Ahem. . . Okay, we're not going into the title today. Suffice it to say that I'm talking about post NaNoWriMo bliss, and depression. I promise this will be the last NaNo post. At least, until next Novemeber.
Still, after a month of marathon level, completely engossed, life consuming comptetition, coming back to normal speed can be a bit, well, jarring. I'd imposed a minimum twenty four hour period of relaxation and rest, but my husband increased it to a week. Rather, he tried to--I'm not that pliable.
I barely made the first day. Everytime I stopped moving, my eyes would drift slyly toward that laptop--closed and turned off-stitting on the dining room table. My fingers would twitch. The brain whispered, "shouldn't you be doing something?"
sigh. Yes. I should be doing to laundry, dishes, dusting...making dinners that don't come from a box, and working out--a lot.
Since none of that sounded like any fun, I channeled my pent up NaNo energy into rearranging my house. Now my children are moved happily into their own room, and I've set up a miniature Gold's Gym in my bedroom. (It worked. In a week I've lost 3+ of the ten pounds I gained during November.)
But I digress. :-) I didn't make the first 24 hours, because by the next morning--the morning after, so to speak--I was typing again. I started a new short story. I edited and submitted an old one. I put some flash in a contest. I did, eventually, clean my house. I quit smoking... I I I
Well, now you see why I love NaNo. Granted, the novel in a month is a bonus. But it's the MOMENTUM that brings me back every year. I can write a novel in a month anytime, if I really want too, but the group event, the word wars, the meetings, the widgets, this is what gets my engines started again for the next year of life as a lonely writer. lol
It never fails that by Aug. of each year, my productivity is waning. If I've been lucky enough to sell anything then most of my work is sitting in a queque somewhere and I'm trying to blast out something else to submit. The NaNo burst of energy gives me a head start. If I can ride it as long as possible, and write as much as possible, it just might carry me through Sept. next year.
And the bottom line is, while rest is a bonus (and sleep a luxury I'd love to experience again someday) I'm a writer. That laptop will always be calling to me, until they come up with some better, high-tech, super advanced way of getting my words down in print. Let's hope its something you can do while on an eliptical machine. Something with lots of whirring noises and flashing lights, if possible.
Back to the trenches,
~Frances
award-winning animal stories