decisions, decisions

[jennickels]

So, summer is winding down.  Soon the weather will cool off and the rain will start (that's the extent of fall, winter and spring in this area of the country).  The kids go back to school in two weeks.  That means it's almost National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or just NaNo for short).  For those that don't know NaNo is a writing challenge: 50,000 words in 30 days.  It's lots of fun and lots of crazy.

Of course trying to get 50k words down in one month is also lots of stress.  Especially with five kids, a husband and a house to take care of on the side.  November also has Thanksgiving here in the states which is a big holiday; my favorite holiday).  November 8 is my middle daughter's birthday.  She'll be 9 this year (where has the time gone?).  November is also a tough time for me.  My mom's birthday is November 27 and that time of year brings back all sorts of memories.  For those that don't know she died on August 19, 2000.  This will be the 11the birthday without her.  I'm not sure it's gotten any easier.  The first few years I was still in a daze over it and too busy with a bunch of small children to dwell.  2009 was the worst.  Her birthday fell ON Thanksgiving and I just broke down.  I cried myself to sleep in the middle of prepping dinner.  It was bad.  It's just kind of an all around downer at that time of the year.

The decision part of my title comes from the fact that I'm involved in two landcomms right now: fictionland and stargateland.  I love them both despite the stress they've been causing me (my own fault for putting every challenge off until the last minute).  But I doubt I'll be able to keep up with them come November.  Now I'm trying to decide if I should stick around them and just do the minimum number of challenges to stay active or go on hiatus in November.  And that brings up the question of needing a break from writing before going into a big project like NaNo.  I'm also a mod at fictionland and hope to remain one for the next phase.  Guess I really need to sit down and think about the pros and cons.

And another decision to make:

This one is kind of cracking me up.  I have a challenge due on Saturday for fictionland .  I've known about this challenge for a long time.  There were 15 prompts and each story has to be 1000 words.  Should be too hard for me (the queen of going way over word limits).  Problem is I kept pushing it aside and pushing it aside and now it's due.  That's not the funny part.

I wrote one story for it so far using two prompts (up to 3 could be in 1 story).  So the story needed to be at least 2000 words.  I didn't count.  I finished the story the other night and typed it up yesterday.  I love how it turned out and I think it's perfect as it is.  But when I checked my word count it was only 1561.  I'm 440 words short.  This is a first.  I've never had to add words to make a word count, lol.

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to actually add the words and change the simple little story I wrote (it's Sam/Jack in case any of you are wondering) or if I should just change it to be for one prompt and write another 1000 words for the other one used.  The prompts were a picture of a little cabin in some woods and "you & me".  The cabin one stays because that's the main part of the story.  But it fits under you & me, too, since it's about Jack and Sam stranded off world (yay, stranded!fic).

Decisions, decisions...

[other stuff]
I'm not really in a writing mood either today.  I'm a bit gumpy.  Woke up to AF starting (blah) and now I'm all crampy.  I've rarely had cramps since high school.  I get them in my lower back mostly--a dull ache that is just beyond annoying.  Ugh.  I'd rather curl up with some ice cream (which I can't have because of my diet--down to 242lbs this morning, that's 22lbs lost in 6 weeks) and watch Stargate all day.  Sigh.  I keep forgetting to take something, too.  I keep the adult medication in my bathroom (where the kids aren't supposed to be) and every time I go in there I forget it.  And the baby is sleeping now and I don't want to wake him up.  I might have to chance it, though, because I'm getting a bit tetchy.

Comments

[thothmes.livejournal.com]

I have no advice/help/funny anecdotes on the writing side, because it is clear that you and I have very different coping and producing styles. I can only write in two ways, short of the cuff pieces that come to me all in a rush when some comment or idea captures my wayward imagination, or college-student style - I have an assignment, a due date, I do my research in a desultory way, and write it up in a procrastinatory caffeine-fueled haze the night before it is due.

Editing? What's that? Improves stories you say? How interesting. I'll have to try it some time.

Mostly I just wanted to check in and say that your progress and stick-to-it-iveness in the dieting is impressive and deserves major kudos!

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

Lol, actually my writing style isn't that different. It's only recently that I've started editing. I've always avoided it like the plague. Checking for spelling errors and blaring grammar errors... I can do that. Actually making a 2nd draft with improvements... um, no.

I'm trying to branch out.