Monday Afternoon

It is Monday afternoon and I have had a slightly irritating day, but I am working hard at ignoring that.

I am very annoyed at several things from work, but, as is my way, I am working hard to ignore that crap and keep stepping.

So, screw the assholes who make my job suck.

Today is Monday and I am exhausted. We were up late last night, as you may recall from the last blog, and now I am pretty well exhausted. But, I am also determined to get a bit done.

I also don’t have much of a choice. I have to get certain things set and ready before NaNoWriMo, which also means taking some rest. I normally spend my last weekend before NaNoWriMo having fun and blowing off steam, or at very least, playing video games for days and not being very productive.

This time I did not get to do that, instead the weekend was spent working, with family, and then a little bit of blogging, which, while I was glad to achieve my goal of one blog a day, I did not rest.

NaNoWriMo is coming fast. It will begin on November 1st.

So, with NaNoWriMo looming on the horizon, and after it, Blogmas, how about we take a beat and discuss my plans for it?

I have done very little Preptober before NaNoWriMo, but I was thinking about a nice fun blog series, to show some blogs from someone who is dealing with the fall out of the big magical war that is happening all around them, without that blogger really realizing they were in the world, to really show how everyday people can be a major part of the magical world without evening knowing the details…which all feed into the war that is currently on going, and directly links to the happenings in Flake City.

However, like my characters in Flake City…I’m having trouble leaving the ole FC.

So, I have another character I will be introducing that will be a major part in the story, and of course in “What is to come”. I know much of her story and have a decent idea of many of her hit points. She also will be working with the character in the radio station, Samantha, who I do have developed as well.

I have been ready to crank out thousands of words on her story, but I haven’t yet, and with as many projects as I have open, I think I may just start her word file as a new one, and I’ll use that for NaNoWriMo.

A bit of a grey area on the rules, but, in all truth, the way this project is being written, it isn’t cheating.

I may also do the blog project, in which case I will have two projects for NaNoWriMo, and everyone can know I am a moron.

I am in need of a perfect name for this character, as well. Preferably something that means weed, cannabis, represents stoner culture etc, but IS NOT Mary Jane or something too cheesy. I have reached out to a few weed type people, but if you think of a name, again, that IS NOT Mary Jane, then comment it or slide into my DM’s with it. Whoever picks the name I end up going with, will be credited.

I think sticking to a story I am already enjoying, but exploring a whole new part of it, may be my best chance of success for NaNoWriMo, while still maintaining my blog and other creative writing pursuits.

Additionally, I have read a few “NaNoWriMo ruined my writing for a month and taught me shitty habits” articles, and I have even watched a YouTube video or two on it, and sometimes, yeah, forcing yourself to write extra, more so when you already have the damn good habit of writing at least 2,000-3,000 words a day, can be detrimental to your mental and even physical health.

You see, NaNoWriMo is meant to teach good writing habits and get people over themselves enough to put words to the page and make it happen. It doesn’t always work that way though, and there are plenty of writers who do not have a good time doing it and never have anything to show for it.

I have had great luck doing NaNoWriMo, but only on the months where I put my goals first, and just aligned them, with NaNoWriMo.

For example, my birthday is in November, and one of my favorite holidays (for the food, not the history, I still wrestle with it, and I think I may research the Canadian one) is Thanksgiving, which here in the states is in November.

I could do a google search, but I asked my friend Sam, in Canada, who is seriously amazing and if i ever move to Canada it will be to live as close to next door to her as possible, instead of doing my own research, because It is ALSO very cool to know what the people of a country think the holiday is about, versus what it is.

For example, here, plenty of people think it is just a fat kids dream holiday (and it is, i am that fat kid), and others think it is some sweet story of Indians and colonizers having a meal together, which is also white washed bull shit.

I enjoy this holiday for a few kind of silly reasons, most of which straight up involve the food. I also really get off to planing, preparing, and perfectly executing a meal that gives many people cold sweats and nightmares.

Yeah, I make a mean ass turkey. Normally, I do a three day brine, low and slow, basting…My dressing is made from homemade bread. I go organic, and I make with love. (BUTTER.)

