Back on Track - I think! (Hywela Lyn)

I apologise for my post this month going up late. I have acute Nanoitis.  The symptoms are extreme forgetfulness, manic depression, singlemindedness, mental/writers block and an  irrespressable urge to do nothing but eat chocolate.

In other words I'm attempting National Novel Writing Month for the third year running.  The first year wasn't too bad, I knew pretty well where I was going, and had the story more or less mapped in my mind.  Ditto last year, and I reached the finishing line in both years with a few thousand words to spare.,

This year was different.I wasn't going to do it.  I have too much on, and besides, I told my long suffering husband, Dave, I haven't a clue what to write. The only thing my muse has come up with is a short story written about twenty years ago which I always intended to expand on. That was it.  "You've GOT to do it, he told me, "You have to make it three years running." Huh?  What could I say.  So I duly registered my title and started typing, making about five chapters out of the idea for the original story before getting stuck in the middle.

"Put in a horse," said the helpful husband.  Well, yes, in a post-apocalyptical world we're going to need horses, and if my heroine is to save the Earth she has to be able to get around.  So that accounted for several more chapters and got me moving again.

Next time I hit the brick wall of 'death-to- my-story-it's-rubbish-and-I-don't- know-where-I'm going' he resorted to bribary and corruption. See that - balanced right on top of my bookcase next to my computer desk? It's a giant Toblerone bar, all of eighteen inches long, thick and tempting - and well beyond the reach of little ol' five foot nothing me.  It's promised for when I reach 50,000 words. (Is mental cruelty still grounds for divorce?) 

Between our annual Christmas shopping visit to Redwings Horse sanctuary (They have a lovely gift shop), caring for my own two beloved horses, and dogwalking etc., I'd slipped behind last week by about fifteen thousand words, and wondered if I'd ever catch up, but the lure of the promised Toblerone spurred me on and I'm now at just over 45,100 words.  Will I do it?  I have until midnight tomorrow to find out. It wasn't helped by my computer giving up this morning, but some cuss words and the 'system restore' facility (bless it) got it going again, eventually. The burning question is - what happens to the chocolate Toblerone if I don't make the finish line?  Will He-Who-Thinks- He's-Obeyed eat it all in one go? 

Whatever happens, one thing I'm happy about is that by 1st December I'll have up to fifty thousand words (or possibly even more) which I didn't have before I started NaNo. And that's an achievement in itself so, chocolate or no chocolate, it will still have been worthwhile.

You can find out more about me and my books on my wesite at www.hywelalyn.co.uk. I blog at Hywelalyn.blogspot.com, and I'm on Twitter @Hywela_Lyn and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HywelaLyn