By now, this should have been my fourth check-in for National Novel Writing Month. So what happened last week?
Well, on the day I would have shared my writing progress with you, I got hit with that lovely respiratory bug going around and became bedridden with a fever. For two days, I wallowed in my own sweat, barely eating, and only getting out of bed to shower while my husband swapped out the bedsheets. To say I was miserable is an understatement.
According to my doctor, I have that fun side effect of long covid where I’m extra susceptible to illness and, if I’m not careful, I could end up getting sick once a month for the next little while. Obviously, I plan on being very careful as I have no intention of getting that sick three months in a row.
You would think that between illness and the subsequent brain fog that I would be disheartened about my NaNo progress. Quite the opposite, in fact. As this is draft 2 of Skull Daddy, I know what the story needs that it didn’t have in draft 1. And one of the things it needs is more suffering.
As a result of soaking in my own putrid brine for two days, I have been dealing with some skin issues for the past week. Yes, my doctor has prescribed medication to deal with the problem, but while I wait for the issue to resolve I am suffering. It is so hard to focus when all I want to do is rip my skin off of my body. So while I haven’t done a whole lot of writing, I guess you could say I’ve done lots of research on human suffering.
What I have been going through – and continue to go through – I will gift to the characters in Skull Daddy so they can experience that extra bit of suffering that will make their plight that much more unbearable.
Now, with one more week left of NaNoWriMo, it’s time to write like my life depends on it! I doubt I’ll hit the 50k goal, but I am so happy with the way I have fixed up this story so far, so any final word count is a win at this point.
