Getting a late start today – it was good to sleep in a little. So many distractions. The sun is out and the fall earth smells good. The cafe is noisy and filled with crying kids. My dog needs walking. I’m buzzing with static. LOL. This is just how it is sometimes. Some days for writers, I think it’s just about showing up on the Page. SHOW UP! (Or blog about NaNoWriMo process – the best distraction of all.)

It’s day 3 of Nanowrimo. 5,880 words total so far. (Making time because who knows how much I can write over Thanksgiving travels.) Today, I wrote my big battle scene – the one that has me scared and shaking in my boots. How does a pacifist write a battle scene? LOL. Well…all I can say is there’s something to doing the very thing that scares you the most. I have a tremendous sense of accomplishment having written a first draft of this scene, flaws and all. It was also totally useful to put a writing soundtrack on…so I could stop thinking and analyzing and get passed the distracting static in my head. Today’s soundtrack: Grace Nono’s Dalit. (Dalit means gift or offering.) Strong, spiritual, sensual, earthy and devoted to Pinay traditions. Would love to be like her when I grow up!

This year, I’m doing NaNoWriMo for the first time – for both the fun and the discipline. Woke up this morning at 6 a.m. and wrote 3,800 words. So happy. Is there such a genre as eco-historical fiction with a supernatural twist? Like a martini with coconut and lime.

– M.G.