I’ve started a new blog, mainly because my website is non-functional right now.  The blog serves no real purpose and is mainly for me to spout off regarding my daily life and my philosophy, however boring they may be.  I’m typing this as I recline while daintily sipping red wine following an enthralling evening of playing Monopoly. 

My new blog web site is http://bjoy2.wordpress.com/.  Drop by for a visit if you dare.  

Well, it’s over!  Smile, smile, sob, sob.  I definitely have a love/hate relationship with NaNoWriMo.  When it was fun, it was really fun and when it was frustrating, it was really frustrating. 

But in any case, I struggled over the finish line one day early, so I’m glad I was able to stick to it, even though at least half of the short stories in my novel are one hundred percent awful and will be buried in a deep cave, never to see the light of day. 

It’s important to receive some support when you’re trying to do NaNoWriMo.  I didn’t tell anyone at work about it (because I knew they would think it was crazy) and just a couple of friends and family members were aware I was doing it.  But I knew four fellow writers who were also participating and they gave me some encouraging words when I was struggling and that made a big difference. 

I’m not sure if I’ll do Nano again next year (although I strongly suspect I will), but I do know that if I participate next year, I won’t be trying to rehearse for a musical at the same time.  That has just about killed me.  I’m sitting here as I type this with ice packs on both of my thighs and on my back, caused by rehearsing dances every night for weeks.  And it has eaten up huge amounts of time, too.  But it has been fun. 

Good luck to all NaNoWriMo-ers for next year and don’t be discouraged if you didn’t reach your goal this year.  You have the start of a novel and that’s a lot more than most people who say they’d like to write a book have.  Keep on keeping on!

That last post was getting moany and groany and whiny and …well, you get the point.  So I’m pulling out my new mantra, which is amazingly simple yet effective, and repeating it over and over. 

Everything will be okay, everything will be okay, everything will be okay, everything will be okay, everything will be okay…Or maybe I need to shorten it to this:  Everything will be….

This is Samantha, the sister of my main character, Neely, from my NaNoWriMo novel, “Don’t Tell the Intern.”