Eleven. Eleven. Eleven.

I couldn’t resist the elevens.  I make wishes on clocks when the numbers are the same so I feel like today I just earned myself one big ass wish!  After all it is 11/11/11.  So cool.  (I’m such a nerd about these things.)

And sidebar, here's another Eleven I just can't resist.  Me likey!

But so far, it’s been a good day.  For one, I managed to get the day off.  First time since I started the new job (woohoo!).  I slept until I woke up (what a novelty!) and got to do some leisurely writing this morning on my NaNoWriMo entry.

And the official stats stand at:

Day #11

Words Written: 21,402

Words to Go: 28,598

At this rate I’ll be done by November 25^th.

I’m almost at the halfway point and I’m not gonna lie, I’m kind of impressed with myself.  I’ve written at least *something* every day since the event started and there is actually some kind of a story taking shape.  You see, I’m a pantser on a regular day, so to have a story keep pouring is the reason I can keep going.  For those not in the writing world, there are two kinds of writers – the plotter and the pantser.  Now I’m an obsessive plotter (a.k.a. a planner) in so many realms of my everyday life.  I make lists and I check them twice. I cross things off my to-do.  I need details. I need advanced notice.  I make my lunch the night before.  I like to have control. 

Yet in the place where it seems like planning ahead really matters, I kind of make it up as I go along. Hence, I’m a panster.  That means I don’t outline, I don’t plot ahead, I don’t have it all figured out. I fly a bit by the seat of my pants.  Though usually I at least know who I want the killer to be before I start writing.  Or how I want the story to end.  But when I leaped into this project, well not so much.

This time I had a title and an opening line that, no joke, came to me in the middle of the night.  It was maybe two years ago and I was staring at the ceiling in yet another early morning awakening insomnia nightmare night.  Scribbled it down in the notebook I keep in my nightstand, which is full of one-liners, late night ideas and dream recaps.  And I knew I had to use it.  That I could build a story around it.  (But I’m too superstitious to write it here just yet.)

I also knew my hero would be helping solve a murder because her boyfriend (or maybe her ex or maybe the one that got away or maybe the one she pushed away…I wasn’t quite sure of who he was yet) stood accused.  And 20,000 words later I’ve got characters and a murderer in mind and am coming up with suspects.  The clues aren’t quite planted because on page 80 I still don’t have it all figured out.  And I still haven’t settled on a name for my leading lady or much of the supporting cast.  But the beauty of the first draft is that it’s a total information dump.  I’m getting it all out there and I’m actually getting excited to see this story take shape.  And I’m committed to seeing NaNoWriMo through this time. 

It’s been sacrifice.  I’ve skimped on the gym and my life in the past two plus weeks has pretty much been eat and sleep and work and write.  Not much story to be telling there.  But since I’ve been doing so well I decided to work in some reward this week (hello Bliss massage and an overdue trip to the hair salon!).   

Ah yes, I’m all about the reward.  And no where was this more evident than when I got my mail last night.  Well this isn’t good:

The only reason I get the black card or the Luxe or whatever the store is calling it these days is because I’VE SPENT WAY TOO MUCH MONEY THERE.  (See the black Bloomies card for further evidence.) 

The Jules is calling to me....

But this???  Damn you J. Crew and your sales and your 25% offs and your reward cards.  I have a closet full of your stuff and I’m even trying to sell some of it on ebay since your newish store policy won’t even let me return things for even a store credit after 30 days.  That one kills me.  I did resist the urge to take advantage of this week’s sale. And trust me when I write, it wasn’t easy.  I can always find the need for some tees or sweaters or maybe even a second pair of wedges.  But there are also new arrivals and there’s this dress I’m eyeing, which I think would be great for days when I want to be comfy but still look nice at work. I’m having a late in life appreciation for the dress as the way to go and have been stocking my closet with them over the past few years. (So much easier!)  So we’ll see.  Knowing me I’ll crack. Knowing J.Crew this dress will be half off by Thanksgiving,  I’ll feel better getting it on a deal, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold out. 

And now Bloomies has Friends & Family going on.  Free shipping.  Oh and it’s also a hope, skip and a jump from my apartment.  I do need some new towels.  Too many Veteran’s Day sales knocking on my door.  Crap!

Trying to keep myself busy here - writing and cleaning to steer clear of the online shopping. I’m not really sure what happened to me but my willpower has been low, across the board for the past month or so.  Very off my game so trying to find a way to get it back and resist temptation. 

I’ve also reignited my Castle addiction.  Something about writing a mystery that makes me want to play the show about the mystery writer as my background noise.  I also picked up some songs from it today, which are going in my novel writing playlist. 

So the song of the day is “Pack Up Your Troubles” by Minnutes.  I read that it was originally a World War I marching song, but they revised the lyrics and that works for me:

I haven’t really been in a music mood lately, which is odd for me.  I’ve also let my DVR to get to 71% full yet I’m watching DVDs instead of the latest shows (or shows from two or three weeks ago because I’m that far behind).  Maybe when I hit 30,000 I’ll give my mind and my typing fingers a break and just lie on the couch for a few hours and watch TV. 

Until then, back to NaNo.  And to Beckett and Castle.  Inspiration all around!