NanoWrimo mid-point check in...

How Nano is going and other updates.

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

Halfway through NanoWrimo!

Hey, I just wanted to do a little update on how things are going so far this month.

It’s November and this year I have decided to participate in NanoWrimo or National Novel Writing Month. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a yearly event where the author's aim is to write 50,000 or an entire novel during the month of November. In recent years, it’s become more flexible and you can set your own goal, but the primary intent is the same, to get some creative work, mainly writing, done.

As of today, (November 15th) I have written 30,484 words! I am very proud of myself because I had to quit last year for health reasons. I am loving the heck out of this story, and writing it has been the best writing experience I have ever had. I feel like it is my best work to date. I actually started this story a very long time ago and abandoned it at the halfway point. I didn't put it down because I didn't love it, but because I worried that anything I wrote wouldn't be good enough to finish the book. I left it alone for several years. Then sometime last year I had a very vivid dream that revealed the ending of the book and some other events that should happen in the book. I knew I could finish it then, but I had some other projects to do, so I saved it for Nano this year. I feel like I’m escaping the flow is normally so good while I wrote this. This story has many odd things about its invention. Maybe I’ll go into those events after I finish it. These events include one character spitting on me in a dream because I had not shown him in a good light in the story LOL. So yes, Nano is going really well, and I am having a lot of fun.

The other thing going on is I’m having a lot of health problems, but that is not that different from normal. I won’t go too into this because I may (??) have mentioned this before. I have always been rather sickly and I often have unusual health problems. My bad is so broken I can’t really move around much, but I see a specialist in December. I also have an appointment in December for some skin weirdness, with a dermatologist. I have odd patches of angry skin that no one can identify. (I had a biopsy last year, not cancer or anything…just strange inflammation. But this may relate to what I’m about to mention.) After many years of feeling quite certain I had some sort of autoimmune disease, blood tests came back positive for Lupus or some other sort of connective tissue disease. Doctors right now are leaning towards Lupus because I have most of the symptoms for this. There is still a possibility that it could be something else…but I really doubt it. The blood results plus symptoms are pretty telltale. Unfortunately, in my area, there is a very long wait to see doctors who deal with this sort of autoimmune disease, but I’m trying every office I can find that has excellent reviews. I have an appointment set at one place, but it is far away. I really need help now.

The pain from whatever is going on is intense, and between my back being hurt and the constant pain, I am going insane. Some days I can’t write because I can’t type my hands have sharp pains, other days I feel better physically, but mentally I feel like I can’t think (I have ADHD, but this is something different.) I just cry sometimes because I hurt so badly. It feels like my body has gone through a meat tenderizer. I have fevers a few times a week, sores in my mouth and on my ears, and feel ill a lot. Bloody noses a few times a day. There are some other things I worry about from the blood test that came up strange, but I don’t think I’m in immediate danger of death at this point. But I have had to take it easy more often, which means only one creative project at a time. This month I have chosen Nano to focus on, which means some projects unfortunately are at a standstill. This is not a pity party, this is just for those of you who may wonder why I’m so quiet on social media and stuff right now.

I will not be working on YouTube videos this month, but plan to pick it back up next month. My next video is going to be focusing on Illyana Rasputin, and the video after that might have to do with Vampires. I have a few scripts, but I’ve been too sick to record them. I love doing YouTube but it’s a lot of time and work even to do the simple videos I do.

My music album, Weird Machine, was supposed to come out today, but it’s not finished yet, so I hope the new release date of December 21st, 2023 will stick. I’m so close to finishing I only have to master five songs of the sixteen and I am done. I don’t want to rush this though, because one track needs a lot of work. But yes, a new music album is coming soon!

I am also not editing the novel I have been working on the final draft of (a different story than the one I’m doing for Nano) I plan to continue this in December and my goal is to finish it before the end of January. I am hoping to send it to the people who so kindly offered to beta-read it. I know some people are looking forward to this one, but as I’m sure I’ve said before, it needs to be done right. This work should go fast except I am changing a few chapters towards the end completely. I am exhausted by this story, but I don’t want to scrap it because I put literally years into this book. I think I started it in early 2021? So yes, that will be something I work on again soon.

How are you all doing? I hope well! Are any of you working on Nano this month? I will be releasing the next part of Innocence and Fear in a few days so look for that coming your way.

-Aisling