Howdy,
The month of March has gone nothing like I expected.
Nothing like I expected when at the end of February I wondered at how fast 2017 was going by and on the first day of March when I said I’d write fiction for NaNoWriMo-like posts this month.
Since my grandma, Isabel West, died on March 2nd I’ve only posted twice. Once acknowledging that she had passed away unexpectedly. And the second being her obituary, that I helped draft.
It felt right to take a break. To take some time away.
I’ve dragged my feet about getting back to blogging and continuing the march to my year of 200K+ words. A mix of not wanting to restart as if this March were normal and feeling like if I did I’d have a lot of catching up to do.
As I’ve talked about it, my wife Sarah has encouraged me to write a post. And when I talk about sprinting to make up the (word count) ground to get back on pace, she says, “Just do one post.”
Rather than post, I push. “I’ll just double my word count for two or three weeks,” I say.
“Just one post, Babe,” Sarah says. “Just one post.”
Just one post.
That’s all this is.
(Yet, obviously, so much more …)
Unfortunately, it still starts with math. For me, my first post back in awhile means I have to calculate my word count pace. I can’t catch up today or likely even over the week, maybe a month, but I have to know what I’m up against.
85,800.
I’ve got 75,881.
These numbers — a 10,000-plus word absence — make me feel like I’ve got to write double for three weeks. And, I suppose, at some time I will, but for now, for today, I’ll take the wisdom of my wife. “Just one post, Babe; just one post.”
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Living.
Word Count: 75,882 / On Pace: 85,800 / Year’s Goal: 200,000
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