Day 2 - panic sets in.

Listening to: Broken - Lifehouse

Reading: Prophecy's Ruin- Sam Bowring
Writing: Thunderstruck

Playing: DMC 4 - HM
Eating: Air
Drinking: Coffee
Mood:

It's 9 a.m, my coffee mug is empty, the sun is trying to lure me out of the house with the promise of a beautiful day, and I'm blogging.

I have chores nagging for my attention, and like all mothers know, the chores won't stop nagging until you deal with it yourself; and like all writers know, the chores can nag for another day or two. Nanowrimo is in full swing, and even though I spent three hours past midnight after the online kick-off party writing, today I am officially 200 odd words behind on my word count.

What's worse is that I can't seem to get onto the Nano site at all.
*insert panic attack*

There is a cool gadget on the site that tells you how many words you need to write today. This is quite a nifty new little thing. Albeit, it might have been there last year as well and I either displayed my spectacular lack of observation skills or it's my bad memory's fault that I don't remember it being there. What is not cool about it is the 'unsuccessful days' count. I'm on one when I checked last night, in other words my first day of Nano is deemed unsuccessful by the Nano website.

Now, I know I'm being completely paranoid by thinking I can't get on with it if I can't log onto my account to see my word count, or the estimated word count  I need to achieve for day 2 to keep in the running of the 50k prize (that's 50k words, for anyone who doesn't know what Nanowrimo is all about). I can get on without it, very well, since I've set my daily word target at 3k.

Maybe this is another form of procrastination? I was the only one still chewing on my pen 30 minutes after Nano started, asking rhetorical questions such as what season and what fashion dress my character should be introduced with in the first scene. Everyone else was on 300 - 1000 words by then. So, it's not an impossibility that what I'm doing right now, blogging instead of writing, is another subtle form of procrastination.

On the topic of everyone else: my fellow Nanoists are all humorous and purpose-driven writers. More than half of them write into the wee hours of the morning even though they have to get up in another two or three hours to face a full day of work/uni. What excuse do I have? I don't study and writing is my work, and yes I have two little children that demand all my time and energy, but like all mothers I have the complicated, crazy and somewhat unbelievable skills of expert time management and super multi-tasking. How else could I be blogging right now?  I digress. The writers in my country are all amazing people and they are an ongoing motivation support team for me, simply by setting the good example of writing hard.

Oh well. I'm writing by hand so I can take my Nano with me wherever I so wish, whether it be to the local pool or the foodcourt or my secret little nook in the thick of one or the other scenic reserve. Of course I could do the same with a laptop, if I had one small and compact enough, but the pro of writing by hand is that I never have to worry about saving, power blackouts/battery dying, picking up a virus and losing all my work, or accidentally deleting my file. And then there is also the matter of keeping my inner editor on a tight, unbendible leash to allow my creativity to run wild across the page - a champion pro in the writing ring!

...part of me wants to blog about my novel. I want to write about the opening scene, about the surprises I encountered and how it's absolutely nothing like what I'd thought it would be. I won't say much about the content though, because I don't like to write about what I'm actually writing since I'd rather be actually writing it. What I will say is that my plot is going to serve me well as a guide through this hell I'm creating. I'm feeding my novel paranoia and suspense, a touch of horror here and a big chunk of 'dawww' there, to flesh out the story and characters with some good creative meat.

Part of me also wants to revert back to playing around in the world of fanfiction, and bouncing around mindlessly on forums that have nothing to do with writing. This could be lovely reviews from readers asking for more and mass PM's from online buddies to blame. Alas, my words are reserved solely for Nano and blogging this month.

It's 9:52 a.m, I have a fresh cup of coffee, the kids are demanding a walk down to the park, and I'm writing. :)