How NaNoWriMo can Hurt Your Health… and How to Avoid it

Regular readers of this blog (all three or four of you) might recall that for most of this year, I’ve been fighting adrenal fatigue. A quick recap for the rest of you, what this basically means is, I’m tired all the time, even after getting a good night’s sleep. And that’s something that’s also hard to come by, as insomnia is a symptom of adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue also weakens our immune system, as the adrenal hormones are a key part of it, and when we get sick, it takes more out of us, and takes us longer to recover.

Adrenal fatigue is caused by stress, either acute (such as by being in an accident, injury or being ill) or long-term (stressful job, drawn-out divorce, you name it). Our adrenal glands produce cortisol, the fight-or-flight hormone. It’s also the stress hormone, but we need a certain amount of it to function and have energy. In a normal person, cortisol spikes a couple of hours after rising, then gradually tapers off throughout the day. When I did the 24-hour hormone testing, my cortisol only went up in a very shallow curve.

Our adrenal glands can’t tell the difference between running from a tiger, or coping with a dozen clients all wanting their projects at once, or trying to get 1,667 words done late at night. Go on like this for too long, adrenal fatigue can result. Putting my writing off until the time I should have been going to bed, then forcing myself to get the words down anyway, was a big contributor to my adrenal fatigue.

The NaNoWriMo forums and blogs are full of references to sleep deprivation, drinking lots of coffee, and pulling all-nighters to get those words in, as if these things are some kind of badge of honor. (For the non-writers out there, NaNoWriMo is an international challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.) I’ve done NaNoWriMo three times, and won (i.e., completed 50,000 words in the month) three times. Doing the all-nighter once or twice, or staying up extra late now and then to get the words in is fine, but last year, I was doing the latter almost every day. I won, but it wasn’t worth it–especially because it shouldn’t have been necessary.

I could have avoided all the sleep deprivation if I’d just gotten back into one habit that got me my win the two other times I’d done it: do the writing first. In my case, that means as soon as I get home from work on the weekdays. But last year, I let fear and the inner editor keep me from even getting started until I had to start, or I wouldn’t get my words in at all.

There are tons of resources and blogs out there to help us quash fear and the inner editor while writing, so look those up if you need to. We need to remember to keep these evils at bay when we’re not writing, too, or they’ll keep us from writing at all–or until it’s way late in the day.

50,000 words in a month sounds like a lot. It’s not. When I can keep fear and the inner editor away, I can write that much in about an hour and a half, usually broken up into two or three sessions. Professional fiction writers write this much or more all the time. So if you’re doing NaNoWriMo this month, here are my suggestions:

  • Do the writing first (whether that’s first thing in the day, or first after you get home from work)
  • Ask yourself what do you have to be afraid of? And see how silly most of our fears are.
  • Focus your fears instead on the dangers of not getting enough sleep, and get your writing done early.
  • Kick the inner editor to the curb.

My adrenal fatigue is finally improving. I caught a cold right after my husband broke his arm, so that slowed things a good bit. But he is getting better, and I’m finally starting to get a bit of energy. One thing we like to do is take Isis for a walk. There is a big drainage basin near our house, and when it’s dry, my husband has started taking Isis there to throw balls to her with the ball launcher. It is great exercise for her and she loves it! When she’s tired, she lies down and waits for us to start walking home.

Isis ball 1

Isis ball 2   Isis ball 3

Isis lying down

What I read this week: the short stories and serial portions in Dean Wesley Smith’s Smith’s Monthly #7. His story “A Bubble for a Minute” was absolutely fabulous and gave me chills–in a very good way. It was sort of a time travel thing where, when a certain song was played on a record player, a detail in the past changed. A character was trying to “fix” something in the past, with devastating consequences. This is the kind of thing I write in my Saturn Society stories, and this story reminded me why I love writing them. Worth the price of the magazine alone, but there are also some always fun and entertaining Poker Boy stories, as well as the serials which I’m really liking. I’m reading the novel in the magazine now, which I’ll discuss next week.

ROW80Logo175ROW80 Update: Our offer on the student rental house was accepted–yay!–and at least for now, the paperwork done. I also finished getting the notes on Dean Wesley Smith’s Productivity workshop, so those are two big tasks done, and now I’m getting back to writing more. I did meet my goal this week of finishing the scene and started the next, which netted me about 2,000 words. I averaged 200 words for four days, and wrote about 1200 yesterday. Now it’s time to up the goals–I want to hit 500 words for four days, and get at least one 1,000-word day, for a total of 3,000 words, and write five days out of seven. Oh, and I want to finish the current scene, too. Hopefully I will do more than that.

