Halloween and NaNoWriMo

Well, Halloween was a bust at our house. I worked yesterday from 7-3. I dressed up like a lion but still wore my work uniform because I was not sure if dressing up was allowed, but I wasn’t going to let a little thing like “company rules” ruin my favorite day of the year. So I put on some lion face makeup and a lion’s mane that I had in the closet and set off to work.

After work, I went to target to grab some full size candy bars. I had a friend when I was younger whose mom would always hand out full size candy bars on Halloween. My kids would get so excited to go to her house because apparently it’s super cool getting full sized candy in your halloween bag. So, years ago, I decided that I would be a full sized candy bar giver one day.

That day was yesterday. I bought 4 packs of candy bars which was basically 24 bars. The neighbors had told us that we shouldn’t expect many trick or treaters, if any, but I’m an optimist and I really hoped that we would get some.

And we did. We got 4. Our two neighbors + their two friends. Four is better than zero so I was ok with that. We sat outside on the lawn for about an hour or so while I made back to back reels on instagram that were pretty ridiculous, but I was just having a good time.

Then we came inside and made dinner, thinking that maybe closer to dark we would get some more kiddos. We didn’t.

So basically, we have almost two dozen candy bars tempting my sweet tooth in the kitchen. I haven’t had any today, so I’d say that’s a win.

Today is also November 1st.

November is National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. I’ve participated many times over the years. The goal is to write approximately 1667 words per day of your novel or whatever work you are currently doing. I’ve only ever completed the contest once and I did get a book out of the deal. I started last year and only got a few thousand words in. I don’t even know where those words are now. I’m sure they are on a drive somewhere. I just don’t know where right now.

So, I’m getting ready to create a new file on my drive and get started on a book of short stories. I think the idea that I have is super cool. Maybe nobody else will quite appreciate it, but that’s OK. I think it’s going to be a fun project to write and since short story collections are only about 50,000 to 60,000 words with 10 or so stories in them, I’m feeling pretty confident that I can get this project completed. I have not done any paper to pen planning. I’ve got some ideas in my head, but that’s about as far as I’ve planned. I’ve talked some of it over with my better half, and he’s got some ideas, but the funny thing about writing is that sometimes you don’t actually get to decide what you write. Sometimes what you think you are going to write goes a totally different direction and BAM! you’ve created a totally different story than what you thought you were going to have. Hopefully that’s not the case here, because I’m really excited about this book. I’d give you a clue as to what I’m doing but I’m afraid if I put it out there before I’ve gotten any words written down the muse might come take it back from me. So instead, I’m going to put my head down and, who knows, maybe by January or February of 2023, I’ll be releasing my first book of short stories? Wouldn’t that be cool?

I hope you all had a great Halloween and actually got some trick or treaters (if you wanted them). And if you are doing NaNoWriMo this year, my screen name is the same on that platform, we should be buddies!

See ya tomorrow!