NaNo 2013 or how I learned to ignore my word count and love my novel

http://www.cafepress.com/evilgeniusblue/7456128

So I discovered something about myself and NaNoWriMo.

I did my first NaNo in 2009 and began then - and have continued each year - to work myself into a frenzy over word count.  It was a race, my mind insisted, and if I didn't do X amount of words a day I sucked! I was an epic failure!  I didn't deserve to write!  If a buddy of mine was writing over word count, that was a direct reflection on my own worthlessness.  I must write more!  I must catch up!

Now, recall that I have an anxiety disorder.

I'm obsessive, a hoarder, a chronic insomniac, compulsive, subject to rages, depression, and paranoia.  Pretty isn't it?

Now imagine my doing NaNoWriMo.

I came to dread November, yet I did NaNo every year.  I did not enjoy it.  It was another compulsion, a whip with which to lash myself.

Last year (our Year From Hell, if you have been keeping up), we opted not to do it at all.  Then came November 2013.  I have a husband, five kids under the age of 12, a farm, and I work two jobs outside the home.  WTF?  NaNoWriMo?

SURE!

I couldn't not do it, due to my compulsive urges.  It's gotta happen.  I also started on day 2.  Neither my husband nor I got a word written on day one.  Cue disaster, right?

Not so.  I had a revelation.  See, the cool thing about my working outside my home now is that it keeps my broken brain occupied.  I can't spend so much time fretting, worrying, going over stuff over and over and over.  No time.

So I was working November 4th - a Monday - and had written maybe 600 words thus far.  I couldn't write until I got home and I was on my break and chewing over my novel in my mind and chewing, and chewing when I thought: "I'm really liking my novel this year.  Oh, hey, that's new.  Normally I'm hating my novel by now."

So when I got home and sat down to write I plunged in and it was still there, the delight.  Characters I never knew existed were pouring out onto the paper and getting up and walking and talking. Cool!

And so I thought "Fuck this shite.  Fuck word counts.  It's only day four.  I have plenty of time to get my words in.  I'm just gonna enjoy this."

And I have.  I couldn't care less how many words someone else writes.  Some people have is much easier than me, some people have no jobs to go to, or one kid who spends half his time in day care. Some people have it worse: school during the day plus a job at night, or a disabled partner or child who requires constant care.  Everyone's situation is different and we are all only responsible for our own word count.

In the meantime I'm enjoying the crap out of my 2013 NaNo and I hope you are enjoying yours too! :D

WELL!

Thought I was never gonna get here, folks!  I got stopped by the (I found out, infamous) "You have logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again?" Blogger error message.  I couldn't log on and talk to you lovely peoples!

But, The Internet Is Good.  Bless and preserve the signal.  You can't stop the signal, Mal.

So I jumped on the 'net and asked the folks out in the 'verse for help.  If you've had this error message, try Mr. Portman's lovely fix - scroll down to the update - over at 1stopIT.

Right.  On to today's post!

I am SO not a cook.  I can cook, but I am NOT a cook. I have loads of internet friends who are really awesome cooks - even extraordinary bakers (and grillers!)  You know who you are.

But not me.  I refuse to load my kids up with fast food or pre-made food.  I cook breakfast and supper almost every day, but I like things that are quick, and simple, and easy, and other words like that.

I don't want box food or frozen food but real foodz.  Real ingredients, nothing fancy, no weird or exotic ingredients, just stuff you probably have in the pantry right now.  Old fashioned stuff, I guess.  I adore many of the traditional British and German dishes!

As I am a ravening Pintrest and Tumblr addict, I get to see oodles of pins and posts about food from the real cooks out there.  It never occurred to me to, for example, have a food or recipe board on Pintrest.  I'm not a cook, am I?  So there are literally thousands of people who have already covered the whole food/recipe thing.

Then I found a recipe very similar to my own recipe for Egg-in-a-Basket*, and I thought: "Hey.  I'll bet there are some pressed for time, or inexperienced, or (like me) just lazy cooks out there that might like a quick,easy recipe Pintrest board!"

Long story short: I've started one.  If you have any really quick and / or easy recipes you'd like to share, I'd love you to send 'em to me!  I'll give you linky love!

Speaking of linky love, if you've only ever followed my craftsy stuff here's today's featured T-shirts from my store.  Yep, ai iz grafik designer!  Check 'em out:

Candy Me!  Funny grunge / distressed Halloween T-shirt from Evil Genius Tees!

Funny pumpkin smuggler Halloween maternity / pregnancy t-shirt from Evil Genius Tees.

One more, promise ...

For my darling Husband who teaches Middle School English Language Arts:

English Teacher warning sign!  I also have MANY other subjects, history, math, science, art, etc!

*Egg-in-a-Basket is NOT, I repeat NOT the same as Toad in the Hole!  I don't care what you've always heard!  Egg-in-a-Basket is an egg cracked into a hole in a slice of bread and fried (or the above baked version).  Toad-in-the-Hole is a traditional British dish involving bangers and Yorkshire pud all baked together.

Dr. ThriftyMom?

