Tired writer is tired

Last week's word count took a dip. I focused more on the novel since that's where I've been lacking and managed to get 2400 words. Not bad, but on the flip side, I was only able to get 760 words on the novelette. Granted, part of that was that I had two social engagements. All right, they weren't so much social engagements as they were "oh my gosh, I can't pass up on this" activities. (I told you that not even NaNo would make me pass up something like this.) Friday night was Brom's signing at Powell's and since I was in the area, I had dinner with Lee Moyer and the lovely Venetia. The night before, I drove out to St. Helens (the city, not the mountain) for an evening of music and merriment with Ken Scholes. Yes, both nights took me away from writing. Yes, they were fun and I don't regret taking the time off, but it shouldn't have decreased my word count that significantly. After all, I spent every spare moment in the preceding days bolstering my word count.

The wrench that really threw a monkey into my week was the day job. Holiday sales have begun and therefore, Kim is a very tired bookseller. It killed my word count last year and its done it again this year. There are few things that can hinder my wordcount faster than fatigue. However, I plan to soldier on. In the immortal words of Superchicken, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. I rested up yesterday and for the rest of the week I will drink my supersauce (Dr. Pepper and/or Twinings English breakfast tea) and see if I can do better (Thanksgiving withstanding).

If there's one thing I've learned from past NaNos is that when the words don't come as fast as you need or want them to, you can't stress about it. Stress only makes it harder and you spend more time and energy worrying than you do writing. Yes, the deadline is coming and at this rate I won't finish (especially since I've got a day trip to Seattle coming up) but I'm going to ignore logic for the moment and believe that I can because if I push hard I can still do it.