Oh hey, guys. It's been a month and I've missed you and this blog so much!! I sort of disappeared without explaining myself, but if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you might have figured out that I participated in National Novel Writing Month! And last night I won.
Isn't this graph horrifying? I couldn't think of an idea for the first week. Then I was lazy for the second. So basically I participated in National Novel Writing Two-Weeks, which isn't nearly as catchy. But this was my fifth year participating and I couldn't break my win streak. No way. Anyway, my novel is called The First Abduction and it's sort of a blend of literary fiction and science fiction, and I'm genuinely really excited about working on it more!
Granted, that's not the only reason I disappeared. I was going through some personal stuff, I was working too hard and too much, I had anxiety about a lot of things, I suffered some heart break, and I tried really hard to pick up all of my pieces before they could hit the ground. Reading just wasn't happening for me and it hadn't been since like September. (To be fair, though, I've literally always disappeared from the blog in the fall, so I should have seen this coming). But the experience of letting go of most of my obligations in order to catch up in NaNoWriMo (I was writing 5,000 words a day at least) was pretty incredible and led me to realize what stuff I really do want to prioritize in my life.
I've been working out. I've been more thoughtful about not eating cheez-its for every meal. I made quinoa for the first time (still really don't understand what it is, but that's fine). I made a smoothie that was green AND drank it. So basically, I'm even more white than I was before!! I want to make more things. I want to spend more time with my friends. I want to finish knitting this god damn blanket that I've been working on for the past two years.
NaNoWriMo is also rekindling the little reading flame in me. I hadn't done any creative writing since, well, November of last year really. And now that I'm peeking into books again, suddenly they're enormously huge learning experiences for my own writing. That had been true in the past, but I'd forgotten that aspect of reading. Now it's like these overdue library books have a rich new layer and I have a lot more motivation to actually read them. It's pretty exciting, tbh.
THE PLAN
This December I'm going to focus a lot of my time on reading, because it's something I really want to do now. I'm going to participate in Shaina's 12 Books of Christmas challenge (you can still sign up today!). I'll most likely be jumping over to Andi's #AMonthofFaves for some blogging inspiration as I ease my way back into blogging. On Instagram I'll be doing a photo challenge about my favorite books of the year. AND my birthday is December 31, so maybe I'll do something related to that! Or you guys can just send me a million presents, because you only turn 23 once you know.