NaNoWriMo Year 10 (and Maryland)

At the start of November I had zero jobs and zero words.

Now I have 2 jobs and just slightly more than 50,000 words. November ended 5 days ago, and I’m still tired. Probably because 15,000 of those words were written in the last two days.

My plans were to have many more words than this. Last year I wrote just over 100,000 words, and I wanted to make it to 110,000 this year. I struggled to even make it to 50k, but this is also the first year I’ve had a full-time job, and the first year in a long time where Thanksgiving involved going anywhere.

So, to catch up those who don’t know: In early August I moved away from Abu Dhabi. I stopped in England for about a month on my way back to the US. I spent a couple months in South Carolina visiting family, and then came back up to Columbia, Maryland, where I’m now living. I got hired at Pizza Hut first, then got a full-time job at a nearby vet’s office as a receptionist. For now, I’m trying to juggle both while I attempt to acquire and pay for a car.

Maryland is okay. They have an ugly flag that they’re very proud of, but there are probably worse offenses. I am colder than I have been in years, and I know it’s only going to get worse. I don’t have much of an attachment to the place, aside from having very good housemates, which I think means I need to start reading about some Maryland history. I did just get a library card and a bus pass, so that’s probably a step in the right direction.

Writing-wise, I’m happy to report that the past year has been my most productive ever. Since January, I’ve written 372,788 words. I wanted to make it to 500k for the year, but my job in Abu Dhabi and commute to and from that job made that difficult. Still, I think I did a pretty good job, and I hope I’m able to continue that in 2019. (And the year isn’t over yet! I have plenty of time to break 400k, at least.)

I’m working more than I ever have before, and it’s a lot. I’m tired. Sometimes I get frustrated, and then it hits me how incredibly blessed I am to be here. I have great housemates. I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to get a job, so the fact that I have work now is a huge relief. I don’t know what the next step is, but I have lots of options. All things considered, I’m doing pretty well.