What about you–have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Did you win? Whether or not you’re a writer, have you sacrificed sleep for a goal–and was it worth it? We are having some great fall weather here in Ohio for walking–how is it where you are? And what do you like to do for exercise? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Are You a Winner? And ROW80

2013-WinnerYesterday, I pasted the text of my novel (with a bit of the secondary novella tossed in) into the NaNoWriMo word count verifier. It told me I was a WINNER! I also got to see a funny video of the NaNoWriMo office staff cheering. It was a great feeling. So yes, one big goal accomplished.

But what about all those who signed up for NaNoWriMo but didn’t write 50,000 words last month? That’s where I take issue with the whole “winner” thing. IMO, if someone stated a challenging goal, whatever that might be, and achieved it, that person’s a winner. Same if someone’s not a writer–that goes for other goals, too! And for those NaNoWriMo participants who may not have hit 50,000, but got a lot more written than they might otherwise have done, that’s a great accomplishment.

I will admit, it was nice to see that, and good to hit that goal! Here’s how the rest went:

  • Finish out NaNoWriMo by writing 11,000 words on either story or both: DONE!
  • Review remaining lessons for Promotions workshop: DONE!
  • Finish Shopping Cart and Checkout pages for website: Partial–not done, but made progress. Top priority this week.
  • Fitness 4 times, even if short: Partial–got 3x in.
  • Survive Thanksgiving: DONE! And it went very nice, until my dog jumped on a friend and twisted his leg (the dog, not the friend), and later, my mom slipped on ice at the edge of our porch and wound up with a fractured kneecap. She was just thankful it wasn’t worse, and it happened after the meal.

ROW80Logo175So what’s up for this month? Survive Christmas, obviously. Again, small family makes that easier, though some are tricky to buy gifts for as they have everything. I also plan to keep working on my WIPs, though at a much slower pace: 300-500 words/day, and get that website done! I also have another one to do, but this is just porting an existing design into WordPress, and won’t be difficult. Oh, and I’m taking another online workshop–normally not something I’d take on in December, but this is the last time they’re offering it, so I really wanted to get in on it. With the reduced word count, it should be OK to fit in, especially as I was able to keep up with the other one during NaNoWriMo. We’ll see! Here’s the plan for this week:

  • 2,500 words on combined WIPs
  • Keep up with new writing workshop & assignments
  • Finish Checkout pages for website
  • Fitness 4 times, even if short
  • Figure out what I’m doing for Christmas cards and gift list

What about you–have you WON any big goals lately? Or maybe even some not-so-big ones? If you participated in NaNoWriMo, how did you do? And if you’re in the U.S., how was your Thanksgiving? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Is it NaNoBrain, or Something Else? And ROW80

NaNoWriMo 2013 ParticipantI have had one of those weeks where I’ve forgotten everything, it seems. I forgot two people’s birthdays–one of my best friends’ from college, and a relative who’s also a writing friend. (Still need to contact the relative…  😳 )  I forgot about Election Day, until Mr. Goodwrench reminded me of it the night before. Luckily, there wasn’t much on our ballot, so I read up on the items at work and stopped by the thankfully-deserted polls on the way home. I would have forgotten a get-together with former and current coworkers if one of them hadn’t texted me earlier that day. I would have forgotten to pick up my Market Day food order, if the coworker who runs it hadn’t mentioned it, and I hadn’t entered a reminder in my smartphone (thank you, Cozi!).

But one thing I haven’t forgotten is my writing. NaNoWriMo has gone well so far, though it’s been a push at times (and isn’t it supposed to be?). Maybe my brain’s so full of fictional people and events that they’re taking over the real world stuff? Or is it just the fact that I’m getting close to “a certain age?” Enquiring minds, you know…

ROW80Logo175Luckily, I did not forget my ROW80 check-in either, so here it is:

  • 12,000 words on WIP – Done!
  • Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
  • Refine layout of Shopping Cart page for family member’s web site – Partial–this ended up being more extensive than I thought, but I made good progress.
  • Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – Partial (I got 3x in)

Since those are working for me, but still challenging, I”ll stick with the same goals this week. Oh, and add one more: A book cover design. This is for someone who’s not only a good friend, but also my Ideal Reader, so it’s a must. It’s also going to be a fun project, and she’s given me some excellent direction, so I’m looking forward to working on it.

