, since it is just stress-inducing until votes get fully counted. I refuse to watch the incremental progress that just makes numbers swing wildly all over the place.) My word count chart only had room to count 4k words each day, because I hadn’t expected to have crazy writing sessions like Tuesday evening. I ended up highlighting the entire box on my calendar, and now I’m trying to decide if I should alter my 250-word-increment box plan and make each 500 words so there’s room for a lot more. I don’t think I’ll have too many days over 4k, though, so maybe I should just stick to the plan and add extra stars—yes, I give myself star stickers, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

Worst Moment This Week

It’s not a single moment, but I’m getting really sick of my neighbor’s loud significant other. With everyone staying close to home so much, their arguments, banging of pots, and energetic/vocal discussions are distracting, and if I’m trying to lie down to avoid a migraine, it starts to become a problem. Until this person moved in next door, I have legitimately never heard anything from other apartments around me. Not so much anymore. I’ve worn earbuds and earplugs on and off all week, and still spent a lot of time bitching mentally about little things, like the fact our leases (special subsidized housing) say no guests more than three weeks a year. Guess how many weeks this has gone on? [insert growl and/or expletives here] I don’t want to be the jerk who calls the landlord to ask if my neighbor is “supposed” to have the significant other living here (duh, I know they’re not supposed to) just to get it enforced, but I am also on my last nerve here. I feel like I’m a few shouted words away from heading to reddit’s/twitter’s “am I the ass” threads. Rawr.

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I’ll repeat earlier comments about loving 4thewords as a way to make me get my daily words (gamification of writing, slaying monsters with word count). I’m not doing too shabbily without it so far, but having the set goals and time limits makes me focus in a different way. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with that lately, so we’ll see if the special event helps! If anyone is on the fence about trying 4tw, definitely do! They’ve a thirty-day free trial that will get you through November. I find it pushes me to write more consistently and at more length than I ever have been able to do without it, to the point I’m willing to spend money on the subscription even on fixed income (which I still consider pretty fixed, even with freelancing taking an honorable mention at this point). For that matter, use my referral code if you do join, it’ll get us both a little bonus when you subscribe: KSQZP52502.

How is everyone doing with their word count? Did you manage to get ahead this week while we’re still riding the week one high? I was pointed at the “reverse NaNoWriMo” idea where you start with over 3k words a day and slowly taper off so you only need to write one word on day 30, and I like it. It’s essentially my strategy for getting ahead early done by someone who actually had the brain power to work out the numbers. Definitely check it out, but don’t feel like you’re further behind just because you didn’t get that many words this week! It’s just an idea.

Cheers,
~Marie

Currently

Loving

It’s National Novel Writing Month! (Insert a brief, flailing around, giggling interlude here.) I love NaNoWriMo to death, it’s part of what helped me get where I am today, ghostwriting novels. I couldn’t finish any of my own projects until I started doing NaNo. So I try to do National Novel Writing Month at least once a year, and I will encourage anyone I talk to about writing to do it also! (Yes, that includes you fine people reading my blog!)

Reading

If dragging my feet and reading little bits and pieces when I have the mental bandwidth to do so counts as reading, then I am reading Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. Some friends got me into it and it was a bit slow going – heavy on the prologue feeling for the first few chapters – and when my friends were reading it in a loosely organized sort of book club, the library-loan ebook reached the end of my checkout period. Not the greatest way to read a book, I can tell you. But I requested it again and finally the holds list got around to me again. So now I am attempting to continue, though I’m having some issues with remembering names of characters I’m fairly certain would otherwise have been known to me. Most of my time this month is going to be writing words for NaNoWriMo or trying to do brainless things to ‘turn off’, so my reading is likely to continue suffering.

Watching

I have a confession to make. I have recently watched a bunch of really lousy movies that made me laugh. Case in point: Tremors (as many of the series as I could find, which I think was all but #4). I knit while I watch movies, and it’s really relaxing for me to have something for my hands to do that’s repetitive enough to zone out but mobile enough to keep me from fidgeting. I may end up with a really pretty lap blanket at the end, too, so there’s that! Now that I’ve gotten through some Halloween-themed movies (watched Dracula and some other b-horror flicks), I expect I’ll go back to watching more quality entertainment, but I don’t know for sure. Having a movie that’s as much to make fun of as to enjoy can be really fun.

