NaNoWriMo Day 6-8 – A Parent’s Journey

Day 6

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 6,959

HOW LONG I WROTE: 0 MINUTES

WHAT ELSE I DID:

Got up at 6:30am. Took a shower. Finished prepping for Day 1 of a 3 day workshop at Massey High School with grade 12 students on Personal Narrative, made kid’s lunches, made coffee for The Hubby, signed school agendas, got all my ‘teaching’ stuff ready, got dressed (had to actually look ‘professional’ – in other words – not wear jogging pants and sweatshirt, and then actually ‘do’ my hair – in other words – not wear floppy, red tuque), made breakfast for kids, repeated usual morning sentences in exclamatory fashion, made it to school with one minute to spare, went to Tim’s for coffee and donut (double chocolate), went to Massey, taught for 1 hour 15 minutes, drove to University of Windsor, said bad words whilst looking for a parking spot, parked in a ‘fail’ spot (chanced it on getting a ticket), taught 45 minutes in the Hypertext class (about my social media presence…and Jian Ghomeshi), drove home for an 11:30am mentor/edit meeting with author (until 12:30pm), ate lunch, began prepping for next day’s class at Massey, answered emails, did banking (on-line), rested for ten minutes (used phone timer!), went to pick-up kids for 2:30pm, took kids to dentist for 3pm appointment, drove to mall for dinner (too tired to cook, didn’t want to do dishes), shopped for new dress for award event and reading in Sarnia, came home by 6pm, sat on couch for a few minutes, finished prepping for next day’s class (research on computer/links/emails), played cards with Miller, got kids ready for bed, read with Miller, fell asleep with Miller.

WAS EXHAUSTED. COULD. NOT. WRITE. This day was scheduled to-the-minute until 12:30pm – then from 2:15pm – 6pm. GAH. Thought about writing but just didn’t have the energy.

Day 7

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 6, 959

HOW LONG I WROTE: 0 MINUTES

WHAT ELSE I DID:

Got up at 6:45am, took shower, got dressed, packed stuff for teaching, made lunches, signed agendas, got kids up, made breakfast, got kids ready for school, drove to school with 2 minutes to spare (yay!), drove to Tim’s for coffee (the teacher at the school was bringing snacks for breakfast!), drove to Massey, taught class, talked to teacher about teaching/the education system, dreamed out loud about opening our own ‘free’ school and how different it would be from the current systems, drove to Wal-Mart, did groceries, drove home, put groceries away, worked on photoshop invite for best friend’s virtual skype baby shower, had lunch date with friend I haven’t seen in ever, drove to school to get kids, picked up kids plus one (for a play date), drove home, got kids settled in, did banking, did dishes, did two loads of laundry, tidied up, realized my best friend who lives in Australia was on-line, got on Skype, caught up and talked for 1 and a half hours (!! – the hubby came home and made dinner for the kids – thank you baby!!), helped Jett get ready for football practice, made sure Miller and play date were good, cleared table, did dishes, tidied up, watched girls till 8pm – then play date ended, the hubby and Jett came home, talked with the hubby (general pow-wow and catch-up that turned into a much needed heart-to-heart), hung out with kids on the couch, prepped books/clothes/maps, etc. for poetry reading Sarnia on Saturday, looked at my laptop and really wanted to write but just couldn’t…I was tired from talking/crying/loving/living…and Miller was so sweet and cuddly…I went to bed and fell fast asleep, dreamed of kissing Adam Levine (yowza).

*Felt extremely guilty for not writing ANYTHING for two days. Promised myself I’d write TOMORROW!!!

Day 8

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 6, 959

HOW LONG I WROTE: 0 MINUTES

WHAT ELSE I DID:

Got up at 7:45am, organized gear/food (we were in charge of snacks/drinks) for Jett’s play-off football game, made coffee, put dishes away, tidied up, prepped rest of things for reading/trip to Sarnia, got kids up, talked on phone to best friend (other one! CLM), made breakfast for kids, helped Jett get in uniform for football, helped Miller get her stuff ready for the football game, prepped the hubby’s stuff for football game, kissed Jett and the hubby off to football (pre-game practice), took a shower (had to shave legs…took a bit longer), got dressed, finalized stuff for trip to Sarnia (promptly forgot to pack tampons and bobby-pins), helped Miller get her coat/hat on, packed up car, drove to Tim’s, got tea/donut, drove to football game, parked, carried loads of snacks/drinks/umbrellas to field, helped Miller get her snowpants on, watched the football game, cheered, cried, cheered, froze, cried, cheered, met my mom at the field, lugged 24-pack of Gatorade to field, cheered, had to leave the game before it was over, slowly walked off field feeling guilty and crying a bit, drove to Sarnia (2 hours), talked to Jett/the hubby – they won their game!!!! It’s off to the championships!, got to Sarnia and reading/event location, lugged in bags, changed into new polka-dot dress in bathroom stall, did make-up/hair in bathroom, had a quick bite to eat, met other readers/event folks, participated in LOVELY reading with John B. Lee, Diana Koch and Grace Vermeer (hosted by Blue Water Reading Series, Deb Okun Hill, emceed by Lynn Tait), met new people, sold four books, talked, laughed, felt great, joined new friends for dinner, pigged out, went to Deb’s house for poetry workshop, work-shopped poetry/talked about publishing/writing from 7:45pm – 10:15pm, got ready for bed, spent 45 minutes working on this blog post…

*Feel really warm and fuzzy inside because I spent half the day being a writer and sharing my work and my thoughts with other writers. Know that I WILL finish my novel this month, and it’s okay if I miss three days in a row of working on it. I’m still WRITING EVERY DAY and/or doing something WRITING-RELATED. And that counts. (Maybe I should be including the word count for all the writing I’m still doing even if it’s not on my novel? Does blogging count?!)

*Realize I don’t have WiFi right now…therefore can’t post this now…therefore…going…….to…………….sleep………….