Hi everyone!

This month I’ll be sharing weekly updates on my NaNoWriMo progress. These posts will be a bit different than what I usually share here, so if you’re not interested in how many words I’m writing on a weekly basis, don’t fret. Things will get back to normal soon.

In last week’s post, I mentioned that this week’s post would be in video format. It’s not, because last week was nuts. We were in Virginia with my mother-in-law to spend our first major holiday since the loss of my father-in-law last May. It was a bittersweet week.

In addition to all the family feelings, we had a sick chocolate lab to deal with. Brody was out of sorts most of the week. I think he was overstimulated by all the attention he received from my mother-in-laws pug, Zoey. He also got a lot more treats than he usually gets and vomited a couple of times. That’s never fun. Anyway, I just did not have the bandwidth to spend a lot of time recording.

I was very disappointed by that as YouTube is something I’ve wanted to get back into for a while now. I just keep putting it off. I need to stop being my own biggest obstacle. Hang on a sec while I go back and reread that last sentence a few times.

OK, reality bites sometimes, but it is what it is.

Let’s get to my Week 4 recap…

Monday, Day 21: This was a busy day for me. I knew I would have limited writing time while in VA, so I snuck in sprints whenever I could. I also got a lot done for my uncle’s estate, and cleaned the house. Am I the only one who cleans the house before they go out of town?

Day 21 Word Count: 4,790

Tuesday, Day 22: I was slammed with other things and only got in one sprint, during which I was highly distractible. I spent most of the day climbing Mount Washmore (doing laundry), working, and packing.

Day 22 Word Count: 250

Wednesday, Day 23: Travel day. We left before 4:30 AM to beat traffic on I-81 which can be a nightmare. Leaving early worked and we made great time while listening to Livid by Patricia Cornwell. After we arrived, we spent most of the day catching up with Doug’s mom and reintroducing Brody and Zoey. They were hysterical. Imagine a 108 lb chocolate lab being chased by a 20 lb black pug. Brody stole one of her favorite toys and she chased him around the house for a solid 15 minutes before he relented and gave it back. We were crying it was so funny.

Day 23 Word Count: 245

Thursday, Day 24: Thanksgiving Day. I took Brody for a long walk in the morning, then grabbed Starbucks for the three humans in our little family. We had a light breakfast and then Doug’s mom got to work preparing for the big holiday meal. She had it under control and only needed help for a few minutes and Doug jumped in, which delighted his mother. I love to cook, but I know when to step back. Too many cooks in the kitchen and all that. So I hung out with the dogs and snuck in one quick sprint. Dinner was amazing and we vegged out watching football for the rest of the day.

Day 24 Word Count: 255

Friday, Day 25: Hello Black Friday sales! I was up early binge shopping. My family doesn’t do much in the way of Christmas gifts – except for the kiddos – because there are so many of us. My side of the family is one big blended mess. My parents are divorced and each of my step-parents is divorced so I have 5 step-siblings all of whom have at least 2 kids, and by the time you count my aunts and cousins and their kids and their kids’ kids, we number closer to one hundred than fifty. We typically don’t do gifts unless we plan to see one another over the Christmas holiday. Except for the kids. The kids always get something. Thankfully most of them are old enough that they prefer gift cards. That makes everything so much easier. So my Black Friday shopping was mostly for me. I splurged on some new make up from Bobbi Brown’s new line Jones Road and also placed an order with Alta, bought a new Christmas t-shirt, went overboard at Erin Condren, and bought some new stickers from Procrastiplanner. My original plan when I went online was to buy some books but I didn’t get a single one. In that one area I was able to exhibit some self-control… only because my Book of the Month stack is out of control. I’ll have to do a post on that soon. After my shopping binge, I took Brody for quick walk and then spent the rest of the day knitting and reading. It was fantastic. I forced myself to get in one quick sprint, just so I could continue my write every day streak.

Day 25 Word Count: 320

Saturday, Day 26: College Football Rivalry Day! Go Dawgs!!! I took Brody for a quick walk once the sun came up and then grabbed Starbucks after breakfast, just in time to settle in for College Game Day. Then the Dawgs were on at noon. After they beat Ga Tech, Hubs and I spent the rest of the day watching the other games that were on. There were some big upsets, but Georgia cemented their lock on the #1 spot.., for another week, at least. I got in one good sprint after dinner.

Day 26 Word Count: 802

Sunday, Day 27: Since we’ll be in Atlanta with my mom over Christmas, we celebrated it with my mother-in-law while we were in town. While my side of the family does not go all out with holiday gift giving, my husband’s family does. Doug and I cooked “Christmas Dinner” – shrimp cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce. chateaubriand with Bernaise sauce, Caesar salad, and fresh bread. It was delicious. Gift giving was a hoot – watching Brody and Zoey open their gift bags had us in tears laughing… again. Doug and I ended the day watching Elf, one of our favorite holiday movies. It was a wonderful day and we even managed to watch some football. I snuck in one short sprint before I crashed… and it was enough to win Nanowrimo! 🙌 I’m nowhere near done with my draft, so I’ll still be writing for the rest of the month and then some.

Day 27 Word Count: 260

Week 3 Word Count: 6,692

Total Words Written: 50,807/50,0000

How I’m keeping the well filled: Knitting, reading, time with family, and the doggos.

What I’m watching: a lot of football and Elf

What I’m reading: I just started Fair Game, book 3 of the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. (last week I said it was book 2, it’s not, that’s Hunting Ground, which is the book I listened to last week) and Doug and I started Livid by Patricia Cornwell, book 9,250,093 of the Kay Scarpetta series… just kidding! But there sure are a lot of books in that series!

What I’m listening to: besides audiobooks, not much.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this month? If so, let me know how it’s going in the comments, or join the conversation on Instagram.