Nanowrimo Ate My Blog (or it might have if I'd actually been blogging)

Alley and Wires
watercolor and pen on paper
8.5"x 5"

Yipes! Where have I been? Not blogging, that's for sure. And not painting, either.

But I have been writing.

I am not going nearly as fast as I have gone in the past. No five thousand word days for me. I have not gotten so far ahead in my count that I am on track to be done by the fifteenth.

I have actually been writing my minimum. No, not my minimum, which has always been two thousand words a day. I have actually been writing the suggested nanowrimo minimum-- 1667 words a day. More or less.

It makes me nervous to not get ahead, to not have the word cushion. But, I have decided that if I keep going at a good pace, a moderate pace of 1667 words a day, more or less, then I am doing pretty well. If I fall behind, which has happened, I know I can catch up with a 3k word day, or three 2k days. More or less.

I'm wondering what will happen after nanowrimo is over, when I haven't burnt myself out by overachieving and ignoring all other responsibilities. Maybe keeping a more moderate pace will actually help me build a writing practice that I can continue with through out the year. I have been disappointed in my ability to keep it up. I go in jags. No writing at all, then a few months of intense writing. I don't really like that work pattern, but my life has had other ideas, and it ends up not actually being about what I really like.

As for AEDM, I have not been creating Art Every Day this Month. Sad face. But that's ok. Going along with my gentle treatment of myself, I am not going to freak out over not reaching my goal. I am, however, going to keep trying to get back into art.

I recently decided that what I'd like to do is get back into art journaling. I miss journaling. That might have been part of why my writing practice and my blogging practice fell off... because my journaling practice has been pretty lame.

So. I'm going to draw pictures in my journal, paint a scene, like today's drawing. I based it on a snap shot I took on the way to work. Then I sat in the break room at my job and sketched it out. Finding my minutes of creativity anywhere I can.

Well, I've written my two thousand and some catch up words this morning. I did some doodling at work. I did a pencil drawing this morning before I started writing, as I sat at my desk and stared out the window. I also added some drawings to a background that I prepped in my journal. Truth be told, I don't know where my directions in art will go. I'm just going to open up my journal every day and see what happens. Or a couple of times a day until I catch up on all the drawing days I've missed.

Switching up the pace might be good for me.