What’s Happened & What’s to Come

NaNoWriMo:

If you’re a regular reader, then you know I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) throughout all of November; the goal being to draft 50,000 words of a novel in one month.

I am extremely pleased to report that I succeeded! I “won” NaNoWriMo and what I have accomplished is far more than an outline. Writing a novel has been a dream of mine since I was a child and I am now 50,000 steps closer, thanks to the good people at National Novel Writing Month, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging writers. I am in love with what I’ve created so far.

Now the goal will be to maintain the momentum, at least somewhat, and work at revisions. The real writing comes in the editing.

If I could do this, then so can you. I cannot say it enough: if there is something you desperately want to do, please, start now. Dedicate a month, a week, even a weekend to getting things started. Getting started is the hardest part, I assure you. The magical thing though is that getting started takes no time at all. Open your laptop, save a blank file, write a sentence – any sentence, even a line of dialogue stuck in your head – and just like that, you’ve gotten started! Once you do, who knows what you may achieve after a month…

Thanksgiving:

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I am happy to report that I enjoyed mine very much thanks to all the tools I have acquired over the past year. By maintaining an open heart, managing my expectations, and being mindful of my actions and the present moment, I had a very peaceful day and felt a lot of love for those around me.

Like with all families, there was some madness. But what I found is that when you don’t participate in the madness, it can’t escalate. Madness/chaos/negativity – it’s all a fire. Without added wood or oxygen, the fire simply burns out. I didn’t participate as wood or oxygen. I endured a little heat and in no time, things fizzled out.

Happy, peaceful visits with my family, my mom especially, mean a great deal to me. We’ve been through a lot of tough times and a lot of unpleasant holidays. I think every good one tips the scales a little bit in a more favorable direction and removes any residual bitter taste that lingers from the previous year. The only taste left in my mouth from this past Thanksgiving is a pleasant one.

What’s Next:

November ends today and as promised, I am heading back on the road to continue my journey.  I am eager to continue the exercises in A Course in Weight Loss, get back to yoga more regularly, and reinvigorate my home meditation practice. All of these things have fallen by the wayside while I was prioritizing writing. It’s difficult to do everything all at once. It’s one thing to give up things we don’t love (like television watching and Facebook), but sometimes we also need to sacrifice things we do love to make room for other things we desire. There’s nothing wrong with it. This is why I am not broken hearted or beating myself up over any of it. November was a month very well spent.

I confess I’m downright miserable over my weight, though. I had a very successful week in November focusing on a low carb/high protein diet. I cooked some amazing food that week and was pleased with the weight I lost. But then Thanksgiving came along. I’m back on a low carb/high protein diet this week so hopefully I will feel better soon. There’s clearly still a lot that’s impacting my ability, physically and mentally, to take this weight off, though. Figuring this out will be a major focus of mine. As will combating any potential holiday blues, and thinking ahead to the new year, my favorite time of year.

Beyond that, we’ll see what happens. Many of these posts are written in response to things that happen in my life. Both fortunately and unfortunately, we don’t have too much control over those things… I’ll be focusing on the things I can control in the meantime, and trusting the process.

 

What do you think?

  • I enjoyed your blog as usual, I am glad to hear Thanksgiving had pleasant memories and did not do an emotional damage. As your Mom I know how hard our journey as been and I am so pleased with the progress we have made. May it continue. I am so grateful for all your help, as you know my physical limitations. I managed to get everything decorated and was so pleased for the time in the kitchen preparing for food. hat use to be as favorite time, drinking wine and cutting the vegetables. I loved having You, Mike and my wonderful grand puppy, Cooper sleep over Thanksgiving Eve, I love it when you all are back in the house. I just want to thank you for all your patience, love and help to made the holiday so pleasant. I love you so very much and I thank you for all you have done to understand my limitation as frustrating as it can be. We have come a long way, and I love you baby girl for working so hard at trying to be patience with me and for all the love we have shared. You are the love of my love, Jessica and I am so proud of you. Mom