NaNoWriMo - The Middle

This has been one wet, blustery and cold autumn week! Virginia was in the last throes of Tropical Storm IDA, which passed over us. It didn't feel very tropical! It became more of a nor'easter and had all those bone-chilling characteristics. Today is better; sunshiney and pleasant.

The month of NaNoWriMo is nearing its midway point, and I am further behind the corresponding word count midpoint of 25,000 words than I’d like to admit. Still, hope springs eternal and I tell myself there is the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend to use to catch up. This week's published author's pep talk by Maureen Johnson assures us that this "Middle" (as she calls it) is THE place to be. An author's secret paradise where they live in their pajamas and drink carafe after carafe of cold coffee! Hmmm. I'll have to get back to you on that.

It isn’t a matter of writer’s block or a shortage of ideas. Life just seems to get in the way – and when I say life, I am referring mostly to work – and television. Even though I work only the ‘normal’ 40 hour week, the older I get, the more exhausted I am by the end of the day. After spending all day at the computer, the last thing that appeals to me is sitting down in front of another keyboard for three or four hours. Instead, I am enticed by a different type of screen - the television screen. The TV is a kind and gentle friend. The TV requires absolutely nothing of me. It only asks that I sit there and stare at it. It really doesn’t even care if I fall asleep while staring at it; which happens more often than I’d like to admit. And, now it’s hooked me with programming. Always Jeopardy, but that leads into the 8pm show – which on Monday is "Dancing with the Stars". I normally wouldn’t care for this type of show, but they always seem to sign one celebrity that I have at least an obscure interest in. This season it is Kelly Osborne, and I’ll be damned if she hasn’t lasted until the final four! Tuesday is "So You Think You Can Dance", which I began watching during the auditions, and thinking, 'these dancers will never be as good as the ones in Joshua and Katie’s season', and then I stuck around to make sure I was right! Oh, immediately after "Dancing", is the new "Castle" series – part Moonlighting, part Law and Order, part Criminal Minds/Profiler – plus, the guy that plays "Castle" is real easy on the eyes. So, that takes care of Mon, Tues and Wed (the 'results' show). Then comes The Office and Housewives of WhereEver on Thursday, and Say Yes to the Dress and Criminal Minds on Friday!

Reading over this, it quickly becomes apparent that my life is scheduled around TV. OMG, my daughter is right! Okay, self-realization check. Kicking this damn TV habit could only be beneficial to my writing health! So, right here, in black and white, I solemnly swear to turn off my (large, flat-screened) television for the next 16 days...or I until reach 50,000 written words, which ever comes first. Hold me to that, will you?