NaNoWriMo – The midway point. Keeping the motivation going, carving out the time and caring for newborn

We’ve reached November 15th. Good-freaking-God. You know, our parents likely have said to each of us that time will only continue to move faster as we get older. And when you’re young and sixteen, you think – “Hah! Sure. And you also said High School would be the best years of our lives, what a crock of s**t!”

Sitting on the tail end of my twenties (29, to be exact), and now a proud mama of two beautiful kiddies (one 5 yr old girl and one 3 month old boy), I can now appreciate the sage wisdom I once scoffed at.

Time is bulleting by. I blink, and a month or two has whizzed past me so quickly I am starting to feel the telling effects of whiplash coupled with mild anxiety. Where are the days going? November? And we’re already half-way to DECEMBER?

This is my first year participating in NaNoWriMo and I have to admit, grudgingly, that it’s not going as smoothly as I would like. Mainly because I have a clingy, colicky baby that just requires too much of my time during the day and leaving me mentally drained and physically exhausted at night. Some days are better than others, such as last night, where I am able to crush the day’s word count without breaking much of a sweat. And others, I have to really, really, really work at it.

Right now I am sitting at 25,000+ words. Now, I know what you’re going to say: “But you’re already more than half way there! What’s the problem?”

So, yes, I have clocked in at the midway point, but a large portion of that word count was actually written prior to the kick off of NaNoWriMo, so I can’t claim that count without feeling like I’m cheating. The only opportunities I have to hit the keys is when he’s sleeping/napping and then I have to ask myself – do I want to write? Or catch up on much needed sleep (as he still wakes up several times a night to feed, or struggling to breathe with this cold he caught a few days ago, which is leaving me even more sleep deprived then ever).

But despite my hurdles, I am determined to give this my best shot, even if that means accepting that I am going into this handicapped (with an infant) and therefore won’t be able to push through to the full 50K in the allotted time.

So, to try and keep myself on track when my hands are full, I’ll try to capture ideas or brief snippets of scenes/dialogue or plot points by writing them down on my phone, which I can usually manage one handed while feeding, cuddling, bouncing, playing or otherwise soothing my son throughout the day/night. It’s not perhaps the most effective or ideal, but its at least allowing me to feel like I am putting in the work as best I can, even if I’m operating at more of a limp than a smooth, steady run.

Well, time to wrap this entry up. I’ve got at least fifteen more minutes before my little guy wakes up, and I intend to spend it fleshing out this scene that popped into my head while walking to my daughter’s school to pick her up a couple days ago (ps: I can’t tell you how much fresh air and walking can actually give a much needed boost to creative juices!).

I find dialogue leaps out at me first, then I’ll insert actions and dialogue tags from there, sometimes inputing suggestions, questions or simple directions for fleshing out details in brackets and bold to handle at a later point. This is what I popped out during my walk to my daughter’s school:

SCENE: Evening/. Jojo’s office.

Toasting with brandy to the Donovan account. Shayne is to act as his representative/publicist as per his request.

“Can I be frank,” Jojo shook back her hair, crossed her leg –  both were indicators Shayne recognized as all business.

She put down her glass. “Yes. Please do.”

“I like you, Shayne, I really do. So I hope you’ll forgive me when I say that you’re in over your head.”

“I see.”

“No, you don’t so allow me to explain myself before you get your back up and misunderstand.” Jojo topped up her glass, noted with interest that Shayne had barely touched hers. “He asked for you. You specifically, so it’s forced me to reconsider and make allowances I might not have. And though I do believe you handle yourself with considerable promise, you’re green and about to enter into the coliseum with a wooden sword.” [break up dialogue with action. Jojo moving about? She’s a powerhouse type personality. Can’t sit still for long.]

“I know I entered into your company as an assistant, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know to manage myself. I did so for ten years while married to Antonio. I know all about building, protecting and maintaining a brand. An image.”

“Yes, you did. But that was the pewees compared to this. And to add insult to injury you’ve stepped on toes you never meant to bruise.”

Shayne sat back. “You’re referring to —-”

“Gloria’s not happy , and as my best associate/publicist (insert appropriate title), rightly so. Securing Donovan is a major coo you’ve stolen from her. And she won’t take the insult lightly.”

Well, that’s it for now. Oh…and, he’s up. So much for my fifteen minutes. LOL