I’m two weeks into NaNoWriMo prep, and I have surprised myself with what I have accomplished and what I learned.  I did a few character development exercises for each of my mains, I have researched* and begun building my world, and I have a loose plot outline.  I say loose because the best of plans don’t work out for me. I feel like I have to stick to my original ideas and get stalled, or it simply becomes a waste of time.  I could have been writing instead planning to write. I decided to put the planning away and enjoy some reading. I finished Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and read through On Writing by Stephen King again.  

I learned in my years of creative ventures is that ideas come in waves.  The more music I played, the more I wrote. The more I sketched… The more I filmed…

It feels like a little switch gets turned on and I find more inspirations and ideas than I can keep up with.  I write them all down as soon as they come. Hand up. Shh. One second, let me write this down. Most of them are pretty interesting.  At least, I think so.

Now I have a dilemma.  I’ve come up with two intriguing book ideas that I am impatient to begin.  The latest story is nagging in the back of brain even now. I am ignoring it.  I wrote down a few key ideas, but I don’t want to get tangled in another story when I am determined to uncover the one I have been dedicated to for the last month.  

I get out of bed almost every morning around 5:30 to begin my day.  It’s the only time I have in quiet and solitude. Two and half hours every morning to quietly drink coffee, plan, write, and reflect.  I have a small office, but I usually spend my mornings at the kitchen table near the coffee pot. I listen to music and let my mind wander.  

I bliss out in Imagination Land until a little voice says, “Good morning, Mama.”  Everyone is up at 8:00 and ready to eat breakfast and start the day.  I mentioned previously that I home school three kids. That is an all day ordeal.  By 6:00 PM, my brain is pretty fried. If you’ve never taught, you just don’t know how exhausting it is.  Anything rewarding is usually exhausting.

My final preparation for “Preptober”  is finding more writing time in my day.  I like to believe I can get 1,667 words every morning in November, but I know more time is crucial to success.  The process of getting started is itself illuminating.

*Many thanks to my brother, Kyle Millican, and his nuclear physics and engineering knowledge.