NaNoWriMo 2018 Let's Do this!

NaNoWriMo is a race to write 50,000 words in a single month - November and I haven't attempted it since 2013. The last time I completed National Novel Writing Month was in 2011 and 2012. I hope to reach the goal this year. I have a lot of stuff that will be fighting for my attention but I'm determined to achieve this goal. 

Here's a little more about my thoughts on NaNoWriMo. I'll be vlogging my way through the month and post weekly updates on my progress on my YouTube channel and on my Instagram. 

https://youtu.be/TcKt9uoBkhs

NaNoWriMo, An "Illuminata" Prayer & Earl Grey "London Fog Latte" Recipe

Whew! The last two weeks of October feel like a daze! My husband was tasked for a surprise deployment and so he's off doing Air Force things and I was swamped with volunteer obligations, and making my boys Halloween costumes. I also had to help my younger son transform a cardboard box into a Police Car for his Kindergarten's Transportation parade that conveniently took place on Halloween. Last night my boys actually got to celebrate Halloween and show off their Minecraft costumes. They had a great time and their costumes garnered a lot of attention from kids and grownups a like so I was happy they were happy.I can not believe we're already three days into November and I've not written a single word for NaNoWriMo! My friend Michelle challenged me to write the 50,000 word goal in five days, yes it's absolutely insane but apparently there are a lot of us who are keen for the challenge, all you need do is Google, Five Day Novel (#50K5DAYS).  I'm going to start that on Tuesday or Wednesday, but today  I will be jumping into NaNoWriMo today! Yay!I cleared off my desk of all the crafting stuff that had accumulated and tidied up my office and I'm ready to go! I made myself a homemade London Fog Latte ( at Starbucks ask for the London Fog Latte, if you get a blank stare from your barista, simply ask for an Earl Grey Latte with a shot of vanilla syrup.) I've got my playlist cued and just recited this prayer I love by Marianne Williamson who in my opinion is a profound writer of prayers, via her book Illuminata: A Return to Prayer. This prayer speaks to me and I like to recite it before I begin writing as I've found it helps me relax and clear my mind of all the clutter. I thought I'd share it with you just in case you were feeling stressed out over the 50K word count goal!This prayer is listed as a "deliverance" prayer  in Illuminata if you've got a copy and want to look it up for yourself.It reads:

Dear God, 

Deliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance. Deliver me to my intelligence. Deliver me to my depth. Deliver me to my nobility. Deliver me to my beauty. Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You. Amen. 

~Marriane Williamson

 Happy Writing! 

NaNoWriMo, An "Illuminata" Prayer & Earl Grey "London Fog Latte" Recipe

Whew! The last two weeks of October feel like a daze! My husband was tasked for a surprise deployment and so he's off doing Air Force things and I was swamped with volunteer obligations, and making my boys Halloween costumes. I also had to help my younger son transform a cardboard box into a Police Car for his Kindergarten's Transportation parade that conveniently took place on Halloween. Last night my boys actually got to celebrate Halloween and show off their Minecraft costumes. They had a great time and their costumes garnered a lot of attention from kids and grownups a like so I was happy they were happy.I can not believe we're already three days into November and I've not written a single word for NaNoWriMo! My friend Michelle challenged me to write the 50,000 word goal in five days, yes it's absolutely insane but apparently there are a lot of us who are keen for the challenge, all you need do is Google, Five Day Novel (#50K5DAYS).  I'm going to start that on Tuesday or Wednesday, but today  I will be jumping into NaNoWriMo today! Yay!I cleared off my desk of all the crafting stuff that had accumulated and tidied up my office and I'm ready to go! I made myself a homemade London Fog Latte ( at Starbucks ask for the London Fog Latte, if you get a blank stare from your barista, simply ask for an Earl Grey Latte with a shot of vanilla syrup.) I've got my playlist cued and just recited this prayer I love by Marianne Williamson who in my opinion is a profound writer of prayers, via her book Illuminata: A Return to Prayer. This prayer speaks to me and I like to recite it before I begin writing as I've found it helps me relax and clear my mind of all the clutter. I thought I'd share it with you just in case you were feeling stressed out over the 50K word count goal!This prayer is listed as a "deliverance" prayer  in Illuminata if you've got a copy and want to look it up for yourself.It reads:

Dear God, 

Deliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance. Deliver me to my intelligence. Deliver me to my depth. Deliver me to my nobility. Deliver me to my beauty. Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You. Amen. 

~Marriane Williamson

 Happy Writing! 

NaNoWriMo 2011 Final Tally

Well I did it!

Barely....but I did it!

I'm feeling very pleased with myself and I apologize for the chirping crickets here the last few weeks...

I was busy writing, then I had computer issues, which turned into internet issues and now I'm playing catch up.

I wrote this mostly by hand and really enjoyed the process. I found I could focus much better, I wasn't so easily led astray by my email dinging, or Pinterest's lure of pretty things to look at. I think, my epiphany about writing long hand which occurred earlier in the month was a blessing in disguise because I'm not sure I would have made the fifty thousand word goal if I hadn't been writing by hand because of all the p.c. issues I had.

Needless to say my dreams these days (and nights) aren't of sugar-plum kisses, three French hens or miking-maids, neither are yours I imagine; instead my night and day dreams are now made up with visions of Santa leaving me a MacBook and Moleskine notebooks beneath the tree. I'm pretty sure the Moleskine notebooks are a given...the MacBook, not-so-much.

I actually was pretty worried I'd not get to post with the computer issues I was having. On the 30th I was racing as fast as I could to transcribe my hand written pages not sure if I'd even have enough. I could roughly estimate how many words I had, but I wasn't sure I'd reach my goal until I crossed  forty-nine thousand words. Once I did I knew it was in the bag!

My final word count was 50,067, I can't promise you that anything beyond the 45K mark is coherent though. I just typed what-ever words I saw then towards then end I included a random scene just for fun so I could finish.

I work much better when I have a fixed deadline and so, I've given myself a monthly deadline of 20,000 written words. Not including those I write here or at PrimThings.Love & Racing Towards the Finish Line,nicóle

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 21

I realize it's been forever (that's clearly an exaggeration) since I posted a NaNoWriMo update.I've been writing longhand-and transcribing. Here is my word count as of today.xo

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 12 Update

We're nearly at the half way point for NaNoWriMo and I'm not as far along as I hoped to be by this point, but I'm still confident I'll get a lot more words written in the next few days. I'm still writing by hand and then transcribing. The transcribing is a bit of a pain, but totally worth it because when I'm writing long hand the words are just flowing. I'm sorta hooked.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 9 - Update

Ohmygosh! Can you tell I've not slept in a bit?  Okay-I exaggerate. I've slept...some. Truth be told I can't sleep. My brain won't shut off. My writing has been flowing and it's all because of my husband...Read on for the deets.Tuesday I began writing longhand-advice my husband has been giving me for years-which I totally ignored (sorry Hun).He said, 'You think better when you're actually using your hands"  He says when ever he's working with his hands he could think better. His mind would clear and ideas or solutions to problems would come to him.I was all like-"Well I'm using my hands when I type..." Which would get me a much deserved eye roll and a tsk about how I never listen to him.Turns out-the man was on to something!On Tuesday I stumbled across this article from 'The Guardian', Why creative writing is better with a pen...and so I pulled out one of my gazillion notebook-journal things and had at it.I absolutely love it!The ideas flow. I'm not distracted at all by things like, oh...I dunno Facebook! In one hour I've been writing an average of a thousand words.Go Me! love and journals, and pens,nicóle