Things are picking up here. It’s National Novel Writing Month, and while I’ve done (and won) it a few times, I decided this is a good time to do it again. The point is to spit out a draft, not a pretty baby book, and that’s what I need for the next step.

It’s going well. Now. I’m doing extra word count because I’ll be in the virtual 20 Books To 50k conference next week, and we’ll have family here the whole week of Thanksgiving. I planned super low word count goals for those days, so I have to make them up elsewhere.

When you add all that to normal work-a-day life, it adds some pressure. I’ll admit to being a little overwhelmed, but I remind myself it’s about making a book, not hitting a number. One of the things I’ve started doing is getting up an hour earlier so I can get in the office sooner. It seems to be helping, but it’s hard to get up when it’s dark. The up-side is I get views like this out my kitchen window most mornings, so it’s hard to complain. Well, a little harder. Not super hard. OK, there is grumbling right at first. It’s not as bad when I’m not awoken by a furry overlord before I’m ready.

I thought progress this week was great, but then I realized I’m supposed to be working ahead. Instead of keeping steady with the current projected normal goal, I need to be chipping away at next Friday’s word count. So while I’ve written a little over 11k this week, which is a lot more than I’ve done in a long time, I’m really about 8k behind. The good news is, according to the latest newsletter, the conference next week is going to be recorded, so if I get on a roll writing before my sessions, I can keep going and watch the replay. So it’s a mixed bag, really. Isn’t everything?