Back on Track

I got through it.

Mind you, the family time was wonderful. My three-year-old nephew finally decided that he likes me (he's the cutest lil' thing you've ever seen and I'm totally not biased). My sister and I got to have JUST THE TWO OF US time at my favorite coffee shop. And my dad made me feel like a princess. (He always does.)

So. Yes. Awesome.

But I did start twitching halfway through. It wasn't an uncontrollable urge to write so much as it was a terrible feeling of disconnectedness from my work. Adding to the angst was the fact that I didn't quite finish chapter 20 before Thanksgiving. I got stuck on the last scene. I tried to sneak in an "end the chapter" writing session once or twice while my family was still here, but it didn't work.

Needless to say, I woke up nervous this morning. I knew that, after dropping my parents off at the airport and getting through the rest of my morning "stuff", I'd have to sit down and dig in. So I parked my tush at one of my "writing spots" (I think they've written me off as some sort of eccentric; today I bought a bottle of chocolate milk and hunkered down beneath my baseball cap.).

And. I broke through! Almost immediately, even.

I'm going to hit the "publish" button on this post and open Scrivener and finish the chapter. I'm not even worried about it. It WILL be finished this afternoon.

Hee!

So, a quick rest-of-December for you before I get to work:

• Remember that our WRITERLY CHRISTMAS CONTEST with LAUREN MACLEOD opens on Monday, December 7.
• The following week we will have a DROP THE NEEDLE in-house crit. Submission guidelines will be posted prior to the opening, so stay tuned.
• On Christmas week, we'll frolic a bit.

That's it, really. In the midst of Christmas hoo-hah, I intend to complete this draft. So I'll be carefully balancing holiday planning, push-it-through writing, and sprinkles of Romantic Hubby Time this month.

I'm sure your month won't be much different than mine! Here's to a happy, low-stress December.