Day 1 – Camp NaNoWriMo

For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. This takes place in the month of November every year. In 2021, I completed my first novel during this event, but I have been in edit mode of said novel since then. I am currently working on the third draft but have gotten stuck.

Each year in additional to the full-fledged push of November, the NaNoWriMo folks also host ‘camps’ during the months of April and July, where the focus is on smaller projects, like editing your book.

My goal for this camp is to finish the third draft. I have approximately 30,000 words left to review in 30 days. Totally doable. My plan had been to meet online into my writer buddies at 530 am this morning to kick off the month.

So, that didn’t happen.

I slept late this morning because I was out late last night with a friend watching the final four women’s basketball games. The restaurant/sports bar we were at was like Hooters on kinky steroids. I felt a bit like a teenage boy, but also because the waitresses were so dang young, I also felt like a dirty old man. The food was decent and both games were very good. We even got to watch a women’s MMA match. More importantly though, I got to hang out with my friend, and I definitely needed that.

When I got home I “confessed” to Tennessee. I will be getting teased for weeks and I find I don’t mind one little bit. I miss her terribly and I was overwhelmed with it this past week.  I’m learning to sit with it and its settling down to a tolerable ache…mostly.

My daily to do list has doubled with mom being off her feet and my work schedule was busier than usual this week. And to top it off I haven’t slept well since getting back from Tennessee. It was all just too much.

But getting out of the house and out of my head, just hanging out with my friend and sharing some of my angst with them really helped me feel better. I even had an almost decent night’s sleep last night.

This morning I am feeling more centered. My to do list is still extensive and I still miss Tennessee fiercely, but I can finally function again. Which is good because those tasks aren’t going to complete themselves.

Be well my friends.