Having too much time to write might seem like an oxymoron, but there’s a chance that I’ll not have a paying job in November. The last time that happened, I thought, “Since I normally draft over 100,000 words and finish the first draft of a novel during months that I do work, without that distraction, I should be able to write the first drafts of two novels.” I knew that I had to be careful to move my hands and wrists to avoid carpal tunnel problems. But, I was so busy being careful of them, and focusing on writing 200,000 words that I didn’t realize that intense writing while mostly sitting was a very bad idea. I no longer like cushions on chairs, for example.
So, the thought of having ‘too much’ time to write in November is not a good one. Especially since I was planning on working on the outline in November instead of in the several months before it and so was aiming for 50,000 words, not my usual 100,000.
On the other hand, working on polishing up a couple of others novels is going well, so maybe I’ll just continue that in November. And work on communications for PBDD. And host a bunch of people for Thanksgiving. Oh, and walk.
If I start writing too much a day, there’s always the fitbit’s ‘250 steps per hour’ little chart. Turns out I’m a bit compulsive about getting that for every hour between 7 am and 8 pm. And once I’m up and walking for 250 steps, I often try for 500 or even a thousand. That might help me break from the writing. Hope so.
The idea of writing book four in the French series this November, or even just writing the very-detailed outline and a few scenes, isn’t inspiring me. After ten years of doing NaNoWriMo, I feel quite comfortable with breaking the rules. I’m thinking of writing a series of essays this year. It would be useful to have some material to use for PBDD.org, as well as being useful to reflect on things such as the wisdom of not having a vegetable garden since it made my left shoulder hurt every year. I’d like to have about 50 topics before November 1st so I can discard some, or if it turns out that I only have a thousand words to say on a topic, I still write 50,000 words in November.
They don’t all have to be essays. I could see writing a short play or skit about the digital divide, or getting a program started, or where to find information, so that it can be used on our site. I once wrote poems about wireless technology to reinforce concepts. That might be fun to play with as well.
As the VP of Communications for PBDD, most of the time I’m rather serious about what appears on the website. It might be fun to ‘play’ with words on this topic. Since I usually look forward to NaNoWriMo for months, it would be good to have a topic I was excited about this year. This one might be it.