So there I was, putting laundry into the machine, minding my own business, trying not to get my toes wet in the water that floods out of the thing every time it fills (as one does). All of a sudden…

CENTIPEDE.

First action: squeal like a little girl while standing frozen in place as it scampered under the dryer, where it’s much… well, dryer. Second action: thank GOD it’s a wayward garden centipede and not a house centipede, which I still believe we don’t have here.

If you know otherwise, don’t tell me.

Still, this thing was huge, and definitely not supposed to be in my basement. I raced upstairs to beg my knight in Kevlar armour to slay the beast, and he said, “Oh, yeah? Huh.”

MY HERO.

He didn’t even escort me back down when I had to move the laundry over.

Fast-forward to yesterday morning, and I found myself needing to return to the basement to do that whole “writing” thing. Guys, I had JUST set up my office about 3 metres from the laundry stuff, and I had no idea where the gol-darned critter had got to.

So what to do? I wasn’t about to move the washing machine and dryer to find it. And when I thought about it, I couldn’t in good conscience kill the centipede. They’re beneficial animals, even if they scare the crap out of me, and this one was probably taking care of the sow bugs that once lived under the washer.

I could have tried to catch it and put it outside, but again, moving the machines. Also, it’s been pretty cold. That just seemed mean.

So if you can’t beat ’em, what do you do? I’ll tell you. You name ’em Cindy, pretend they have hearts of gold under their hideous exteriors, and let them be, at least until the cats catch and eat ’em.

Also, you put one of these up on the floor net to the door of your office, because we don’t want to be TOO neighbourly:

Think it’ll work?

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On to the update:

Writing: Days one and two of NaNoWriMo netted me just over 5,000 words. I had wanted to hit that on day one when the excitement was still there, but I only got 4,000. Still, not too bad. Unfortunately, the family is already on “You’re going back down there AGAIN?” mode. You’d think after three previous NaNo years they’d aticipate my absence. Still, I guess it’s good to know that they miss me.

…and that’s all I have to report on, except to say that my characters are behaving themselves well so far. I’m re-drafting the sequel to Bound, and so far Aren has behaved admirably while confronting an old enemy, and Rowan has given him proper shit for implying that she needn’t bother herself with politics, so I’m proud of both of them.

That said, I don’t seem to be able to get the words out as quickly as I want to (like, say, 30min1k sprints). I hadn’t realized until now how much more quickly I can type a blog post than I can fiction these days. I could totally get my word count done in an hour if I were blogging.

Hmm.

No books to recommend this week, but one resource: @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter. Great bunch of people, good fun, nice challenge. I have trouble focusing for more than a few minutes at a time, but guided sprints really help, and reporting in keeps me honest, even though it’s very non-competitive.

Oh, and some fun news: we’ve passed 250 WordPress followers here at DtP (255, to be exact, plus e-mail subscribers), which is kind of exciting. Sure, a bunch of them are blogs who followed me hoping I’d be super interested in their tips on getting blog traffic/making money from my blog/selling me something else, but I appreciate every one of you who actually reads my posts, whether you like, lurk, or make my day by commenting.

If you’re reading this, you’re the reason I blog. So thank you.

So, how’s your week going? Anyone doing NaNoWriMo who I haven’t added as a friend? I’m KittySparkes there, if you want to add me. If not, what else have you been up to?

OK, is anyone else having trouble writing posts? WordPress will only let me type in Text mode (not Visual, no pasting there, either), and everything I type is smooshed together on one side of the screen. IT’S ANNOYING.

Grr.

The good news is that it won’t bother me too much in the near future. It’s almost NaNoWriMo time, and that means you’ll all be seeing less of me. You can breathe a sigh of relief, it’s okay. I’ll wait.

So yes, my ROW80 goals are shifting to 2,000 new words a day, minimum, taking Saturdays off and making up the difference elsewhere to hit 50,000+ words by the end of the month.

And really, that’s not so bad, is it? I’ll have three hours to myself when kindergarten switches back to mornings, and there’s no reason I shouldn’t get 2,000 words out in three hours. If I need to, I’ll take time whenever AJ is home to watch the kids.

The thing is, 2,000 words a day is on the low side for a lot of professional writers. Sure, many people do less and only work when inspired and get a draft finished every five years, but I want to write more than that. I have no discipline, no willpower, and I need to change my habits.

This November, I’m not going to look at 2,000 words a day as a lofty goal. I’m going to look at it as business as usual, and go from there.

Other goals… Well, I’m beta reading, so checkmark there. I won’t get it finished before NaNo starts, but I’ll make time.

Other reading: I read The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, and it was a really interesting perspective on how and why we struggle with roadblocks/resistance when we’re creating art. He kind of lost me in part three with the mystical angels/muses stuff, but even there I was able to pick up some useful gems of wisdom. It’s a quick read, and worthwhile if you want to create something but can’t seem to get it done.

So I guess that’s about it. No, no WIPpet Wednesday for me this week, though to be fair, I kind of gave you a story this morning, even if it was ENTIRELY TRUE. I had a draft I made last week and it’s disappeared, and I can’t do it all over again with WordPress acting up. I’ll see you all tomorrow (maybe) for NaNo’s Eve, and maybe get pictures up of the new office that I built out of boxes and blankets. Maaaaaybe.

I want to post links to the other WIPpeteers and ROWers (?), but I don’t know how to add links in Text, so… head on over to visit KL Schwengel at myrandommuse.wordpress.com (who has posted a particularly excellent excerpt today) and click the WIPpet link there. ROW80 updates will be linked from aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com. Go figure.

But seriously, is WordPress acting up for anyone else? And what are you up to this week?

Hellooooooo again!

Short and sweet this time, since the party is still going on in the other room (you guys are NUTS).

In my plan to write 1000 words every weekday, I forgot to take one thing into consideration: my husband’s days off. He’s off every Monday and every other Tuesday, and I never get any work done on his days off. Why? Because I feel guilty if I’m doing that when I could be hanging out with him. Also, Breaking Bad, which HOLY CRAP THE THING THAT JUST HAPPENED, WALT WHO ARE YOU I DON’T EVEN.

Sorry for yelling. I got excited.

What was I saying? Oh, right. So I haven’t got any writing done so far this week. Nada. But I’m going to see about doing some editing tonight.

The good news is that I’m making fantastic progress on the reading side of things. I finished Call The Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse (book 2) today, and it was fantastic. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first one (I preferred the shorter stories scattered throughout, rather than four longer stories), but it was still heartbreaking and funny and excellent. I’m also almost through The Indie Author’s Survival guide, by Susan Kaye Quinn. It’s also great, making things as simple as possible while being very encouraging. It’s practically the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, what with it having an invisible “DON’T PANIC” theme running through it.

Which is good. Because I do. I may need stronger drugs.

I’ve already written my mission statement and roughed out a five-year plan, so the book gets high marks for inspiring action in a certified procrastinator.*

Next up… um… not sure on the fiction front (though I’m finally going to get to a beta read, even though it’s probably too late to do any good), but Kristen Lamb’s Rise of the Machines is the next non-fiction book I’m going to read.

Annnnnd… that’s about it.

Here‘s what everyone else is up to on the ROW80 front. I’ve got nothing for WIPpet Wednesday. Literally nothing. But hey, pther people have posted stuff, so check out the linkie here!

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*Not actually certified. I’ll get to that tomorrow.