I must say, my NaNoWriMo has gotten off to a very slow start.  As previously mentioned, last week I attended a workshop on Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR for short, but more on that later), followed by a weekend at my dad’s, so in the first couple of days I only managed to squeeze out just shy of 400 words.  Sunday and Monday were filled with family drama and I only got round to really writing yesterday.  Even then it was slow going and I didn’t even meet my quota for one day.

When I updated my word count before bed last night the site informed me that at my current rate I’ll finish my 50k by 20 March next year.  So far today I’ve managed to whittle that down to 4 March.  I need to speed things up.

You can help.

I’ve added a word count widget to the sidebar on my home page.  If you feel it’s not climbing fast enough to your liking, feel free to come whack me with a hammer.  Throwing them is also allowed, but if you break any windows you’re paying for them (see what I did there?).

One good thing did come from me being away from my computer last week:  I was able to attend a NaNoWriMo kick-off party.  (I’m apparently the only writer in my part of the country, so had I stayed at home I wouldn’t have been able to.)  I met a bunch of crazy interesting people and got a whole bunch of NaNo swag, as it’s apparently called.

First off, they gave me a writer’s block.  No, not “Writer’s Block”.  A writer’s block. Check it out.

This was given to all the newbies.  I don’t know if it’s supposed to inspire me or something, but it’s a quite nice addition to my already cluttered desk.

We also got a goodie bag full of goodies put together by the local ML (that’s “Municipal Liaison” for those of you who have not been sucked into the whole NaNo cult – they co-ordinate local NaNo events for all the Wrimos (members of aforementioned cult) in their area), Alyssa, and her friend, Cate.

Needless to say, the consumables have all been…erm…consumed by now and quite a large block of time has gone into playing with the happy slinky (cause writing without procrastination just doesn’t cut it, right?).  Also, for some reason I’ve been wearing the bendy pencil as a bracelet while I’ve been writing today.  I don’t know where that came from.

You might notice the happy pill?  Following doctor’s orders I threw that into some water and it turned into a scaredy-cat.  I guess it’s appropriate as I’m writing a thriller, though it doesn’t really feature cats.

The goodie bag also included paper and instructions to make a plot bunny.  Again, what they have to do with writing I have yet to learn.  I know I spent an hour I could have been writing figuring out how to fold it.  Plot Bunny and Scaredy-Cat are now sitting next to my Writer’s Block as I type with a Bendy Pencil wrapped around my wrist and drink ice water from my special writer’s mug.

Oh, yeah.  I won a raffle (my number was actually my birth day – 15) and got a mug.

If I look at my stats page and, more importantly, the other Wrimos who’ve apparently already passed the 20 000 mark, deadlines don’t actually seem all that amusing.  But I’m having fun.  I’m connecting with my characters and really enjoying the current project.  This novel might just turn into something decent.

But I gotta go.  I have a word-sprint scheduled with a friend in the US an hour from now which I’d like to start on a new chapter and I’ve still got a few hundred on the current chapter to finish.

Wish me luck.

• Language & Writing