The month of November – aka National Novel Writing Month – has come and gone.
What a month it was!
I started off strong…clocking in a solid hour-a-day of writing for the first two weeks.
I hit 1oK words quickly and giddily. Loving every single second of writing and letting the new storylines and characters of book two in my Hangman series pour out of me.
Then.
Life happened.
We welcomed a new puppy into our home.
And that is pretty much like bringing a new born home…except worse because when your newborn wakes in the middle of the night to pee and poop, you don’t have to bring her outside to do it.
You also don’t have to worry about her smearing her poop all over her bed (okay, maybe this part does happen…). Which happened with Pages last week while she was in her crate. It was a stinky mess. In any case, with the night-of-choppy-sleep and other life-ly events: Jett made the volleyball team and there were games every other night…and Miller had art class…and IT GETS DARK AT 5-FREAKING-THIRTY. Well, I mean, my brain just didn’t have the capacity to engage the story and write.
Then I took a flippity-do-dah on the back deck when it was wet and I tore my MCL (yikes), and now I’m in a knee brace and needing physio. Time gets filled up really quickly.
You know what though? I did it. I wrote 10,000 words. I started a new novel. And I know I’ll get back to it often and it won’t take me five years to write it like it did that last one. I just know that in my heart.
The final stats:
Total words: 11, 603
Averages words per day: 386
I only actually wrote until about November 15th…then I was writing – but other things!
I’ve even started writing poetry again. That’s kind of a big deal for me as I haven’t been able to for a while now.
But I did it.
Here’s a snippet….
From ‘Trembles’
My womb trembled on Monday evening while I was washing the dishes…..
It surprised me, the trembling. I’m close to forty. Very close. I haven’t felt a tremble that deep and wide in years. Is it the last call?….
I am in yet another spurt of spiritual and creative growth. It’s been a tough busy year in this regard.
And, I’d like to amend my last posts’ bit on envy. I was writing to a friend about envy and jealousy…and he suggests that envy includes not only coveting what others have but also wishing they didn’t have it at all. Please know, this is not real for me at all! And although the definition I found for envy didn’t include this second part of ill-wishing, I just want to be sure that I wouldn’t/couldn’t wish such a thing on anyone. Ever. My internal challenges are deeply self-inflicting – and not overt.
In other news, I received an Honourable Mention for a poem I submitted to Polar Expressions annual writing contest! That was wonderful news! And poet Jessie Lee Jennings – a fellow Windsorite – she won second place! Super cool!
I also am mailing out today (wish me luck!), eight more Recommenders Grants (that’s the new name for the Writers’ Reserve Grant) through the Ontario Arts Council. This year, I’m taking a different tactic. I’ve written a kid’s poetry book and so I’m sending it to new publishers I haven’t submitted to ever! Perhaps this shift in genre and style will garner me a new poetic journey! The grant application is still open – until the end of January, so if you’re wondering if you can still apply – you can!
Do you have your Christmas tree up yet? Are you getting excited about the holidays? Did you get giddy last week when snow flurries fluttered from the sky? How many movies have you watched?! We already watched ‘Elf’! And I’m well into my watching my favourite fall films…
Stay warm!
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 