NaNoWriMo 2006: The Abyssmal Failure

OK, so it's long past time for me to comment on my abyssmal failure that was NaNoWriMo 2006.

Previously, I posted about my excitement over the event and publicized plans to blog my novel, The Wrong Target. Obviously that never materialized. Life is funny. Only a few days after I released that post, the hubby and I learned that our lives will be forever changed, and my energy reserves were struck by a little whammy known as the first trimester.

That's right folks, the opinionated stubborn loudmouths of the Ropers and Ruane clans are reproducing. I think all three of my readers have already heard the news, but the warning bears repeating: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Anyway, it's been interesting trying to balance work, building a house, writing a novel, and being pregnant, not to mention everything else that goes along with ordinary life, all at one time. I've learned to say "no." I've learned to delegate. And I've learned the meaning of "good enough." Those last two were tough, me being a perfectionistic control freak and all. (Not that you'd know this from the state of our townhouse. Go talk to the FlyLady about her theories on perfectionism and housecleaning.)

So I said "no" to NaNoWriMo. I'd already resumed work on The Accidental Stalker for my writing group, and couldn't fathom finishing it in time to make a solid effort on The Wrong Target in the month of November. There was also no way that I was going to manage 50,000 words in a single month while simultaneously holding down a full-time job, being banned from caffiene, and suddenly being ready for a three-hour nap every day around 2:30 pm. Remember that in 2005, when there was no house or kid on the way, I survived on pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks and still didn't quite reach half the word goal.

So now there are two new goals: get ready for baby and build the house. Sure, I'll be writing and knitting along the way, but who knows what life is going to look like five months from now? Certainly not me...