Okay, yeah, it's NaNo and I should be concentrating on writing. Except it's also cold enough to go in the woods finally and there's a lot of work to be done there.
So, how does one find the balance?
Lord knows, I haven't found it. I can either protect the writing and do the writing, or I can get household stuff done. Not both. Because by the time I'm done working in the woods or cleaning the house or whatever, I'm either too tired or too sore to sit at the computer, typing away.
Last week, I lost two days of writing because I raked part of the yard. (Big yard. Has to be done in sections.) Last night, I lost the writing because I was working in the woods.
On the other hand, I wrote every day for the first 13 days of the month and everything non-writing got left behind. And it's not like I write all day. I can manage about two hours before my hands start to turn into claws. But if I use my hands for other stuff, I can't even manage the two hours.
Blerg.
Anyway, as I said yesterday on Outside the Box, I'm not kicking myself for missed words. And I'm not kicking myself for missed home projects. I'll get to one or the other as time and body allows.
I guess I need to be more disciplined. But self-discipline has never been my strong suit. If it was, I'd be a 135-pound goddess with a sparkling house full of healthy foods. ROFL.
How's the balance in your life?
I've always felt NaNo was held at the wrong time. It's busy in November. Between cleaning up yards, house, and prepping for holidays, I don't know how people have enough time to write.
ReplyDeleteThis is my 15th year for NaNo. I haven't always written every day. I haven't always made my word goal every day. Some days I write double and a few times, when on a roll and had no distractions, I've writtent even triple/quadruple. Doesn't happen often but it happens. Over the years, I've learned to do what the body (hands and back/carpal tunnel) can do then break. I write in shifts now. A little here. A little there. Get on a roll and and lot at another time. It all comes together.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about writing, for me, is that I can think about writing and get ideas while doing other things and then when I come back to the computer, I can write those ideas. Bits and pieces add up.
Take yesterday. There was a flash fiction challenge. I stared at the prompts (a phrase, a photo, and a song). I did stuff. I did other stuff. I fixed some things because there'd been a drama the night before with another author over secondary characters (this WIP is part of a 6-book anthology all set in the same place with two "inciting" incidents.") After brainstorming, it was easier for me to switch my character and it works out better but I had to switch some things in his scenes (he's also the hero for the next book in this series, but that's 2021). Anyhoo, I did that. Then I did what I usually do. I wrote the prompts on a blank "page" and started free writing. Got my 250 word scene and solved a couple things in the plot plus a twist--a tie-in to the title, a reunion of secondary characters, and the twist that sets up my next book. So YAY! That 250 words, when I came back to it after other stuffs, turned into 1800 words and almost a chapter. Of course, it helps that I'm a puzzler so I can write scenes out of order. 😂
Bottom line, new words are new words, no matter how or when they come, no matter how slow or fast. Keep goin'!
You can't write all the time without burning out. Do what you can, when you can. That's my philosophy, anyway.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, today was shopping-with-Mom day. I came home exhausted and decided to read for a while, but decided I'd better check in in case I had an order. No such luck, so I came here to visit with you. :-)
I'm with you on the clawed-hands problem. I have it, too. Sigh.