I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve done it before, but this year I’m very excited because I took the time to plot out a book beforehand, mostly. I had about 3/4 of it plotted before I started writing on November 2.

(November first is a Holy Day of obligation for the Catholic Church and I don’t write on Holy Days or Sundays – those are days of rest.)

When I’ve done this in other years, I ended up “winning” (having 50,000+ words at the end of the month), but I didn’t end up with a book or even something that could be edited into a book. This year, I really think I can finish this and it will be a “real” book.

Because of my work with Crescent Moon Press, I had to miss a few days of my own writing, but today I’m only about 11,000 words from winning.

About a week or so ago, I read an article in the London Guardian (I think) that someone posted on Facebook. It was about Nora Roberts. I have to assume that if you are here, you know who she is, but for those few who always wander in looking for Doctor Who stuff, I’ll just say she is the Queen of the Romance Novel.

She’s super prolific and her fans are as fanatical as they come. I’ve been to several conferences in New Jersey that she attended back in the 90s, but I rarely stood in line to get her to sign a book because I always figured there were other authors just as worthy without the lines. I have this “Pie in the Sky,” “Pay it Forward” attitude that if I buy your book today, maybe you’ll buy mine when it comes out.

Anyway, I know lots of people love Nora, but I was always prepared to believe she was a prima donna or something. There are lots of reasons for this, which don’t matter now.

The point is that I read that she writes every day, all day, and something clicked in my head. I need to focus more on getting lots of words written every day.

This week, Thanksgiving week, my husband took the week off. He’s doing NaNo, too, and Monday we spent the whole day together. Our son had the week off, too, and he’d spent Sunday night with his grandparents. Steve and I went out to breakfast, then to lunch and sat together on our sofa and wrote all day. (We wrote in the coffee shop, too.)

I wrote over 6,000 words that day!

I think in terms of pages and that’s over 24 pages. A definite record for me.

The next day, Steve went to work because he had to teach a class, but even doing some laundry and cleaning the kitchen and going to the chiropractor, I wrote about 5,000 words – (approx. 20 pages). I proved that I could do this!

So I’m so excited about my new found productivity.

My critique group, The Rowdy Girls, has met a few times to just write. They were here last night and we worked for about four hours, just writing. Okay some talking, laughing and drinking wine, but I did end the day with 5,566 words written.

Heartla met today and we wrote for an hour.

After the meeting I had to run to Walgreens to get a Rx filled for my son. I had to wait, and fortunately there is an outlet near the chairs so I pulled out my computer, plugged her in and wrote.

When the prescription was done, the clerk apologized and asked if I’d just gotten all set up. I said no.

“I’m a writer so I try to get new stuff written whenever I can,” I said.

“I understand,” she said. “I’m a reader.”

I immediately pulled out my card and handed it to her and told her about our Readers’ Luncheon. You never know where you might find a new reader.

I hope she stops by here and says hello if she does. She made me smile today and gave me more motivation to get new words written!

Have a great day everyone, and please say hello if you stop by!