TOTAL WORD COUNT: 6959 (Wrote 1,6,76 words)
HOW LONG I WROTE: 1 hour
WHAT ELSE I DID:
Got up at 7:00am…ah, who am I kidding. I can barely remember yesterday morning…I know I got up. Got dressed (maybe if I think about what I wore…! Oh, yes!). Made lunches for the kids – less sandwiches (what a HUGE HELP) because it was pizza lunch at the school. Got the kids up and helped them get ready (which equals me repeating over and over the following sentences: Are you up? Did you brush your teeth? Turn the t.v. off. Did you eat breakfast? Socks and shoes on?). Drove to school. Walked kids to school yard. Met with other parent. Drove to field trip location to chaperone the Grade 1s at Children’s Safety Village. (Went to Tim’s for coffee first. And a chocolate chip muffin.) Chaperoned a two-hour fire safety lesson. Realized kitchen/home has many potentially hazardous safety issues – and that we need a new kitchen entirely to be ‘safe’. Yowza. Realize we need to create a fire ‘plan’ and escape route. Remembered I left the BBQ lighter on the desk…but I blew the candles out! (Phew.) Watched Miller simulate a fire escape through a window then down a ladder. Felt proud when she had no problems with the climb…had flashbacks of living in a fourplex – on the second floor – and having extreme fear of fires and how I’d have to jump out the window in my bedroom to the dirty alcove below, and likely break my bones. *Shook it off* (Thanks Taylor!) Drove back to school. Drove to pick up lunch. Drove to work. Realized the drive-thru guy forgot A WHOLE SANDWICH I ordered. Called the restaurant. Drove back to the restaurant. Got missing sandwich. Drove back to work. Ate by myself (everyone else was finished at that point.) Worked for 2 hours. Went to bank. Drove to school to get the kids (at this point, it’s only 2:35pm, folks). Picked up kids (told them ‘no’ to friends coming over). Drove home. Finished prepping lesson for day 1 of 3 personal narrative workshops I’m teaching at Massey. Worked on Facebook promoting upcoming reading in Sarnia. Ate 6 chocolate bars from Halloween. Put dishes away. Got dinner ready. Did more work/research for workshop. Organized books/things for workshop. Brought load of clean clothes upstairs. Jett had drum practice. My mom came over. Ate dinner. Took the kids to get new snowsuits (took over an hour). Came home. Had coffee. Edited three chapters of work for the writer I mentor (and meet with on Thursdays). Ate 4 chocolate bars. Got my jammies on. Helped the kids with their showers/jammies. Finished editing chapters. Kids/hubby went to sleep (I didn’t kiss them goodnight!!!!). Worked on novel for 1 hour (from 9pm-10pm). Put on film ‘Dan In Real Life’. Folded two loads of laundry. Ate a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Got into bed at 1:30am. Was. Vibrating. From. Coffee. Felt my heartbeat in my ears. Dreamt of being in a cave with the girl from Game of Thrones (Khalesi?) and having to choose a stone that would give me power and help save the planet. (No pressure there.) Fell asleep at….?
I didn’t think I’d get any writing in at all. I have to acknowledge the power of coffee because without it I would not have been able to stay up. I was proud of myself for writing, but I had to force myself to do so. What helped was using my timer. ONE. HOUR. You can do this…and my gift would be watching ‘Dan In Real Life’, one of my fav films, after I wrote.
*I’m tired. Five days in. I’m very tired. But I shall not stop.
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 
You. Are. Amazing!
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