Every year when the month of November sets in, a yearly movement automatically takes effect for writers. The movement that began in 1999 was spearheaded by freelance writer Chris Batty and aimed to motivate writers to finish their story in a month with a minimum number of 50,000 words! This movement is called Nanowrimo, short for, National Novel Writing Month.
I joined Nano twice in the past but opted not to last year.
This 2019, I heeded the call and figured that my past experience at Nano was enough to get me through this year. It would be the jumpstart that I needed to get back on track with my writing and foster that sense of discipline and commitment to at least write 1700 words a day in order to reach the target goal. Other writers who are unable to write everyday make up for it when the weekend comes or makes sure that they double their productivity when their time allows them to write. As it is, every writer has their own process or processes and it's the end result that matters. One cannot edit what one has not yet written. In the past, NaNoWriMo provided me the chance to commit to a task that helped me finish two drafts for 2 separate stories. A Y/A paranormal story and my first venture into gay erotica called Take Me Now, which is available for both Kindle and Kobo. Perhaps I was overconfident this year or perhaps I didn't anticipate personal family matters inundating me and sapping all my energy to write as consistently as I had hoped to. Mom has been in and out of the hospital since October. If it's not pneumonia or dehydration or low blood count, it's a combo of two or all three combined. It's December now and we're still in the hospital and she is beset with one complication after another. Just when you think that you've hurdled through, another one comes to take its place. It has been like this for the past month that we have been here. It is exhausting and tiring. Not just for us but most especially for her.
Mom has what her neuro doctor call Lewy Body Dementia. It's a milder and different form of dementia. Although different from Alzheimer's, the basic core of forgetting what you used to do or can do is at the heart of things. While so far with varied medication her condition seems to be have been kept at bay and from progressing further, other matters have come into play to complicate things. Like the site of where her hip surgery was 10 years ago and a tumor that was discovered that lay beneath it, to a point that it pushed the socket out of her hip! The only silver lining from this is that the tumor is cushioning the dislocated hip and thus sparing her from further pain. At this point, we only want that she be spared from pain. And any instance that would lessen or dampen her pain to a point of non-existence is a blessing that we are more happy to take any given day. While I don't mean to pour out my woes in this blog entry and veer off-topic, these are the ever-growing conditions that have barred my way to be more focused and consistent this past month and also the same condition that I have to fight this December in order just to keep a semblance of productivity and continued content. I do hope that your own Christmas season is looking to be more bright and chipper. Let the people who matter know that they matter. Let the people who don't matter find their own reality. And let the people who feel that you matter give you what you need and deserve this holiday season. May the God and Goddess watch over you all. Namaste. Blessed Be!