NaNoWriMo does make it awfully easy to think of titles for blog posts. I’m going to call that one of its virtues. The other is definitely how much house-cleaning I’m doing. I’m not sure why the writer guilt of not getting enough words done is driving me to complete all the household chores that I’ve been ignoring for months and sometimes years, but it is, and my house is probably happy for it. Yesterday, I scrubbed my tub, reorganized the bathroom counters, vacuumed my bedroom, bathroom, living room and dining room, changed the sheets on my bed, did more laundry, including folding and putting it away and today I’ve already started organizing the garage to take a load of stuff to the Goodwill drop off. Yes, just past 8AM and I’ve been working in the garage already. Writing words already? Not so much.

I broke 800 words yesterday–less than half of the total needed to reach my goals. And I greatly fear that when I read them today I am going to hate them. I was writing in the point of view of my male character and really struggling with his voice. I have a clear picture of him in my head and it’s competing with my notions of what a hero in a romance novel is supposed to be. I need to keep reminding myself that it’s a first draft, and if I get the words down first, I can fix them later, but it’s hard. I want to get him right. I want him to be the guy that my imagination sees him as while also being appealing to my reader. I think I need to trust myself more, though. And maybe trust my readers, too. Cam’s first appearance should show that he has a sense of fun. I hope it will carry him through a current period of angst-y torment and somewhat asshole-ish behavior without alienating the audience. Or me, for that matter.

Anyway, onwards I go. I am hoping for a solid word count today, but my plan is vague and my characters weren’t talking to me on my morning walk. At least not the ones I need to hear from. But I’ve got solid chunks of time today and motivation and hey, my fingers are all warmed up. Let’s see what I can do with that!

Good luck to those of you writing. I hope today is a stellar day for all of us!