author

November 2020 Book Update & NaNoWriMo Recap

Oh yeah, and I finished my novel. Oh, you want me to say that again? I FINISHED MY NOVEL!

Yes, I do realize it’s January and this blog post is a bit late. However, I think I’m going to write a few blog posts in January, and I thought a book update was long overdue.

Honestly, since it’s been over a month since November ended, I don’t have a whole hell of a lot to say about it. NaNoWriMo was 100% virtual, and that was interesting. It was my last year co-ML-ing in my old region (I’ll miss you, Yolo County Wrimos!).

Oh yeah, and I finished my novel.

August 2020 Book Update

August was full of change (and no writing)!

Hoo boy, you guys! August was a bit of a whirlwind for me. I quit my job, packed up our apartment, drove a moving truck to a different state, put a bunch of boxes in my mom’s living room, and have been trying to get the cats and dogs to interact in a civil manner. Oh, and I’ve been taking Sarra Cannon‘s Publish & Thrive course and helping my husband find a job. Needless to say, I didn’t get any writing done in August.

July 2020 Camp NaNoWriMo Goals

What am I working on this Camp NaNoWriMo? Getting this damned book done!

It is July, and that means it’s Camp NaNoWriMo! It’s a bit more laid back than November, but it’s still a great time to get some words in. I’m so excited for this month!

Things will be a teensy bit different, though. I often try to get in an actual in-real-life camping trip during Camp (both in April and July), but April’s wasn’t even planned because of the pandemic and July’s is now cancelled due to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases (so also the pandemic… yay for people who refuse to social distance and wear masks… ‘MURICA!). I might have to console myself by setting up my one-person tent on our patio.

Outdoor Play and Faceless Videos

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’ve been struggling recently with what to do with this blog.

One social media calendar says this week I should post a “day in the life of an author” blog or vlog. Another says that today I should share someone or something I’m grateful for. Could I write a blog post on either of these things? Of course. Those are actually pretty easy prompts to work with.

The problem is that it feels forced. It’s not like I would lie or anything. I wouldn’t say I’m grateful for the nice weather we’re having when it’s really reminding me that in a month or two it’ll be over 100ºF on a daily basis. I wouldn’t write that I had such a great day or week writing when really I struggled. I still doesn’t feel natural or like me, though.

Resilience

Recently, I finished a class on soft skills, put on by New World of Work and taught by the fantastic Natasha Palumbo. We covered ten skills that can help in the workplace, skills they don’t teach you when you’re majoring in English or pretty much anything else in school. One of the things we covered in the last class was resilience.

Historically, I’ve had a hard time with resilience. I think most people with depression do. One small failure can keep us from trying again or trying something new because it’s a glaring example of our perceived incompetence. That, paired with a poor view of my own self-worth, has been what’s kept me from finishing a novel and having a successful career doing what I truly love.

Pen Commitment

catears cropped I just ordered 300 pens with my name and website on them. Perhaps I should post on this website more often. The pens are bound to get out. I do work in a restaurant, after all. Pens disappear all the time. We know not where they go, only that we enter the restaurant with five in our pocket and leave with two or three. I will use one pen obsessively in hopes of losing it so all my pens will be the same, only to lose the others and keep that pen until I intentionally “lose” it. I will buy pens that are different than the hosts’ pens, only to see the same kind of pens I bought show up in the hosts’ pen jar a week later. Well, not this time. And if it does happen, I won’t care because I’ll have 300 PENS WITH MY NAME AND WEBSITE ON THEM. I can take them back whenever I want because I know they’re mine. Or I can leave them there and hope the hosts lose them. Lost pens usually find their way to the right place at the right time, right? Perhaps. At least, I hope my $126.65 will encourage my pens to be lost in all the right ways.