Best Laid Plans

A post-NaNoWriMo Update of Sorts

Writer’s note: If this post seems familiar, it was originally written and published on the evening of 12/11/22 on Substack. I wrote it in real time after NaNoWriMo 2022. I have since changed platforms for me email newsletter. (If that still interests you, you can sign-up for “Postcards” here.) However, in making future plans for my online writing spaces, I have decided to house my NaNoWriMo 2022 story here on Mrs. Writer. Very little changes, if any, have been made. Enjoy!

In real time, a little over a month had passed since I gave the Day 4 Update. The intro will sound funky because you’re reading these back-to-back, but at the time I was feeling better and wanted to give the readers who had signed up for NaNo updates something, so I wrote the post you’re about to read.

I decided to keep it in this series because it portrays an accurate picture of what the creative life can look like at times.

Long Time No Talk

Okay, so November was a roller coaster of things. We’ve officially entered The Holiday Season and all the holiday things are in full swing. We’re two weeks away from Christmas.

I fell off keeping you all updated on my NaNoWriMo journey, but one 24-hour stomach bug on Days 8-9 and a week(ish)-long cold Days 18-28(ish) and trying to recover all energy around those was hard.

Ant and I had a low-key Thanksgiving here at The Hobbit Hole with just us and the cats. And while I missed being with the fam, it was nice not to drive an hour and spend the entire day tired 🙂

NaNo Update

Spoiler alert: I won NaNoWriMo! =D

I finished the month with 52,615 words =D

*confetti*

But, I’m still going to share some highlights from the month, especially the last five days because I wrote more than 29,000 words in five days.

I am so proud of myself.

So instead of just stopping at that announcement four paragraphs back, I’m still going to write about it because I am a human who needs and enjoys processing things, and I don’t do it enough. Also, I want to give you all a look behind one writer’s writing life. Those 52,000 words didn’t appear magically in my head. I fought for every one of them. It’s easy to romanticize the creative life. I am in the creative life and I still romanticize it. So, if I can help make it more real—still magical but also very real, hard work—that’s my goal with this newsletter

Post-NaNo Life (in no particular order)

Hanging snowflakes and lights and decorating
Back with the niece and nephew on Mondays
Continuing reading The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
Decorated our little tree. This year we named her Donna the Spruce 🙂
Game night and dinner with the siblings. And then we finally watched She’s The Man.
Learning to take my best dog friend Mina on a walk
Enjoying the rainy, foggy days we’ve been having
Christmas movies and game nights with friends
Finally getting rid of old work papers