Fiber Fool

Saturday and Sunday started flowing much better for me than the first couple days of the month. I suspect it has something to do with finally stepping away from character profiling and plot brainstorming and just diving into a situation. DH suggested that tactic and while it took a bit for me to get into it, that method seemed to work. As of last night I am now averaging over 2000 words a day (you need 1667 to finish on time).

I also drew myself a map of the area so help me remember all the family names etc.

I don’t know about you, but even though this fall time change is in our favor sleep-wise, at least technically, it is throwing me for a loop. I haven’t slept until my alarm goes off on non-running mornings in quite a while so I was awake at 4am this morning. And food-wise I’m going to die waiting until my 1pm lunch hour. Even with my usual morning snack I can tell already it is going to feel like forever. To counter the very early rise this morning and the general discombulation of the time change I’m wearing red kicks today!

What helps you through these time changes?

Word Count: 8215

Well, it was a bit like squeezing blood from a stone, but I made the daily word count yesterday plus a teenie bit. Apparently, naming people and places is a bit of a stumbling block for me. Also, since I’m going historical I’m finding myself getting a bit hung up on details and asking myself lots of questions. I’m trying to not let that throw me too much by noting questions as they arise in square brackets (for easy searching after the fact if I decide the story is salvageable at the end of this all). I did find reading some articles on Wikipedia during my lunch break fueled my post-lunch writing attempts and they went a little better.

Today I’m continuing to focus on caring for myself despite the craziness of NaNo on top of a full time job. So DH and I had a very yummy but also very nutritious breakfast at a local restaurant this morning, The Rainbow. The dish is called Krista’s Perfect Scramble and is crumbled tofu and egg whites scrambled with broccoli and cheddar served with brown rice and whole wheat toast (homemade even). I only eat about 1/3 of the rice and 1/2 of the toast and end up with a great balance of carbs and protein with good fiber content too. We love it with their Orange Cinnamon Spice tea which is quite spicy and so very *fall.*

Those who know me best know I put more effort into my appearance the worse I feel. I don’t feel awful today, but I do feel tired as my night was shorter than optimum due to some socializing last night with DH’s fellow grad students. So, I pulled out my nifty new SmartWool tights I got on sale a few weeks ago and my boots today. It will be one of the coolest days of the week today. Hopefully my great breakfast and fun accessories will carry me through my work day and on into my first write-in of the month.

Word Count: 1706

I’ve been doing a ton of reading the last several months. I kind of broke with my cozy mystery binge of the last several years and have branched out a bit. I’ve mostly just been revisiting my fav cozy mysteries and not really starting much of any new ones. But the new binge has me longing for books that I have yet to find already written - a blend of the old popcorn reading genre with my new one.

Many in my circle of friends here in town have taken part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - 50,000 words in 30 days) for going on about 8 years or so. DH even did for several years before going back to grad school and I was a semi-frequent guest at the write-ins when he did. I started toying with the thought of maybe taking part in early October. Then a conversation with our friend, Tam, at the Halloween party on Saturday night turned me a tad more serious. Then responses to a Facebook status really tipped the scales.

I’m going to give NaNoWriMo a shot this year. I have no idea how it will go or if I will manage to finish. I have no real plan, though the main character has been scratching at the edges of mind most of this week. I figure much of the first several days or a week will be brain dump, synopsis and character development stuff. But the important part is to write, right? But I’m starting off on the right foot. I did not stay up to write my first words at midnight, instead I got a full 7.5 hours of sleep and fueled myself with oatmeal with nuts and a latte this morning and I’m ready to write!

If you are taking part and would like to add me as a writing buddy, I’m fiberfool over there as I am here and elsewhere.

Current Word Count: 0