I hope all of my American readers had a happy Thanksgiving.

My word count was much better last week. I managed to get 2200 on each project despite Thanksgiving, working on black friday, a couple of killer headaches, and The Civil War game. That's still 300 short of my weekly goal on the novel and 800 short on the novelette. I think it's safe to say that I've found my word threshold when it comes to doing two projects at once. They're still good words, they just took a little more effort than normal.

Over the years I've discovered that I can't write when I'm sick, but I can push through a tension headache. I don't like doing it, but I can if the occasion calls for it like it did last week. In addition to becoming a victim of the attack of the killer headache, it was also the Saturday after Thanksgiving which is always a crazy day at work since it's Small Business Saturday, and it was the day of the Civil War Game. So, how did I manage it?

Sheer. Willpower.

When I got home from work I just wanted to curl up in bed, watch the DVR'd game, and be comatose for a few hours. Unfortunately, I also knew how far behind I was (I didn't get nearly as much done Thanksgiving day as I would've liked). So instead of getting comfy I took some painkillers, powered up the laptop and pounded out another 600 while I watched the game. Normally I can't write when the TV is on. It's too much of a distraction. But this time it worked because I could completely focus on the book when the enemy had the ball and take a short break whenever my team had the ball. I may have to employ this technique next year. That way I can watch all of the live games.