Listening To

I’m on a Moxy Früvous kick at the moment, it’s active music without being as harsh on my delicate head (not a migraine, but not exactly headache-free either) for some reason I’ve been waking up singing songs from the two albums I know best (the two I own). So no matter what suits writing best – usually instrumentals – I will be listening to these awhile. Hopefully I’ll get sick of them at some point and turn on something more conducive to writing! Last week I found myself listening to Bach Cello suites, which was really gentle and nice. I really hadn’t listened to that in ages, so it was a nice rediscovery. I think the Bach Lute album I have (Andrés Segovia) will make an appearance again soon, too.

Thinking About

This next ghostwriting project! It’s book two of the same series I began this summer, and I am starting writing today in lieu of what I’d call a “real” National Novel Writing Month project. There’s really no difference between a ghostwriting project and one of my own choosing, beyond the obvious motivational differences and source of ideas, but somehow it doesn’t have the same feel as starting November 1st with a blank screen and a crazy idea. Maybe I just miss writing my own projects (I do) – I’ve been reminded more often of late of the series I was working on. But regardless of my recent failings to work on my own projects, I am enjoying working with these characters and trying to make something new with familiar romance tropes.

Wishing

I really wish I’d spent more time planning this novel I’m writing! I’m starting writing today with the inciting incident scene which I know exactly how I want it, but I’m going to have to write piecemeal as I figure out what goes into the plot holes I have currently. (And there are an unfortunate number of empty spots on my outline.) I think I know the subplot that’s specifically for the male MC, but I’m a little hesitant to write about serious illness in 2020. I’ll have to consider it for a while before I start writing it.

I also wish I were a bit more relaxed. I store tension in my back, neck, and shoulders to a ridiculous degree, and instead of waking up this morning loose and ready to write, I’m tense and even stretching just tugs at the muscles, it doesn’t feel like it’s actually improving anything. Maybe once I write my daily word count I’ll take a long hot shower and see if that helps anything. I probably should’ve gone to the chiropractor at the end of last week, just in case, but it’s too late for that now! Hindsight is 100%. (I refuse to use the phrase 20/20 this year, it just makes me sad.)

Anticipating

I’m always eager to get feedback on my ghostwriting projects. In this case, I’ve already written one book for this client, so I think I know what I can look forward to. I’m definitely hoping my plans so far jive with my client’s, because some of what I’m coming up with (like the aforementioned illness in the family subplot) are kinda coming out of nowhere. I’m building on details that never actually made the page in book one, so I’m not even sure if my client saw them. But it works as a reason to build out the hero’s character, and later it’s actually a bonding point once they get past the whole “you’re out to ruin me” thing.

Making Me Happy

My region during NaNoWriMo (NaNoBoston) is always very active and a very supportive community. We’ve had to switch to entirely online this year due to the pandemic, and it’s been a bit of a learning curve. But as of yesterday’s Kickoff Party, I can safely say I’m loving it just as much! I look forward to a combination of the two (real life and digital events) in future years, though I think the Municipal Liaisons may need some more help if they’re going to add to the number of things they already do! I can’t imagine running biweekly events in person, then getting on the computer and adding two more to keep up with. They do have lives, or so I am led to believe. It might be a lot of work to keep up with the same kind of schedule, but I will enjoy what I have and maybe offer to help when future years try to expand into both digital and meatspace events. That makes a big assumption that they would want my help, but we’ll see!

Unfortunately…

I don’t have any stories written already that I can post during November. If I find time or have to vent something unrelated to my ghostwriting project, I may get something posted, but otherwise, it’s going to be NaNoWriMo updates only from me for the next few weeks. I hope to have written something by December 5th, but there have been years where I wrote so crazily for NaNoWriMo that I ended up crashing for a significant chunk of the first week of December afterward. (That is not my goal, but it can be a bit nuts… and I can be equally nuts… during NaNo.)

Good luck with all your writing endeavors!

~Marie