Novel Writing, Halloween Candy, and Road Racing

Updates, updates, updates

I am off to a big start with my venture into National Novel Writing Month. As a freelance writer, I have to churn out hundreds of words in a matter of minutes, which I think has really helped me to be able to write quickly (though I'm not sure how well).

"The night was sultry."

I may put some portions of my project up here so that others can read my NaNoWriMo effort. I think the feedback would help me a great deal, but I'm not sure that I'll have the time or will to do anything about any suggestions offered to me. Just getting through the words is a feat in and of itself.

In other news, I am thrilled to say that I have (mostly) stayed out of the kids' Halloween candy. Being told I must avoid sugar is a big help to keeping me from raiding the trick-or-treat buckets each day. When there is chocolate in the next room, and lots of it, the temptation is pretty strong. My will is stronger though - even stronger than fun sized Snickers bars. I did, however, pull out everything that was sugar-free. I never knew a Werther's Original could taste so good.

Because I fell off the blogging wagon, my hand full of readers don't know that I did run in the Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon on October 20. I finished the 1/2, which seems like such a short run until I ran about eight miles. Then it seemed like a crazy, stupid idea. By 10 miles, I was ready to give up. In fact, I told one of the pacers that I wanted to turn around and go back. She didn't think it was as funny as I did. I enjoyed the scenery, but the race itself was not that fun. First of all, I was ill-prepared for the hills. I knew it was a hilly course. I didn't know it was a HILLY course. My mostly indoor training left me aching for three days after the run. Second, I think that the still (at that time) untreated Hashimoto's was a big culprit in my energy levels. By the time I reached that 8 or 9 mile mark, I could feel my body shutting down. Energy went from and eight to a negative three.

I am tentatively planning on running in the Eisenhower Marathon next April. But before I can do that, I need to buy a new pair of running shoes. I threw mine away as soon as I got home from the race and haven't gone for a run since. This weekend is Operation Adidas (because I know I won't spend the $$ on those Newtons I covet so).

NaNoWriMo

With November comes National Novel Writing Month and this year I have decided to take part in the challenge. 

I am a writer, but I am decidedly not a fiction writer. Years ago I tried to write fiction. I even completed a novel length manuscript at one point, but it took most of a year and was, to put it mildly, not good. I shopped it around with a few publishers and was widely rejected with great fervor. The only press that was willing to publish my novel was a vanity press that asked for an investment in exchange for the novel's production. I had neither the will nor the funds to follow through with this. Thus ended my aspirations of becoming a published novelists.

There were a couple of times in the past when I tried NaNoWriMo. I had what I thought was a pretty good idea about a group of lovable losers who worked for an underground organization to try to overthrow the government or something. I don't know. It's been a while. Another time, I had a great idea for a book title, but no substance to back it up.

I have not tried to write fiction in years. Now, because I think this will be a great way to relate with my dear, sweet son who loves to write, I am going to give it a shot. Who knows? It could end up being a lot of fun and it could improve my day-to-day work exponentially.

On the other hand, where am I going to find time to churn out 50,000 words?