NaNoWriMo, not really for me, no

I shouldn’t be so negative – I’m only half way through NaNoWriMo but based on how the first part of the month has gone, I am fairly positive I won’t be able to complete the contest this year. 

I do have good reasons for not being able to write, so I really shouldn’t give myself a hard time.

The best reason for getting behind on my writing is that I’ve been working on completing the steps necessary to publish the third book in my series.  It has taken me and others time to review the paperback edition of the book, in order to spot any errors that may have snuck in during the editing phase (and I very much dislike that they do sneak in!).  In addition, there was a fair amount of time I had to spend on putting together a decent cover because I absolutely hated the first version.  I like the second version of my cover much better – I hope everyone else will like it too. 

Another reason for not writing so much involves the family – last weekend I spent a day away to search the streets of Portland for books, gifts and food, and this weekend I spent another day away north of Seattle to celebrate my niece’s first birthday and my nephew’s eighth birthday.  Obviously, writing must take a backseat to such events.

Since the day job takes up most of the daylight hours during the week, I’ve only been left with weekday evenings and Sundays to actually spend any time on my writing.  And here comes my other reason for not writing as much as I’d planned…I was sick with a head cold at least four days last week and by the time I arrived home after work at the end of each day, all I wanted to do was cuddle up on the couch under a blanket with my tissues and a cup of tea.  The creativity just couldn’t flow out of me when I was fighting a constant sinus headache, sniffles and tired, itchy eyes.

Thankfully, I’m on the mend.  We still have half of the month left, so I will do what I can to add as many words to my word count as possible, even given the fact that we still have more family gatherings to attend before the month is up.  Whether I complete NaNoWriMo this year really isn’t going to be an issue for me because at this point, I’m happy with the fact that I’ll finally have the third book in the series published and I’ll have a good start on the next book, regardless of the actual word count.  That’s progress and the fact that I’m moving forward in a positive way is not something I can be negative about.  

So off we go…we’ll see how the second half of November treats me and I’ll do what I can to keep up the progress!