So many words, so little time

It's time for another check in from the world of furious writing...

Today is November 24. IF I were on track word-count-wise, I would have 40,0008 words under my belt. As of last night, I have 28,561 - which means that I have 11,447 to crank out today just to catch up to where I should be!

Why am I so behind? Life. Life gets in the way. If you don't have a family; if you don't have a job; if you don't participate in the various cultural rituals (holidays), making a daily word count of 1667 would be SO easy!!! Some participants of NaNoWriMo have far surpassed even the ultimate goal of 50,000 words already - and there's a week left to go. But for the most part, the participants are people like me who have families and jobs and expectations of performance in areas OTHER than writing. That's why it's such a challenge. 50,000 words is absolutely doable, but for most of us, it's still difficult. There are some nights when I know I should bang out a few thousand words, but I'm so sleepy that even if I were to stay up to do it, it would be nothing but gibberish the next morning. I'd like to finish this month with a manuscript that I can actually work with. That includes words in English.

My Darling Man is coming to my rescue. He has given me the gift of time. It was supposed to start yesterday, but between granddaughter coming to stay and my son getting sick, it wasn't exactly feasible. But this afternoon, I will be checking into a hotel and writing to my heart's content. I can stay up as late as I want to. I don't have to wipe anyone's nose or fix anyone's dinner or wash dishes or pick up dirty laundry or any of the things that stand between me and my keyboard.

I doubt I'll finish, but I'll get back on track and hopefully a little ahead. My story is getting pretty interesting. The characters are acting up and doing unexpected things. One major character has died so far and I have a feeling that another isn't going to be far behind. And the officiating priest at the funeral is just looking for trouble. My job is to make sure he finds it!

So wish me luck. You know, I may have to turn this into a yearly ritual!