November Update:

Melissa:
And it was NaNoWriMo month!!

I knew going into the month that I would not start writing on the first. I was totally cool with this.

I finished up a content editing job and readied to dive into writing Christmas Warmth. I thought it would be neat to dive in while at Panera Breads, different scenery and all. Until I was sitting at Panera Breads looking through my flash drive for the document...and couldn't find it. Eep! I raced home, panicked as to where this novel could be. I looked through all my computer hard drives (one desk top and laptop again) then looked through the flash drive again, finally finding the right document. Phew! I was panicking but trying to stay calm, knowing if I let myself panic that I would not find it. The worry was that I'd set up the novel in Scrivener with lots of notes. I had taken a lot of time in making folders for chapters and placing scenes in order with details and descriptions for writing. I was worried I lost it all. But I found it!

It's been a hard month to keep up with NaNoWriMo. I didn't get writing in every day. I didn't get started until the 7th as I had pay work. Pay work always comes first, it helps keep things going around here. Then we had lots going on with Kiddo and college searches and tours along with a few events since he's a senior this year. Lots of time tied up in the traveling and such too. And we can't forget about a holiday, which I didn't get the Friday after off this year. And car issues, so I didn't get to stay home all the time as I had to pick Kiddo up or drop him off for work.

It was a bit hairy for a while. There was a time I didn't think I'd hit 50,000 words. I was okay with this too, at least I was getting words. Life kept happening. But I hate losing and was determined to hit the word count. I found an extra wind and drive to keep going. The house may have been a bit messy a few days. I may have skipped out on watching a movie. But I got those words in!

I pushed through and finished on the last day with a 3 hours to spare.

That's right! I won NaNoWriMo 2016!

Is the book done, you ask. No. Not by a long shot. I still have a few scenes to add in or add to. There are all those drafts of re-writes to be done next. So lots of work still ahead of me. But, the bones are in place to work with.

What are the plans for December? Rest. Well, not that much rest. I guess I need to get the house ready for Christmas. But in the way of writing, I want to add what I skipped over in order get done and win NaNoWriMo, those few scenes missing or missing a part. Then it's to re-writes of the first Christmas novel I have here. It's just the bare bones of a story and has a lot of work needed to fill in the gaps of things I left out when racing to write it.