NNWM/2: This “Baseball” Thing

So I’ve decided to try something new. Something bold. I daresay, something dangerous. Since I’ve committed to NaNoWriMo and will be writing every day, I thought it might be helpful to find a little extra motivation by writing in my blog every day, as well.

I know. I’m livin’ on the edge here. Either that, or awfully long-winded.
Probably a little of both.

I don’t expect these posts to be long. Probably just a short summary of my day. A photo here and there. Not going to lie: they may even verge on boring at times. But writing here will remind me to write there, so let’s give it a shot.

I went back to work today after my mini-getaway, where I ended up with 16 pages (or 3,700-some odd words for NNWM purposes) completed. My goal was 10, considering I hadn’t done so much as looked at my novel since December 28, so it turned out to be a most productive trip. Well worth the investment. For those who asked, the trailer cost me $120 a night, which isn’t cheap but is in line with the price of a hotel room. And there was an essentials-stocked kitchen (albeit tiny and cramped) so I didn’t have to worry about eating out. I would totally do it again.

Our workload has been unusually light the past week. We had a whopping eight orders in the queue this morning; for perspective, one day a month ago we had 93. They come in waves, so I’m sure this is the calm before the storm. With so little work we had time to bullshit a little more than usual. Deb and Not A Palindrome played a game of cribbage while Tamale Girl and I opted to take advantage of the lull and get a little writing in.

UNLESS MY BOSS IS READING. I’M JUST KIDDING. WE ALL WORKED DILIGENTLY. NOTHING TO SEE HERE, JEFF. MOVE RIGHT ALONG.

At one point I was working on a scene where two women are looking at a wedding dress and I was having trouble with a key bit of dialogue, so I consulted my team after asking them to confirm that they were all women (spoiler alert: yes). What I came up with, using contributions from all three, was the following paragraph:

“That dress is perfect for you!” she gushed, admiring an ivory A-line number on display in the front window. “The fitted bodice would really flatter your figure. And I just love the lace detail.”

It took a 20-minute conversation, several dissenting opinions, and the loss of a good chunk of my masculinity for me to gather enough information to put that little passage together, which seems like an awful lot of work for two sentences, but my writing is art, people. I take it very seriously. Details matter.

I do it for the fans…

(Sorry. Getting carried away over here.)

After work Audrey was at a friend’s house so I took advantage of the quiet by busting out the laptop and getting some more writing done. I ended up with a little over 1,000 words today. I can live with that! I heated up leftovers and then put on the World Series. I’d had no intention of doing so – baseball doesn’t interest me much these days, unless the Red Sox are playing and even then not often – but who isn’t thrilled to see two perennial losers duking it out for the championship in Game 7? This game had it all: a solid Cubs lead, an Indians comeback in the 8th to tie it, overtime (err…extra innings), a rain delay, a Cubs comeback in the 10th to take the lead, a Cleveland run to pull within one…

And then the Cubs win for the first time in 108 years. Wow.

Man. Talk about a tense, action-packed game. I may have underestimated the appeal of this “baseball” thing.

(OK, most of these entries will be on the short side. I promise.)

Word Count Today: 1,024.
Total Word Count: 12,305.