What about you–do you find yourself forgetting things when one becomes more dominant in your life, or do you think it’s just age? If you’re doing ROW80 and/or NaNoWriMo, how are you doing? If you’re not, do you have other goals you’re working on, and how are those going? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Baby Steps Get the Job Done, and NaNoWriMo/ROW80

My mom has been working on some massive decluttering for the past few years. Some of it is her stuff, but most came from her mother, who passed away a few years ago and had the classic depression-era “collector” mentality. Mom has some health issues, so it’s been slow going at times, but when she’s able, she works on one pile of stuff at a time. Eventually, a pile gets cleared, then a stack, then a whole corner of a room.

She’s still working on it, and it may take a while, but baby steps really do get the job done.

The same goes for our writing, as many of us embark on NaNoWriMo starting this week. For the uninitiated, that’s National Novel Writing Month, a challenge in which the goal is to write 50,000 words–the equivalent of a short novel–in one month. I’ve done it–and won–twice. But it sounds daunting if you’re not a writer, or if you’ve never done it. And indeed, it’s a lot, and it takes dedication. But so does decluttering something like what my mom’s working on, and the same approach can work to getting through a big goal like NaNoWriMo.

Just write a sentence. Then the next. And the next. And the next thing you know, you’ll have a paragraph. A page. A scene. A chapter.

Baby steps really do get the job done.

ROW80Logo175To  that end, I break my NaNoWriMo goal down into weekly goals, as part of my ROW80 goals. This week’s goals were:

  • 4500 words on WIP – close! I got 4,000. I’m happy with that.
  • Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – I got the lessons done, will do the homework today (it’s due tonight).
  • Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site – No
  • Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – No

Looks like I need to get back into that baby step mentality for the website and fitness. We’ll work on that this week:

  • 12,000 words on WIP
  • Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop
  • Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site
  • Fitness 4 times, no matter how short

What about you? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo and/or ROW80, how are you doing? If not, are you working on some other goal? Have you tried the baby step approach? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Cruising through the Holidays

Planning ahead makes all the difference! That’s what I say when people ask me if I’m stressed this holiday season. No, I don’t have all my shopping done, but I feel good about where I am with it – and everything else.

I decorated two weeks ago. The main reason that’s done is because I kept it simple: Christmas tree, mantel decorations, nativity scene. My family doesn’t care about elaborate decorations, as long as we have the basics!

As far as keeping up with writing goes, I managed that by setting smaller goals. This is an area where I’m not always successful–I’m hopeful that means I’ve learned from those times I wasn’t!

Here’s what I accomplished this week:

  • Hangar 18 – write up front and back matter
  • Hangar 18 – create full cover for paperback
  • Physical activity 5x this week – partial – got it in 4x

I’ve already met my ROW80 goals for the overall quarter. In addition to Hangar 18: Legacy, which is now with my editor, I’d like to release Times Two, the ebook-only boxed set of my Saturn Society novels. Since they are all already written and edited, and I already have a cover design, that leaves formatting. It would be great to get this out before Christmas. The ROW is over on Thursday, and check-in day is on Wednesday, so before then, I’d like to accomplish:

  • Times Two – assemble boxed set and format for Smashwords
  • Physical activity 5x this week (2-3x by Thursday)

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? Are you ready for the ROW to be over–and are you ready for the holidays??

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Just Say No… to Stress, and ROW80

Last year around this time, I put up a post on ways I’ve found to deal with all the extra stuff we have to do around the holidays, that can add greatly to our stress level if we aren’t careful. One of those was evaluating which holiday events we really need to attend… and which we can gracefully decline.

My primary decision-making process for this is quite simple: just ask yourself these questions:

  • If I don’t go, will someone be disappointed or hurt?
  • Are there people there I care about, who won’t understand why I can’t make it?
  • If I don’t go, will it adversely impact me (for example, career or business issues)?
  • Are these people who don’t live nearby, and whom I don’t see at other times of the year?
  • Do I really want to go? (<- This one is the most important!)
I had to make one of those decisions yesterday… then woke up not feeling well, so that pretty much made the decision for me. I felt well enough to sit at my computer and play games, and the party I had to skip was one where my friends understood.

I also got some work done, including my ROW80 goals for the week! Here are the details:

  • Hangar 18 – finish type-in – Done!
  • Hangar 18 – get answers for new/remaining few research questions, and send to editor – Done!
  • Hangar 18 – put together book info sheet – Done!
  • Physical activity 5x this week – Done! (Good thing I did it Monday – Friday!)

