I definitely owe you all an update. I feel like this year has slipped past me, all while still feeling like it’s the year that will never end. How can it be already December when it’s still March? That’s honestly how it feels.
My biggest update is that I took the month of November to finish writing For the Birds! Warning, I’m about to get into some braggy numbers, so if that bores you skip the next paragraph.
As you know, I take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) every year. For those of you who don’t know, that’s when writers all over the world aim to write 50,000 words between Nov. 1-30. Well, overachiever that I am, I hit that mark on Nov. 15th. Then I went on to write a total of 91,000 words by the end of the month. Full disclosure: Only 55K of those words were attributed to For the Birds, which is now almost 90K words. The rest of the words were journaling and personal essays. Every words counts, and I counted all of them.
(Okay, we’re back!)
I feel like I’m seeing the sunshine for the first time in a month. November was spent waking up at obscene hours (like 3 a.m. early) to write, and then coming home from work to write some more. And this was without an alarm because my body decided since the time change that my new wake up time is in the 3 o’clock hour. I also cleared my full calendar for November to write, which meant I had freelance jobs suddenly coming at me from nowhere, all needing to be done in November. I am not complaining though. I managed to complete a couple editing, formatting, and writing assignments, plus a website building job, all while working full time and writing a novel. And the money that came in was going to be perfect for paying off my credit card….
Except, I got hit with a mini medical emergency that proved quite costly.
My daughter had a grand mal seizure about a month ago. Epilepsy runs in our family, so while we were caught off guard, we weren’t freaked out about it. As it stands, she has only had one huge seizure, and now recognizes the little seizures she’s been experiencing for a long time, and just didn’t know what they were.
She is okay, by the way. She cannot drive, and I have been picking her up at her house and driving her to work most days (thank you, early inner alarm clock, since her shift starts in the next town at 5 or 6), and driving her home. But she’s been in great spirits about it and just going through life as normal.
But…after you have a grand mal seizure, the doctor requires multiple tests, and our insurance wasn’t too friendly about any of them. $2200 later, right before Christmas….
Thank God for all the unexpected freelance work that came my way. So, like I said, I was busy last month, but I am absolutely not complaining. That, and if I could make a full time career out of editing, formatting, and writing, I absolutely would. So it was a busy, but enjoyable month.
AND I FINISHED MY BOOK.
I’ve taken a few days off writing and editing For the Birds, but this weekend I plan to dive in again and begin polishing the story of Cricket and Sonny. In the meantime, I’ll continue to include sneak peek excerpts here, and keep you all posted on how the book is coming along. I’m hoping to start shopping it to agents by spring, which I’m super excited about.
If you’d like to read some of the excerpts I’ve already posted, you can find them here.
Oh, by the way, Monday Dec. 7 is my 43rd (!) birthday, so swing by and say hello!
I hope you all are well, that everyone is healthy in your family, and you have lots and lots of books to read.
xoxo
You have had quite a year; all I can say is God bless you, and to wish you an early Happy Birthday!
Thank you so much! ♥️