My Thanksgiving dinners knock it out of the park frequently, ever since I mastered the turkey in my 20’s.

I was broke as hell, but had people who had big kid grown up jobs who got free turkeys. Those turkeys trickled down to me, when they went to their own families homes for dinner, and I mastered making the turkey. Back then my roommates and I had enough to get a loaf of bread and I think that was it. (We bought weed instead, I believe) But that was a damn good turkey, and I also worked on my graving skills, later perfecting it with my grandmother’s careful guidance.

I LOVE making food for my friends and family, I love planning and timing everything and watching it all come together, I like feeding people. (Yup, real big Enneagram 5w6)

I may not be maternal, but I do LOVE feeding people and enjoying tradition.

My mother always bucked the holiday, I wonder often if she just HATED it, because she always insisted on “making something different” which would be lasagna. My mom makes DOPE lasagna, but…I LOVE turkey dinner, and mom would make lasagna a couple times a year…She never made turkey dinner.

Maybe she isn’t good at it? But she’s a good cook so I doubt that’s what it is.

I should call her and ask.

*calling*

Okay, got the details. Partially my fault.

So once upon a time we went to my dad’s grandmother’s for Thanksgiving.

And this was a MISERABLE experience. Mom reminding me of this story actually makes me want to type it up, so i will during a Thanksgiving Blog which I promise this wasn’t meant to be. (Also, at this dinner, my cousin hit on me and said it was fine because I was adopted. Seriously terrible time.)

BUT it was a terrible time with bad food and we had leftover lasagna afterwards so mom, my sister and myself all said fuck tradition we doing lasagna from now on, and then when we moved away, and I wanted traditional, mom was like, uh this is our thing now. But I think she may do turkey sometimes?

Anyways, I for sure do. I love lasagna, but I love me a turkey dinner.

ANYWAYS: With one of my favorite holidays, and my birthday, and this year my mother coming to visit, NaNoWriMo is already going to be a challenge, more so when you add a a blog I update daily and a vlog channel I load video’s to privately, it will be a very busy November, and I do not want to stress myself out, or, even worse, put out bad writing, when I am finally hitting a stride with my writing that I am incredibly pleased with.

So, instead, I will participate in NaNoWriMo by hitting my word counts with a new character in a new part of the city, dealing with the entire “other side” of the problems in Flake City.

I want so badly to be able to spoil everything, but I also know to not ruin the entire story.

Let’s just say, while it is the same city and same situation, I am very much ensuring that I am not cheating by writing on an existing project.

Cheating isn’t cool. But neither is setting yourself up for failure.

So, this is my main plan for NaNoWriMo, and I think it will lead to some success, but namely it will keep me sane.

With any luck, this method will allow me to maintain the blog, upload some NaNoWriMo “write with me” vlog video’s, and also create some good quality art, all while participating in a fun thing with other writers.

Monday early evening

Home from work now, and planning out the rest of my evening. I don’t want to be too productive- like I mentioned yesterday I’ll be saving most of my cleaning for when Bret goes out of town for work this week.

I will want to get the apartment as cleaned and organized as possible to be able to worry less about cleaning while doing the impossible.

Of course I’ll still have cleaning to do but if I have things organized maybe it will be a bit easier.

Anyways- we have to go to target which means putting pants back on and clearing out space on my phone to vlog discreetly because I need to get back to vlogging.

So I’ll pause here and update later before I edit, add pictures, and upload.

Later

I’m trying a new skin mask, and it’s later than it should be for me to be updating the blog that is not scheduled.

We went to target and grabbed some essentials, had dinner, and now I’m letting this Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay finish drying on my face and doing a final blog entry before wrapping it up.

I’ll be doing a review of this mask for sure, and I also cleaned a bubbler to take pictures for a possible future blog on how to clean your bubbler. Spoilers, it’s basically the same method for any smoking piece.

Anyways- I need to wash this mask off and probably do some dishes, although we don’t have many to do, and then I need to make my way to bed after editing and scheduling this blog. Tomorrow is a new day and I want to kick it’s ass.

So I’m going to go rinse this awesome mask off, so I can get some rest and your going to have a great day, wherever you are.

❤

Abbi

PS- I liked the mask.