On NaNo-Eve...

I figured that today was a good day for an update, seeing as I won't be doing one for the next month with NaNoWriMo starting in 9 hours.... 

Wait?!?!?! 9 HOURS!?!?!?!?! Where did the time go?!?!?!

Sigh.

First, an update on Shadow Runner (my NaNo novel for the previous two years). My goal had been to finish the edits on this before NaNo started this year... You see, last year I tried to 'take a break' from it and work on a different novel for NaNo. That didn't work. At all. However, I finished the first draft during NaNo last year, so I'm not complaining. :) This year has been full of...life...and my progress has been slower than desired (to put it mildly). I'm still somewhere between 50%-60% through the first draft, BUT I believe I may actually have a first scene!!!!!! (Yes, that was in question...I've had at least a dozen, none of them really worked well.) So that's a huge breakthrough that was slowing me down to a grinding halt! I have a couple scenes to write/rework in the beginning, then back to the midway+ point to finish the edits so that people can look at it! I'M SO EXCITED!!! I still have the goal of having this finished by the end of the year.

What does November look like for me? I'm planning on working on Child of Blessing this month. I'm REALLY hoping to finish it (HA! Eternal optimism...) for NaNo. Theoretically, that should be possible. It's a middle grade fantasy novel, so the 50K word count is about right. This is an idea I've been playing around with for a while now. I tried adding some structure to it, but it was too early in the process for me and that backfired horribly. I have been unable to write on it for several months because of that, but I'm hoping that the time off has reset my brain and I can move forward from here.

What I'm a bit worried about/could really use prayers for:

1) Time management. I've been a mess in this area lately. A mess. My life needs to get organized, but when I try to think of it I just get a bigger headache.

2) Being able to let Shadow Runner rest. I am driven to finish it. I don't know if I'll be able to stop and work on something else for November. NaNo may turn into an editing month for me and I'll do CoB in December...or January?

3) Taking care of myself. I haven't been exercising or eating well or sleeping well or doing my daily devotions for weeks (vacation really messed everything up - although I really enjoyed seeing everyone!). I'm one big bundle of REALLY tight neck/shoulder/back muscles and my head hurts. Yeah. Not a great way to start NaNo. (But I'm determined to tackle ALL of the messes! Lord, have mercy!)

4) Not having my OK NaNo peeps around. I've missed my in-person crit group a lot since moving. They gave me SO MUCH enthusiasm to get back to writing every week! I've signed up for a meet up/write in with some Indy NaNoers on Tuesday nights, so hopefully that will go well and I'll have an in-person thing again.

Okay. So there you have it. My mess of a "I'm starting NaNo in a few hours" blog post. I'd love to do some word sprints with you all this month! I'm lissajean over on the NaNo page and @lissajean7 on Twitter. Okie Dokie...I need to get some dinners prepped for the next few days and one of the twins in crying...gotta go check that out. :) HAVE A GREAT MONTH!!! :)