NaNo - It's Not Over Yet!

Yes, I know. This information is probably the last thing you poor NaNoers (a brilliant word coined from my writing friend, Anna R.) want to hear. But it's true. NaNo just is NOT OVER. If you've already quit, then I don't blame you, but I won't applaud you either. In fact, I may go as far as to encourage you back.... :) You think you have little or no hope of ever getting through this ongoing NaNo? Well, pal, you're wrong. Even if you quit on the second day and haven't written a word since, there's still time. NaNo is not over yet. You can do it, don't you think? Hmm, no? Well, then let me tell you some of my own lovely NaNo experiences to show you otherwise...


Not my image.

My Week One: Election! Everyone's talking about it, and I had to watch my siblings for a while so my parents could vote, and then, instead of writing, I stood vigil over the election channel to see who won. I stayed up to my new record, I think, at a quarter past TWO IN THE MORNING. The next day I was 2k behind because of this (but, hey, my vigil paid off!). I am now having to start writing in the car on the way to things to get it done, especially because of the fact that I am not at home Sundays and Wednesdays, due to choir. I also realized that I was typing the thing up about 75% slower than I was actually writing it. :P Then, I finally contact a friend who was previously unable to contact me, and she wants to email chat (which, btw, I LOVE doing, but it I am turning  it into a procrastination excuse). So.... Then, I am devouring my All Hallow's Eve candy waaaaaaaaaaay too fast... Not good. And that's only week one.

Not my image, but it looks delicious.

During the rest of the time so far passed in NaNo, I have had three different days when I thought of quitting, and one where I actually shut the book, put it down, and went to bed rather than finishing the fifteen pages that had not been written that needed to be. Now, I am suffering from the consequences from the day I (didn't) quit. But, I am still catching up, I guess.
However, I am almost fifty pages behind. :P And then, due to typing it up being slow and getting in the way of actually writing it, I made a bold, perhaps too bold, choice. I stopped typing it up. I calculated mathematically how many pages I need to reach my goal by the end of the day in a notebook.
This has made the writing go faster, so maybe - by some amazing hope - I have a chance of finishing before the end of November and then typing up the rest of it in that span as well. Well, I did say 'maybe'...
And then, there is the factor of forgetting what is supposed to be happening and having to re-check my scene-plot every other page. I also have started suffering from dizzy spells. All over the place, especially in the evening/afternoon, in the dark, and in the car. Dizzy spells. Where I feel like my head's going to fall off or I am going to collapse, whilst my core is panicking nauseously because is can't keep me up. And then, in the more serious ones, like in the car, where I can't immediately get water, my vision starts getting slightly shaky. I have to shake my head around (which causes more dizziness, of course) to even keep it from getting spotty in these lovely cases. And of course it had to start happening during NaNo. I almost never get sick in the car, or get that dizzy at all, anywhere. But, somehow, once November started, it opened me up to this unpleasantness. Of course it couldn't have waited. Of course it couldn't have just passed after the first couple times. Of course it had to recur. And so, that is another reason I am behind.
And then there's more sibling-watching. And then schoolwork, which, btw, I am almost three days behind in. :P And then there's my reading. It's been almost nonexistent, which is shameful. And then, I am supposed to be remembering not to have dairy before choir (it cracks out your voice), and to reward me for helping so much and having not given up on NaNo yet, my mom buys me a milkshake. Sweet mom. But, I drink it, completely forgetting that in a matter of hours I have to sing. And then, later, wrapped up in singing very badly, I have completely forgotten that I am still thirty pages behind in NaNo. Well, there's another reason why I am so behind.
And then there's my lovely plastic trays. I have extremely crooked teeth, so, I have to wear plastic dental trays to straighten them. I have to brush these trays, take them out when I eat, and remember always to keep the case for them with me. Well, I didn't remember. So, there I am, rushing about vainly, trying to find the case that I left back at home, and not writing. I know that we should definitely not let our life outside writing be tarnished by this, but somehow I think all this is ludicrous. It's like November just became twice as disagreeable as before. ;)
Oh, and I forgot to mention that busy little pleasantry that will also take up my time. I had the fortune of being born in this, the most disagreeable month of the year, just like Jo March of Little Women. That's right. So now I have another birthday coming up to keep me busy. And people will want to socialize with me rather than let me write - Why not take a break? It's my birthday, so why not, right? Wrong! - I cannot seem to stop falling behind.

Also not my image.

But, you know what? I am still trying. Through spotty vision and dizziness, through siblings and schoolwork, through plastic trays and singing, through all of that mayhem, I am still trying. And this, friends, is my point in telling you all these troubles of mine. Not to complain, not to merit sympathy, but to show you that - through anything - you can keep on trying. You can! I am still trying. I am still edging my way back up there. I am still not yet giving up. I am still not stopping, and I don't intend to until the last hour of November is gone, or the last word has been typed for all to see. So, comrades, if you think that you are no longer qualified, think again. If I, an inexperienced first-timer who has a loathing for scheduled writing, a tendency to procrastinate, and a will as limp as a noodle, can try again after all this, then so can you. Believe you can. To quote The Lego Movie, "I know it sounds like a cat poster, but it's true". It is! You can do it. Just remember - it's not over yet.