Camp NaNo April 2023: Days 1, 2 & 3

We had another busy weekend. On Saturday morning I had to check what we had in the cupboards already, write a meal plan for this week, and then write up a shopping list. I’m not sure if it’s the lower carbs that are starting to have the usual early effect on my weight or the time-restricted eating (I’m currently doing 12-12 while I build up to eventually 16-8), but I’ve lost 3lb over the weekend…

Anyway, we went to the pet superstore to get supplies – it was so expensive when we checked out that I almost had to put the poet in the trolley to carry him to the car as well! BUT… we’re pretty much done for garden bird food for a good month and the cat biscuits will probably last the month too. It’s only the dog biscuits and his old-man supplements that tend to be renewed every two weeks.

On the way home we dropped in to see the mother-in-law. Then we nipped home to drop the dog off, have something to eat, and collect the shopping bags. And then we went to the supermarket. When we got home again, I did some Nano and we had a very quick and early tea before heading off to the party Monkey Dust were playing at. This was a joint 60th birthday party for three of our friends (and the bass player).

It was a late night and we slept in late as a result on Sunday, getting up at midday. We had breakfast (the poet’s home-made low-carb high-protein muesli), made a picnic, and were on the road to go and visit my mom. We got there at around 3:30pm and my sister was there. So we had a nice natter, stayed a good hour, and headed back, eating out picnic as we drove.

We had a rest before tea (chicken casserole, which had been slow-cooking for a few hours, followed by strawberries and ice cream), and we binge-watched the first three episodes of a new television series, Blue Lights, which is set in Northern Ireland. But last thing, before we went to bed, I jotted down some notes for NaNo.

All the travelling must have taken its toll because we were both very tired yesterday morning. Fortunately, the poet was working from home and he got to his desk considerably earlier than I got to mine. But I was making breakfast for us both (porridge with banana and honey, plus tea for me and cafetiere coffee for him). I also fed both of the animals their breakfast, I emptied all of the bins, did a tiny bit of laundry, and I made a sugar-free orange jelly (very low-carb).

By the time I arrived at my desk I felt as though I’d already done a day’s work. (The bins were very, very full, but I gave in first and emptied them all.)

I started today’s blog post, created the image, and updated the diary for the coming week, reconciling it with ClickUp on the computer, which was what I updated on Friday. I like to plan the week on ClickUp because I can move things about and then I transfer it to the diary. I shared the first weekly Facebook post for Diane’s Gig List but I didn’t have any admin to do for Monkey Dust as their next gig isn’t until May, although I did still go and check the calendar they all have access to because sometimes things sneak on there and they forget to tell me. (There was one new holiday booked off.)

I quickly caught up on both the competitions and the jobs board, and I pitched for two jobs. Any jobs that have been there for longer than seven days are ignored. Either the post has gone stale or the client isn’t very efficient at keeping on top of things, and both of those are red flags for me.

We had a late lunch, the poet finished work, and then he pushed the lawn mower around the back and the front gardens. The dog helped him in the back garden, but while he can’t get out of the front garden either, he does have more hidey places and the poet had to keep stopping and looking for him. (The dog is a renowned escape artiste.)

I started to do some more NaNo work, but it was already gone 5pm (I did say we had a late start…), and we had to go out and collect a broken amp that the poet is going to try and get fixed. When we got back, I did a bit more, but then it was teatime. So we had tea, and I went back to it just so I could get the day’s quota in. When I finished, I created the new month multi-project spreadsheets for my word-count progress, and I finished writing today’s blog post.

Today I have the telephone appointment with the nurse this morning and the face to face with the GP this afternoon. I also have to get the hard-copy proofread of the history book done.

Camp NaNo

Day 1: Saturday 1 April

In between getting in from the supermarket and going out to the party, I sat down and wrote the first scene of The Fool. It was supposed to be just one scene and it was supposed to be just 800 words-ish. It took me a while to get going accompanied by much staring out the window. Every so often the poet popped his head through the door to the conservatory where I was working to see how I was getting on. I think it probably took me thirty minutes to actually write something, and that might have been “Scene 1: Prologue”.

Once I did get started, though, I carried on, and soon he was reminding me that we had to get ready to go out. But I wrote 1,132 words (instead of 800) and I wrote 2 scenes (instead of 1). I added my word count to the NaNo website, and I was off.

Day 2: Sunday 2 April

Sunday was a busy day. We spent half of it in bed (after working at gig the night before) and half of it travelling. So I didn’t have a lot of time. During the long drive south, though, what I’d written the day before was percolating away and I discussed some of it with the poet. I had to remind myself NOT to go back to what I’d already written and start tinkering with it but to press on instead. And then I remembered my little A5 workbook.

At the end of the book, just before the Save the Cat exercises, I have a section for ‘Rewrites’, and this is where I should be jotting down ideas as they ocuur to me instead of interrupting the writing flow and going back all the time. I have to stop listening to my critical voice while I’m actually writing. And this is where my thoughts on the prologue belonged. So, last thing at night, I made the notes in the Rewrites section of the book, updated the NaNo website by just one word, so I didn’t lose my streak this early in proceedings, and went straight to sleep.

Day 3: Monday 3 April

I had three goes at writing for NaNo and I updated the notes and added a couple of other ideas. I did get some writing done, though. I wrote 1,640 words and updated the word-count spreadsheets, the NaNo website, and the progress meter below.

Progress

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