A Day in the NaNo Life

It struck me this week how life throws so many curve balls especially in November. I appreciate the challenge that this seemingly insane deadline offers in and of itself and how it is designed to take my "someday I'll be a writer" dream one step closer to reality with solid work habits when it comes to writing. Because that's really what doing NaNoWriMo is about for me. But what if your life is completely insane already and then you try to add something like writing an entire novel in a single month onto your plate? You get a day like what I had yesterday which I will now recap for your reading pleasure...

12:30 am - hit the sack for some shut eye after falling asleep over my keyboard and throwing in the towel for the night.

12:30 - 5:30 am - slept like a baby. (Don't hate me that I fall asleep the second before my head hits the pillow every time.)

5:30 - 5:45 am - claw myself awake, chat with hubby while snoozing my alarm clock

5:45 - 6:00 am - scramble out of bed in a panic, throw on clothes, brush teeth and head for yoga

6:00 - 7:15 am - yoga

7:15 - 9:30 am - get kids up and moving, shower, herd cats kids toward morning routine completion, get both off to school/dropped off at daycare

9:30 am - 2:15 pm - work the day job from my home office. Grabbed lunch on the go between phone calls and ate at my desk.

2:15 - 3:10 pm - parent/teacher conference with Big Sister with a side of book fair to suck more time I don't have from my day. But she wants to read so how can I not?

3:10 - 3:30 pm - more cat herding to get Big Sister ready for dance and dropped off while Hubby picks up Little Sister from daycare

3:30 - 5:30 pm - work the day job

5:30 - 8:00 pm - family dinner to celebrate my Mom's birthday. Tried to enjoy family togetherness without stressing about how far behind in my word count I already am and how I can't afford to be there having fun.

8:00 - 9:00 pm - bedtime cat herding routine and kids tucked into bed

9:00 - 9:30 pm - coffee brewing and Facebook and chasing Little Sister back to bed

9:30 pm - 12:00 am - dedicated writing time which I also filled with unnecessary Facebook browsing because the writing isn't flowing and hey, look, someone commented on my post! (Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?) An hour in I cut off my connection to the internet and tried not to obsessively need to update my word count online after every paragraph...

12:00 - 12:30 am - compose blog because it is all fresh on my mind, I don't want to try and capture this later plus the two cups of coffee I consumed during my writing block just kicked in and I'm not tired now. In fact, I'm kind of giddy and I need to do something or I'll post ridiculous (and giddy) Facebook status posts that no one else will think are as funny as I do because I am beyond looney at this point of the night and wired on caffeine and sugar. WHEE!

12:30 - 12:45 am - hit the sack, because even though I probably could stay awake and catch up the fifteen hundred words I'm behind, if I don't get some sleep there's no way I can function tomorrow at work.

There you have it - a day in the life of my November this year. Part of me wonders if I really have it more crazy than other people or if I just like to think of myself as different than most. I also found myself thinking about how if this "someday I'll be a writer" dream were to come true, there will certainly be a time where I could be a published author but not making enough money to quit my day job. In which case, this is what my life every single day would look like - only hopefully less addicted to Facebook. In moments of weakness, part of me wonders if I really have it in me for more than a month... but I keep writing anyway!