Are we there yet?

Taking a short break from my fast writing. I'm determined to get my 10K in before Turkey Day so my writing won't suffer from those rapid fluctuations in melatonin.

Just taking a moment to say remember, fellow writers--just because you think you've got it all figured out doesn't mean it will actually WORK.

My incredible plot twist is giving me some trouble and causing me to have to think in creative (gasp!) ways to get it to work. Those people in my story may surprise me again after all. In fact, I'm praying for that now, because I'm not sure how the heck they are going to get from point A to B. Or is that B to C? It's probably more like D to L. Yeah, that's it.

Anyway, I'm writing fast and furious toward the end of this story, and it's making me lose sleep and tear out my hear in less visible places (so as to not draw attention, of course), but it's also an amazing burst of adrenaline to know how close I am to being "done." Well, with the first draft. I know there's a lot of work to be done after that, but it's the work I really look forward to. The finessing and fancy-ing up. Making sure it all ebbs and flows in just the right way.

I am amazed at the true NaNoWriMo participants I'm watching. They are way ahead of my measly 24K words, with numbers like 35 gazillion or something. One girl has already finished her 50K and is working on the next 50 because it's only half the story! And her story sounds really good, too. It's pretty incredible what a little peer motivation and permission to just spill that crappy first draft will do for your writing, I guess.

I have to admit I've been reluctant to join up the last few years, feeling like it was a kind of silly idea. I'm not much of a joiner in general, and yet, the support and motivation from the other writers on the NaNo site as well as the four in my online writing group has been inspirational. There's no way you could keep this up 12 months out of the year, and so this one month push now seems a really good idea.

Back to work. There's holiday food waiting to be eaten and many naps to be taken later in the week, not today.