I’ve already met my ROW80 goals for the overall quarter. But I’m not going to take the next week and a half off. There’s still much to be done, although with the holidays coming and all the extra to-do that entails, I am going for small goals. So for this week, I’d like to:

  • Hangar 18 – write up front and back matter
  • Hangar 18 – create full cover (for paperback – ebook/front cover already done)
  • Physical activity 5x this week

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? Do you have any tips on beating holiday stress? If so, please share – I’m always looking for more!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

I won! Or did I?

Wednesday night, I hit a milestone: at last, the word count meter in the status bar of WriteWayPro registered 50,123. I was done with my NaNoWriMo novel!

I actually finished the novel a few days earlier, on Sunday night… with a word count of only a little over 46,000. Not enough. But I’d left a bunch of plot holes and dropped subplot threads, which I’d normally tackle in revision. Instead of moving to another project, I decided to tie some of those up, and that got me to 50,123 on Wednesday night.

I was elated! I exported my document to Word, fearing my word count would change, and it did – to 50,006. But that’s still over 50,000, right?

I entered my new wordcount into the NaNoWriMo website, and the “I’m ready to validate my novel” link appeared. I pasted my whole dang book in…

And no winner bar appeared. Instead, the wordcount I’d entered now read 49,926. What???!!

So I went back and added that author’s note, just a short one. Re-exported, and re-entered. This time, I made it over 50,000 words and got my Winner! graphics.

Here’s the details on my ROW80 goals for this past week:

  • Finish NaNoWriMo novel – Done!
  • If NaNo novel is less than 50k, write author’s note and/or nonfiction project to add up to 50k – Done!
  • Physical activity 5x this week – partial – I got it in 4x
  • Hangar 18 – review and markup Chapters 13 & 14 – Done!

Here are my overall goals for this round:

  • Format and release OVRWA holiday story anthology – Done and now available!
  • Revise Hangar 18 – revisions/markup done, corrections typed in through Chapter 10 (of 14)
  • Keep up with my exercise, five times a week – ongoing
  • Win NaNoWriMo -Done!
So that means I’ve already met my revised ROW80 goals, how about that??
But I’m not going to take the next two and a half weeks off. There’s still much to be done, although with the holidays coming and all the extra to-do that entails, I am going for small goals. So for this week, I’d like to:
  • Hangar 18 – finish type-in
  • Hangar 18 – get answers for new/remaining few research questions, and send to editor
  • Hangar 18 – put together book info sheet (blurbs of varying lengths, and other details needed for publishing)
  • Physical activity 5x this week

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, how did you do? And either way, have you ever finished a big task, only to find out that you weren’t finished after all?

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

When the Other Half’s Away…

…the writer will play! Or will she??

Not if it’s November, and she’s participating in NaNoWriMo!

Well, okay, maybe a little.

Oh, you want an explanation? Okay. It’s that time of the year that really helps a writer out. No, really.

It’s hunting season (the other helpful time being “football season”). How so? Well, to be specific, this week is gun season for deer in Ohio, which means my more-sociable half is away at deer hunting camp with lots of guys, lots of guns, and lots of beer (for after the guns are put away!). This means there’s lots of quiet in my house. I don’t think the TV has even been on in the past two days. The one in the room where my computer is hasn’t been on since he left the other day.

It’s been weird. And good for the word count – I finished my NaNoWriMo novel on Sunday night.

And as noted in Sunday’s post, fell short of the 50,000 words required to win NaNoWriMo – my book clocked in at only 46,000.

I was going to write an author’s note (wow, that would have to be a long one!) or do some work for a nonfiction technical piece. Then I came to another realization: There were holes in my book. Lots of ’em – maybe as many of them as there was beer at that deer camp earlier this week. But mostly, I had a fraying book – tons of dropped threads, subplots that were introduced but never tied up. This is something I often do (doesn’t every writer? No?) and then go back and catch these suckers in revision.

But usually, I need to cut words. This time, I need to add, so why not add something I’d add anyway, now?

So that’s what I’ve been doing. My NaNo novel is right on schedule for a win tonight or tomorrow, currently sitting at 48,442 words.

I’ll leave the rest of the ROW80 recap for Sunday.

Oh, and my DH is due home today, but he called yesterday with good news: he got one! Looks like there will be some good eating in our house this winter (he’s also a very good cook)!

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, are you on track to win, have you already won, or have you already conceded that you’ll not hit that 50k (which I don’t necessarily consider “losing”)?

