When Life Gets in the Way of NaNoWriMo!

If you're a writer you probably already know that it is the middle of NaNoWriMo. If not, Nano stands for National Novel Writing Month in which thousands of writers commit to write a 50k word novel in the month of November. Some authors whip out thousands of words per day, so this event might not be a big deal. It is for me because it is giving me a kick in the butt of motivation. But what happens when you don't have a day or two... or five to sit at the computer and pound out those required words? You get behind on your word count and probably discouraged. The thought might cross your mind whether you should give up or not.

Well, that is exactly what has happened to me! I cruised write a long for the first week. I wrote a few hundred extra words each day which bumped me way ahead. Good thing I did because at the start of the second week I got a text from my mom who I hadn't seen in 2 years (and had only talked to a handful of times) saying she was on her way from California. I had no idea why she was coming or how long she intended to stay.

Once she arrived, her living arrangements fell through. I took the day off to catch up on things with her. The second day was dealing with the drama she was in. My amazing boyfriend (he really is, I'm not being sarcastic!) met her for the first time ever and told her she could stay with us until she figures something else out. She has figured it out but can't leave yet. My quiet time has completely vanished which lowers my productivity level.

Add a house full of people on Veteran's Day and that was almost an entire day lost. The work that was completed was because I locked myself in my room but still had people knocking on my door. Now I'm sick so I'm working at a slower pace. I'm working as much as I can to catch up but remain 3 days behind. You see how life can impact an author's work?

Will I give up? No way. I'm going to keep writing and hopefully will get caught up before November 1st. If I complete Nano or not, I'll have the majority of the book finished this month. Also, it is retraining me to write every day no matter what!