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When I started writing this post I was sitting on the couch with the kitten sleeping cutely beside me. Now she's awake and purring--which is still cute, but she's investigating which is not quite as conducive to writing as I would like. She's not technically a kitten anymore, but as a kitten she demonstrated to me that whiskers singe very easily. Since then I've been very careful to keep lit candles in places she can't go explore. The result is that she now has whiskers as long as lobster antennae. I believe that cat's whiskers usually cover an area large than the cat's head (this only makes sense given their purpose) but my cat has a fluffy mane surrounding her head and then whiskers that stretch out wider than the mane. We're talking about 5" long whiskers here!
So enough about the cat -- though I'm still floored by those long whiskers.
Yesterday my composition students and I had our first day of in-class novel writing. I managed about 2k of words and felt pretty good about that, but some of my students turned out 3k in just 45 minutes! I'm, again, floored.
The writing in class seems to be going well. We write (type) in complete silence for fifteen minutes and then everyone gets their word count written on the board. If you're over the threshold number then you get candy. Then there's a 5-12 minute break where students can regroup, stretch, go to the bathroom, or keep writing if that's what they want to do before we start all over again.
I'm on pace to "shoot the bird" and that's exciting, particularly because I stayed up the entire night between Monday and Tuesday to write 3/4 of a non-fiction essay for one of my workshops. I did manage to get some sleep but I wasn't in bed until 6:00 a.m. and boy did that take a toll on my body that I was not prepared for.
The strange thing of it is that I did not have to finish that essay that night for any reason. And, in truth, I didn't finish the essay. But I turned it in despite having another week to work on it. I have no idea why I did that, but it felt right at the time so I went with it. I went with my energy.
I went with my energy because I am fairly certain that's the kind of energy I have to have if I want to make a living as a writer: I cannot rely on other people's deadlines. I have this notion that I must write swiftly and frequently. Yes, I must then edit meticulously, but if the writing is not abundant to begin with then there is nothing to edit and nothing to send out and certainly nothing to publish.
Other NaNoWriMo accounts worth reading:
Lynn Vhiel PBWriter -- Midweek NaNo update
Lynn Vhiel Day by Day
Highly Recommended
