Musings & Thoughts for Thursday, November 5, 2020, or: Trying to Get Back into the Swing of NaNoWriMo 2020…and Other Trivial Thoughts

Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning here in New Hometown, Florida on Thursday, November 5, 2020. The current temperature is 78˚F (25˚C) under sunny skies. With the wind blowing from the east-northeast at 10 MPH (16 KM/H) and humidity at 73%, the feels-like temperature is 78˚F (25˚C). Today’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies, lots of humidity, and a high of 84˚F (29˚C). Tonight, we can expect clear skies and a low of 68˚F (20˚C).

About an hour ago, I went to “my” bench at the park where I usually go to get a bit of fresh air and sunlight, and to read from Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. The temperature was a tad lower then, of course, so it felt good to be out of my room – and the house, too – for a while. I did not stay out there too long, though. I’m operating – momentarily, anyway – with only one cup of café con leche and not much else in my system, so the rising temperature and the modest amount of exercise from the walk made me feel tired and light-headed. So I read only a few paragraphs from On Writing, texted a couple of friends, snapped a few photos, then hightailed it back to the house. All in all, I think I was outside for 30 minutes. Not as long as yesterday (I was outside for a glorious hour!), but better than not going for a walk or enjoying the park at all.

Today I will be working on The Tonic of Their Victory for NaNoWriMo 2020. As I said in yesterday’s blog post, I needed to take the day off from writing due to the stresses caused by the still unresolved Presidential election. I have a hard time focusing on writing projects when I’m nervous, and Trump’s whining about “mail vote fraud” and his yammering supporters’ demanding that the vote counts be stopped – where Trump is behind – or allowed to continue – where Trump is slightly ahead – are making me extremely nervous. So I am already one day and 1,667 words behind on the challenge. Ugh, ugh, and ugh.

I have no idea how many words I will be able to produce today, or even if what I write will make any sense when I finish this project. I will try my best to at least get 1,667 words done by the end of my writing day, although I think I will not attempt to write all of them in one non-stop marathon. Instead, I will take breaks every two or three hours, even if it means I will be writing at night after I have dinner. (I also don’t think I will attempt to write 3,334 words to make up for the deficit caused by my taking a break yesterday. I’ll do what I can, of course, but since this is just an exercise to get writers to write on a daily basis, I am not going to kill myself over the almighty word count. I’ll be happy with a 2,000-word count, if I can achieve it. Anything beyond that will be gravy.)

I will be having brunch in a bit, so I will take my leave of you here, my friend. I really don’t have many new developments to share about my life – for good or ill – anyway, so this is all the news that’s fit to print…at least for now.

So, wherever you are and whatever your life situation may be, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.