I haven’t spotted any new releases from my writer friends the past couple of weeks, so no WANA Wednesday book news this week. I think many of my writing buddies are doing the same thing I am – writing! If you know of any, give me a heads up in the comments, please?

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

ROW80: Running out of Story

My NaNoWriMo book has come along quite a ways this week… in fact, I expect to finish it today or tomorrow.

And I don’t expect to hit 50,000 words until Wednesday or Thursday.

In other words, I’m running out of story. And I’m a bit shocked – if anything, my work usually runs long, just ask anyone who’s read Time’s Enemy or especially Time’s Fugitive. Even my short story, “Time’s Holiday,” clocked in at over 7,000 in its first draft, and the Home for the Holidays anthology required it to be 5,000 or under. It turned out I had some repetitious stuff, and stuff that wasn’t absolutely vital to the story that I could cut, and I whittled it down to size while making it a much better book.

The NaNo novel is already lean – there’s almost no description in it. That’s something I usually have to layer in during revision, but it’s even more scant in this book than usual. Then again, I’m just now getting to the big boss battle, and I do write long, so this may take up the words after all.

If I don’t, I have a plan. I can add an author’s note, and see how much that adds. If it’s not enough, I can start in on a little nonfiction project I’ve been meaning to write for a while – an instruction manual, of sorts, for my web design clients.

Here’s the details on my progress for this past week:

  • 12,000 words on NaNoWriMo novel, to a total of 43,000 words or more – Done!
  • Physical activity 5x this week – partial – got 4x in – not bad for having a holiday!
  • Hangar 18 – review and markup Chapters 11-12 – Done!

Here are my overall goals for this round:

  • Format and release OVRWA holiday story anthology – Done and now available!
  • Revise Hangar 18 – revisions/markup done through Chapter 12  (of 14)
  • Keep up with my exercise, five times a week – ongoing
  • Win NaNoWriMo – on track with 43,063 words so far!
For this week, I’d like to:
  • Finish NaNoWriMo novel
  • If NaNo novel is less than 50k, write author’s note and/or nonfiction project to add up to 50k
  • Physical activity 5x this week
  • Hangar 18 – review and markup Chapters 13 & 14

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, are you on track to win, have you already won, or have you already conceded that you’ll not hit that 50k (which I don’t necessarily consider “losing”)?

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

ROW80: NaNoWriMo, Day 18

My lack of planning is making my NaNoWriMo book a challenge. As a recap, I set my daily writing goals a little differently than the standard 1,667 words/day – instead, I write 1,500 words four weeknights, and 3,000 words on both Saturday and Sunday to meet my overall goal. But I didn’t get my 3k in yesterday until 10:30 PM – and I didn’t do much of anything else all day.

I have to outline, and I did outline this book, too. However, many of my scenes were just a few words of what would happen. And I’m finding that that’s not always enough. I need to know what’s the conflict, and who or  what the antagonist is in any given scene, and many of my notes did not have this. I also got hung up on details, and spent a lot of time thinking how something specific would happen, which is something we need to ditch in order to meet the high word count goals of NaNoWriMo. I did manage to get it together just in time, so my progress is still on track, although I did not get as much done on  my revisions for Hangar 18 as I’d have liked, and I had some other things to do yesterday that now will have to be done today. Things like laundry, keeping in touch with family and friends, and some graphic design work I’m doing for my brother, who’s in the process of starting a business. Good thing I have my blogs mostly set up! Oh, and I’m hosting Thanksgiving for my family. I’m taking the day before and the day after off of work – I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get some extra time in there, and keep my wordcount on track.

Here’s my progress for this past week:

  • 12,000 words on NaNoWriMo novel, to a total of 30,000 words or more – Done!
  • Physical activity 5x this week – partial – Done!
  • Hangar 18 – review and markup Chapters 10-11 – Partial – I got Chapter 10 marked up.

Here are my overall goals for this round:

  • Format and release OVRWA holiday story anthology – Done and now available!
  • Revise Hangar 18 – revisions/markup done through Chapter 10
  • Keep up with my exercise, five times a week – ongoing
  • Win NaNoWriMo – on track with 31,178 words so far!
For this week, I’d like to:
  • 12,000 more words on NaNoWriMo novel, bringing its total up to 43,000
  • Physical activity 5x this week
  • Hangar 18 – review and markup Chapters 11 & 12

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? If you’re in the U.S., what are your plans for Thanksgiving, and do they affect your goal setting this week, especially if you’re doing NaNoWriMo?

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.