NaNoWriMo - Day 1

Today didn't go as I had planned. Not that it was a bad day or that I didn't hit my goal - I ended up with 3,951 words written - it just wasn't what I had expected.

I woke up this morning knowing that I would be pre-occupied until about noon, but then I would have the rest of the day free to write like crazy. 

Prior to NaNo, I'd decided that I was going to rewrite what I have and (hopefully) complete my first draft for the story I've been working on for almost five years before the end of the year, the large majority to be completed this month. Knowing I had a free afternoon and evening, I figured I would get a good start on the rewriting portion of the draft today.

Well, the problem started with the fact that I inherited my mother's "gift" (if we can call it that) of crying when other people do. I attended church virtually at 10:30 and when one of the speakers began sharing their testimony, I started blubbing. Those few tears weren't helped when my own father, who also attends the congregation I'm a part of, was unexpectedly one of the speakers as well. Needless to say, it was a teary morning.

I don't know about other criers out there, but after I've had a hard cry, I tend to get super sleepy and often end up with a headache. I call it my "crying hangover". I usually start to feel tired between 1-5 anyway depending on the day, so the "hangover" wasn't helping. Neither was the fact that today was the time change, which I didn't realize until I woke up this morning, so my whole body was out of whack.

After lunch, I spent the afternoon wrapping up some smaller projects, watching funny shows, and trying to get into the mood to write. When nothing that usually works did, I did a little reading. Finally, around 5, I forced myself to pick up the laptop to try to at least get something written. 

Being honest, this was a normal writing day - having the hope to get some writing done, dealing with life, trying to find the motivation to switch gears before just forcing myself to get started, then looking up a few hours later to realize I almost doubled my daily word goal.

For struggling writers, there's hope. If it matters to you, make it happen. And if I was able to write 3,000+ words after a day like today, you can definitely hit your 1,667 goal for NaNo today. Get to work!

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