This week has been a good one for my current novel. For those of you who don’t know, I have been writing a novel, a NEW novel, since last November. I participated in last year’s NaNoWriMo, and then after letting the story marinate for several months, I picked it up again a month ago. This week I made a decision to write over my lunch hours, and it’s been progressing well. One of the reasons I had put it down to “marinate” was that I wasn’t that happy of the direction the story had taken, but now that I’ve rewritten a couple of sections, things are going nicely. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

It’s the time of year for the weather to go all crazy, warm one day, sunny the next, snowy and rainy the next.

It’s the time of year for it to be dark by the time I get out of work in the evenings.

It’s the time of year for various colds and flus to make the rounds at the office.

I am currently fighting something off, whether it’s a cold or a flu, but I’m not a happy camper. I’m feeling just that little bit off that I’m crabby and generally not in a good mood. At least tonight I’m at home just relaxing. I watched a few of my shows, and am now watching my Habs play the Leafs again (it’s 0-0 so far near the end of the first period.) It’s nice to just relax at home. Last week I was just out and about almost every night, what with trivia and Carmina & Richard in town from Houston. Just wildness. I’m definitely not in my 20’s anymore!

And so now I relax at home, trying to write some more for Nano while watching the game. I’m getting closer to my goal of 25K, which is good, but I’m not feeling particularly inspired right now. Sigh. I should get back to the writing. Sometimes it’s useful to just start slogging away and keep writing. It may not be pretty, but it’ll be progress.

1. I woke up with another headache this morning, which I am not pleased about. After a battery of drugs, it seems to have receded somewhat, which means this is just a weather-related one. The Weather Witch is in the house, look out.
2. Drivers in the GTA forget how to drive over the weekend, so that on Monday morning, they’re all prematurely breaking, or forgetting that the left lane is for passing, or that the gas pedal is on the right.
3. I laugh every morning when I hear ads on the radio for the Toronto Laser Clinic. This is the clinic that was in the news a couple of months ago after a 37-year old woman died after having liposuction done at this clinic. It turns out the doctors there aren’t licensed Plastic Surgeons, but only “certified” in plastic surgery, whatever that means.
4. Drinking my espresso out of my new espresso cups seems to have eliminated that slight burnt taste I was getting from it. How is this possible? Is it a change in pouring method? Is it because I’m not pouring out the entire machine anymore? Who knows.
5. Speaking of coffee, I forgot to mention that while out shopping on the weekend, I was in a kitchen supply store, and saw my Mukka Express on the shelf. This is a stove-top cappuccino maker that I purchased while in Italy in May. My zia Lelia said this thing works like a charm, that my cousin Matteo finds it quite handy. I also enjoy cappuccinos, but don’t like paying the $4 price at the local coffee shop. So I was curious about this machine. While I have yet to use it (I keep forgetting as it’s still in the box at the back of one of my cupboards), what shocked me this weekend was the price tag. I purchased the machine for around 35 Euros in May. I saw it at this store here in the GTA for $99. Yep, you heard me, $99. Even with the crappy exchange rate back in May, that 35 Euro machine was only about $42 or so, not $99. I have no idea where they got that price, but I’m sure glad I got mine in Italy.
6. Tonight I’m off to play trivia with Melanie and her team. They need a sub for three weeks, so I volunteered. It’s in a really cool trivia league that has very cool rules. One round is always Canadiana, one is an audio round, and the rest are all trivia, but fun, sometimes obscure trivia. Lots of fun. I look forward to it.
7. I’m only past the 5500 word mark in Nano, which is severely lower than where I should be. I should be at almost 17K words by now, so you can see I’m falling behind. But I’m really finding it difficult to find time to write. At least I know where the story’s going, so when I do find those 5 or 10 minutes, I’m able to write, but still, I’m feeling a little frustrated. Maybe this Hollywood writers strike will help out so that I am able to ignore the temptation to watch my shows and just write. Who knows. Keep your eyes on the meter over on the right and see if I’m able to keep things up.

Okay, now it’s time to go earn the bacon at work.

*Pat*Pat*  *Pat*Pat*

That’s the sound of me patting myself on the back. I crossed the 5000 word barrier last night! My story is taking shape, and Julian (the hero, I’ve always liked that name) is getting into some serious trouble right now. Based on the excerpt I posted on my profile page, you would have thought that he was already in trouble, but nuh-uh. He’s in the thick of it now.

Oops, as my sister pointed out in a comment yesterday, yes, I did miss posting yesterday. Guess my NaNoWriBloMo isn’t going as planned.

I was just so distracted yesterday that I completely forgot!

Score so far…

NaNoWriBloMo: 5 and 1 (5 days with posts, one missed day)

NaNoWriMo: 3400 out of 50,000 (I should really be at about 8000 words to get to 50,000 by the end of the month *sigh*)