I’m not sure how the first weekend of November has already flown by.

It feels like it should still be Friday, but nope. It’s Monday.

Monday. 

I meant to get up a post up last week about the upcoming #WriteMotivation session (all of Novembers participants are here, and KT is awesome for continuing to bring this community together!), but preparing for the NaNo kick-off and making major headway on my fall cleaning was prioritized over that.

The kick-off went fantastic! We had 40 people RSVP, but only about 30 showed up, which is what I expected. IHOP was a bit like O.O when I arrived, though, and told them the size of the group. Hehe. It was awesome.

Michelle and I were a bit tired, though.

More on NaNoWriMo in a minute, though. First, let’s tackle the #WriteMotivation goals:

1. 50k words on Stars for the Dead.
Unofficially, my word goal is actually 75k. I’m working with almost 20k of already existing material, but majorly rewriting most of it. But I feel I should go above and beyond the 50k goal anyway.
Overall, I’m ahead. The minimum goal (if I was on the 50k track) for the day is 6,666 words. I stopped at 6,245 last night. I would have kept writing, but hubby at to be at work at 5:18 am this morning, so I was on an actual time limit, because I need at least 6 hours of sleep.

2. Major progress on Catalyst revisions.
I wanted to have the revised Catalyst to beta-readers a month ago. But summer tried to eat me, and I haven’t touched this thing since June. I haven’t yet started on this, but hope to get on it tomorrow.

3. Exercise 3x per week.
Health-wise, this summer was… interesting. The stress of some family situations (combined with Tabby being diagnosed with chronic renal failure) pretty much knocked me flat. I bit the bullet and went to the doctor (for the first time in… 4 years) and I have a) a vitamin D problem – now on supplements for that (surprise! I think this should probably just be an occupational hazard of being a writer), and b) a blood pressure problem.
The blood pressure was a shock. I’ve always had low blood pressure when it was tested before (seriously, they take your blood pressure at the eye doctor, and it’s never been a problem). I did find out the other week, though, that both my grandmother and her late mother had high blood pressure, so it is something I need to take precautions against.
The problem here is that it’s only reading extremely high in situations where I know I’m stressed – IE: being at the doctor’s office. My doctor asked me to keep track of it, and so I’ve been doing readings with a manual monitor (he didn’t like that – he wanted me to use a digital one, and I flat-out told him it wouldn’t fit in my budget, and neither would driving to Walmart to use the free one every day). My blood pressure is still reading normal or lower-than-normal when I take it myself at home – even when I take it multiple times/day.
However, that still doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem that my blood pressure sky-rockets when I get stressed or upset. The doctor wanted to prescribe a low-dosage prescription, but I told him I’d rather try other things first. So for now what HE wants me to do is a low-sodium diet.
I don’t eat 2000 mg of sodium in a day. Hardly ever. So… shrug.
I will, however, add exercise in. Because honestly, I haven’t been exercising regularly. And I know it will make a difference with my actual blood pressure, and with how I deal with stress.
So far, though, I’ve only exercised once this month. Time to get on the ball!

All right, now for the fun part! Ya’ll want a NaNo update, right? And… an excerpt? 😀

NaNoWriMo 2013, Days 1-3

Words Written: 6,245/75,000
Characters Killed: 3 (2 in a flashback, one in the current time)

Excerpt (completely unedited, so ignore the stupid, please!):

It felt like a hand of ice and reached into Dina’s chest and wrapped around her heart. The eastern horizon was barely beginning to glow – the first sunrise was when the sacrifice would take place. Dina shivered.

She’d sank down to the steps, her knees drawn into her chest, as the crowd dispersed after the priest’s announcement. She meant to get up and return home at some point, especially since she was still dressed in only her seti, but time had slipped past her like water soaking into the sand.

The crowds were gathering again. They were quiet and somber, so very unlike the unsettled mob during the night. But now it consisted of entire families, from grandfathers and grandmothers to still-nursing infants wailing at their mother’s breasts.

Dina wished her heart would just be torn out of her, instead of frozen. How could she watch more of her family die?

She closed her eyes, and felt the dried salt tracks on her face crack from the tears she’d shed.

“Get up.”

Dina started, her heart leaping into her throat. She tightened her arms around her knees.

“Get up.”

She looked up, saw the regal red robes the woman wore, and flew to her feet. “Your majesty!” Dina bowed her head.

“Captain, give her your tunic,” Queen Oisis ordered to her guard. Dina shivered as the cloth was thrown around her shoulders. It fell nearly to her knees. “How dare you disgrace your mother like this, Dina. How dare you shame me like this. You should know that as your regent, every action you take is reported to me. You don’t have the luxury of playing to the whim of your emotions.”

She should have expected a scolding. How had it escaped her thoughts that the Queen would surely be summoned for the sacrifice?

“I am sorry, Queen-mother,” Dina bent to kiss her hand. “It will not happen again.”

Who’s doing NaNoWriMo? What’s your status? And if you’re not doing NaNo, what are you trying to get done for November?