Hello – guess what? I’m ahead!
The NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. So, per day, that means 1,667 words. And the website has a bunch of badges you can win. They are just little virtual stickers, but they are motivating. One of those badges is to reach the 1,667 words every day.

Both times I had taken on the challenge, I aimed to get that badge – and fell behind in the first week. This year? To date, I have EXCEEDED 1,700 words every single day! I have never made it so far without getting behind! I’m so excited. At this rate, I will finish a few days early. Yay! Although, I don’t know if that badge needs the initial 1,667 daily par met every day, or the recalculated one. From where I am, I only need 1,415 words for each of the remaining days.

So, I am ahead of schedule for the challenge, yet this hastened the arrival of an unexpected problem: I am running out of plot. I tend to make an outline of my story first, and I jump around to write whatever scene I feel like at the time. That’s fine, it works for me. Now though, I am running out of holes to fill. I will need to expand on what I already have, or to connect defined bits. It took me hours yesterday to get all my words. I’m lucky enough to have a mini-break in my routine, a few days to just write and figure out how to see the big picture.

If you read the previous update, you know I was rewriting my science fiction story, intending to finish before November – and NaNoWriMo – began. I did not. However, I did reach a point in the story where there is a time skip because all the characters separate for a year, so I put the second draft on hold at the same place they did. Hopefully there will not be a difference in tone or anything when I pick it up again. I will return to it in December, and to improving my website. I also hope to dedicate some effort towards my Pet Project soon. Have I told you about that yet? Don’t worry; you’ll get tired of hearing about it at some point.

This website launched in May; it is now November. I – we? Yes, we – are half a year in. The milestone feels nice, like a quiet excitement. I shall get the e-mail widget working next. I want to begin sharing the site in May, for its anniversary. Would it be too childish to have a birthday banner on the page?

Thanksgiving is coming. Mom has started planning a menu. She asks us, what do we have to have to make it really Thanksgiving? For the bare minimum, I say turkey and dressing. A nice Thanksgiving really needs potatoes, gravy, my dad’s green bean casserole, and for some reason a can of jellied cranberry sauce, sliced. Next most important is a pie, almost any flavor of pie. Of course, my uncle is coming, so we’ll have a most excellent ham and his spicy green beans. What would your table absolutely have to have to make it feel like Thanksgiving?