So I'm dumpster diving - as I do every Sunday morning when the Mundanes are asleep or in church - and I'm driving from Dumpster 1 to Dumpster 2 in my trusty, if battered, minivan mommy mobile when I stop at a stop light.  My spider sense goes off to my left so I turn my head to find an elderly couple in the car next to me staring at me, slack jawed.

Well, I DO have facial piercings as well as numerous earrings, plus I tend to dress oddly, so I'm pretty used to some reactions, though not usually ones so overt. Still, I shrug and turn back forward where I spy my two hands on the steering wheel still clad in bright the blue nitrile medical gloves that I wear to keep my hands clean whilst rummaging in the rubbish.

Uh ... oops.

Perhaps I should take to wearing a surgical mask as well. Maybe I'd be taken for some oddball eccentric like Michael Jackson or Howard Hughes!  Or passersby would take me for a doctor so concerned with hygiene that she gloves up before even reaching the hospital!

Dr. ThriftyMom!  Dr. ThriftyMom! We need you at the K-mart dumpster, STAT!

Or, perhaps I could just remember to take them off between dumpsters.  Well, in my own defense, I've yet to stroll into the Wal Mart wearing them.

OK, enough silliness.

Oh, no, wait ... even more silliness.  Our latest funny t-shirt at Evil Genius Tees is an homage to the internet memes we love so much:

"I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going" with writhing green Cthulhu-like tantacles. Cthulhu t-shirt, meme t-shirt, or just a funny tee, your choice.

Great minds think alike

So, I've been busy designing Paleo t-shirts, Primal t-shirts, ancestral diet / nutrition t-shirts, even Low Carb t-shirts. You get the idea. I've been making stuff that *I* like and hoping my Paleo, Primal people will enjoy them as well:

Our new Paleo auto badge. I'm ordering two for myself to put on my cars. Also available on t-shirts, drinkware, bags, and more! There's one for Primal, too!

Locavores, buy their food locally. No not down at the local supermarket, but from their own neighborhood farmers.  It's good for your community and good for you, local small farms, sustainable agriculture, help the whole planet. This earthy green and brown graphic design is perfect for any green, environmentally aware, locavore.

Here's one for my barefoot runner Tweeps. I don't run, myself (exercise makes me spill my drink ;) but I am a HUGE fan of minimalist footwear. Whether it's Vibram Five Fingers, Huaraches, plain ol' thin thong sandals or good old bare feet, bare is BEST!

These are just a few of the recent designs I've done.  One of the last ones I did was this one:

Grokette with nommy dandelions to honor our heritage as gatherers. I wanted a softer, more feminine design for us Girl Groks.  Well imagine my delight when a wonderful Twitter Tweep, @modernmatriarch debuted a gorgeous, handmade, glittery pink design of her own at the same time!  Great minds think alike!

How cool is that?  Shiny!  And the best part?  You can win this t-shirt for free. It's a smallish large and doesn't quite fit it's creator so she's giving it away!  Just stop by her blog an comment on your Paleo/Primal lifestyle and how it's changed you.

Hers is so nice. I think she totally should sell these on Etsy.

Cheerios prove that the American Heart Assn wants us all dead!

So KFC has released their newest creation, the KFC Double Down sandwich.

Since I neither watch television nor eat fast food, I had not heard about this interesting new idea until today.  Fortunately, I got introduced to it via Tom Naughton over at FatHead.  Nothing like truth and humour, I say.

He has gathered together the stupidest of the hysterical knee-jerkers comments on the KFC Double Down and it's quite an entertaining read.

Tom even detailed the nutritional breakdown of the Double Down (-vs- a Quarter pounder) and reported his own blood sugar levels after eating one.  He went on to report BS levels of a reader of Dr Davis's blog after eating a classic 'heart healthy' meal of Cheerios (250 mg/dL!!) for comparison.

The Double Down comprises two pieces of chicken, two pieces of cheese, and two pieces of bacon. Sounds like a low-carb meal made in heaven (the fried version has only 11 carbs!) and a potential Paleo emergency meal (I'd have to dump the sauce and go for the grilled version, natch), to me.

I plan on trying it. As a matter of fact, I'll take Bodog's blood checker and test my own blood sugar that day.

When, oh when will the stupid people start realising that the FDA and the AHA are trying to make them sicker, not make them healthier?! That they are being lied to by people who are pulling these "facts" out of their arses?  When will the daft rabble stop taking what doctors and 'dieticians' and the government officials say at face value and actually do research for themselves?  Can people not just go in a Wal Mart or a Ryan's and look around and see how sick, slow, and obese most Americans are?

Do we have to start dying?

... oh, wait ... we are.

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Funny health / diet / dieting / carnivore / paleo / primal t-shirts shown:

Peace Love Meat - funny play on a popular theme. Great for carnivores, paleo people, low carb folks, or meat lovers in general.

Brain cells come and go but fat cells live forever! - Words to live by!  Perfect gift for anyone trying to lose weight or on a diet.

Eat healthy, sleep well, move often - The basic tennants of good health and a template for Paleolithic Primal/ ancestral/ caveman  diet and lifestyle folks everywhere. Designed to look like blue traffic safety signs.