Hey guys! How’s it going? I realize I haven’t been around much in the last month or so. My initial plan was to post an updated every night that featured my word count and some thoughts, but eventually I realized that I could get even more words written if I just kept working on the story.

I did win, just so you know. I would have felt like a toolshed if I’d disappeared for the better part of a month and didn’t have a victory to show for it. My final word count was 50,113, and it was a good start for this story (which takes place forty years after this semi-canonical snippet).

Insert smooth segue here.

Updating this blog (kind of) daily was a great exercise, and I don’t think I would have been able to do Nano without the Rocky-montage that July through October was for my development as a writer. I had some great ideas, some terrible ideas, and developed consistency. The blog as an outlet is definitely going to stay. But how, exactly? My goal has been publication (and hopefully a career change), and the blog hasn’t done anything to contribute to that, since I tend to write something, post it, and forget about it. I have plenty of practice with first drafts, but I’ve neglected the revision process. That’s like saying you’re training for a marathon by stretching a lot — it’s just one part of the regimen.

Apart from writing, there is a whole bunch of other stuff I want to do, and it will definitely be taking up potential blogging time. Now that I don’t feel like I have zero free time, I’m going to make a point to chip away at all the stuff I’ve been putting off for “sometime in the future.”

So, the question now is, “What do I do with the blog?” I’m open to suggestions.

Last day of NaNo. Feels like college — stuff is due, and I’m avoiding it. I have less than 5k to write today, which is more than doable. I’ll have an actual update tomorrow (or maybe Tuesday. I kind of want to overdo it on the video games tomorrow night) in which I will reflect on NaNo and ramble incoherently about what I may or may not do with this blog moving forward.

EDIT: 50k at 10pm!

I hit 40k last night. I think I can do this.

Prior to this month, I thought I had no free time. Well, not literally zero free time, but it felt pretty small and weak. I said it was hard to find time to do anything other than sit around. Then I found myself in the throes of NaNo.

I think everyone should participate in NaNo. Not because I think everyone should be forced to do something they may or may not want to do, but because of what it shows you. I discovered that I have all kinds of free time if I’m not wasting it on video games.

The reason? Video games pass the time very quickly. An hour is microscopic unit of time when you’re busy being awesome. What shocked me was that nothing else is really like that. An hour of writing feels long. A half hour on the treadmill feels really long. Suddenly I feel like I can do more than one thing on a given night and not have to rush through any of it.

Does that mean I’m swearing off the games? Not likely. I’ve got a stack I need to get through, and I’m sure several on the way from Mr. Claus, so I’m not on the verge of quitting. But I realized the main thing holding me back from everything I want to do is the gaming, and not a lack of time to pursue other interests.

Words: 16,836