WRITING JOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

WEEK TWO

NOV 13-19

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November 13 Monday:

I honestly wasn’t in the mood to write. It was a bit gloomy outside, raining, cold. I wanted to stay snuggled up somewhere else. I didn’t even take Gus out for any walks.

NaNoWriMo 111317 meme

Fortunately, I plugged away at the manuscript and felt good about it. The characters are having growth and personalities. There was a lot of action over the past few writing days. It’s altered some of how the second half of the book will go because I don’t want the action to feel too repetitive (not that it matters in adventure books, but this isn’t an adventure book per se).

I had also forgotten about the important feature in Scrivener called “snapshots.” You can save versions of a chapter/scene right there inside Scrivener even if you also backup other ways (this is at the level of the document under a folder). For instance, I also Compile > Word every two days and upload the .doc file to my cloud drive.

Scrivener_Snapshots

November 14 Tuesday:

Gus howled and begged until I took him out. It wasn’t as cold as it looked. Everything was covered in frost because of the rain yesterday. It looked like a winter wonderland, but I wasn’t freezing to death and neither was he. He seemed to have a great time.

NaNoWriMo 25k badge
25k badge!

When I was halfway to my daily goal, I kind of felt blehhhhh. I didn’t feel like going on even though I had the outline to help me. It was more of a mood thing and a distraction thing (looking at the shitty news headlines).

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I did reached 25k – halfway to NaNo goal, if not close to realistic book goal. I’m not sure how long it will end up.

NaNoMeme_Gus

November 15 Wednesday:

It was pretty nice outside today too; still frosty early in the morning. Gus and I had a short walk. And I mean short. Since it was cold, what I do is carry him to keep him warm for a while. Then when he’s ready, he’ll get down. This morning he was enjoying being carried for probably ten minutes. We walked up to one close trail, looped it, and then he got down. He led me back to the parking pad to stalk a chipmunk.

That was cute enough. The boys love watching chipmunks! But then a “tween age” doe walked out of the same trail where we had been. She came down the slope, checked out the neighbor’s yard, and came right over to us. She looked me right in the eyes. No sounds. No scared “huffing” or “barking” noise that the Momma with a Limp makes when she knows we’re close. She checked us out. Gus didn’t freak out! And she moved along through the yard like everything was totally cool!

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I got down to writing at 9AM and finished just after noon. At 700 words, I was kind of losing it and wanted to work on something else. I kept at it though I did take a social media break. At 1567 words, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t reached my daily target yet. That last couple hundred, I cruised through quickly because I was so hungry and wanted lunch.

NaNoMeme_111517_KameronHurley

 

November 16 Thursday:

Woke up at 5AM and it took quite a while to get back to sleep. So naturally when I did fall asleep again, I overslept and had horrible nightmares. Gus immediately wanted attention and wanted his walk. I wanted coffee and to get to writing. I won. Sort of — I took him and Ollie out on the balcony for a bit.

I planned on writing first and then tackling whatever Gus would allow me to get to: still needed to work on a video and posts. Surprisingly, he napped and the house got quiet. I closed Bear Roots in Scrivener and opened my video software.

NaNoMeme_Ollie

Finished working on the third Yoga for Writers video. Managed to eventually take Gus out in the afternoon when the weather looked better. Decided, since I wasn’t working on Bear Roots to finish another yoga post about writing/art as spiritual practice (sadhana). I could not stand the sight of my floor any longer and vacuumed. Then I got back to plugging away on Bear Roots. This was the fourth day this month that I didn’t meet the minimum daily target.

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November 17 Friday:

Another day being awake since 3:40AM. Seems to be not only me. All the cats and another human wake up then too. The problem is if we can’t get back to a good sleep. I may doze in and out, but today, I never got to a good sleeping point again.

Other Bookish News:

When I fetched coffee and Gus finally settled down so I could sit at my desk, I read through one (literally only one) email. I was approved to be an Amazon Influencer. Now before you roll your eyes, I’m not quite sure how to incorporate that. I know that for someone who wants to build an online presence, the word “influencer” is a big deal. I guess it’s a step above being an Amazon Affiliate which I already am. Now I have a fancy URL.

November 18 Saturday:

Somehow I managed to zip through words this day. I don’t know if it’s because I knew I had a limited time to be alone and focus; or if it was just that I had a plan in my head for the scene (probably a combo of both factors).

NaNoMeme

I sat down and the time flew by. I managed to make up for the day before where I didn’t hit my minimum word count. Gus got to enjoy a cold, brisk hour-long walk outside.

November 19 Sunday:

Tried meditating then napping right before sitting down to write. Ended up texting with a friend and we shared how depressing (realistically) it is IRL to make art and do yoga for a living. She was told, “marry rich.” That’s sadly true. Most writers and artists have to have life-sucking corporate jobs or have a safe financial situation some other way (and there’s no retirement unless you’re doing well).

NaNoWriMo_111917_tracker
34K WORDS

Despite a depressing conversation and multiple interruptions by Gus who woke up from his nap and therefore needed food and playtime, I managed to get out the word count for the day. It was touch and go for a while. I hit that 700 word mark again and felt like I didn’t want to continue. Tackling basically one page at a time because of the cat, still got things done. It gave my body a break from the chair too.

MISC:

I released the third Yoga for Writers video and a new post about Sadhana.

LINKS:

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