Luxury is Extra Sleep

It's my day off today, I didn't have meetings or a crazy schedule staring me in the face (aside from the usual mania), so I actually allowed myself an extra half-hour of sleep this morning and that was REALLY NICE! I'm still tired, but it was like an extra "Welcome to fall" gift for myself. But...now I have to buckle down and get motivated.

Day One of the Bead Shop Hop went relatively smoothly and we had good response and good sales numbers. I hope this continues throughout the event. If the next twelve days follow as smoothly as Tuesday went, I'll be happy. Of course it is unlikely that will be the case, especially with Chickie on vacation next week, but a girl can hope. I'm going to take my day off today, though, and enjoy the fact that I only have to go to the post office and the grocer (after I do about an hour of work at the shop before we open). Only two errands on my list makes for an open day where I can write, clean some house, and have a relaxed talk with Aearwen this afternoon.

Fall has come and the leaves are turning fast. It is my favorite time of year and we should reach peak colors within two weeks. Although I am not looking forward to raking and dragging full tarps of dead leaves to my compost pile (it's a heck of a lot of work), I am looking forward to the season itself. But I'm also a bit frightened because...

Fall and the rich colors of the season just makes me happy. But oh that
work when the leaves finally fall down...

NaNoWriMo starts NEXT MONTH! Yes, November is creeping up on me and with the way my laptop hasn't been happy lately, this might be a very challenging time to continue my novel. NaNoWriMo for those who may not know is National Novel Writing Month which sets up a challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I was successful last year with "A Face in the Window" part one, and I want to continue and (hopefully) finish the novel this year. I still have maps on my walls and research materials gathered that I want to put away. I want to get past the writing portion and into the editing part.

But NaNo plays total havoc with my schedule. It means that I swap my blog to the evening because my daily word count comes first. It also means that I don't get the full month for my word count the way most other authors do. Because I run a retail store, I have to be in full retail mode by Thanksgiving with the store stocked for holiday shoppers and the decorations, etc installed. It's my busiest time of the year and without the income from November/December, I can't afford to keep my doors open. So yes, it's my busiest time of the year professionally and, with NaNo added to the mix, also my busiest time of the year personally. Last year I managed to get my 50,000 done by November 18th but it wasn't easy. I need to start getting myself scheduled and psyched up for this year's push.

I've been using Write Way for my novels but I'm
seriously considering switching to Scribner instead. 

It's time to get into the thought process for novel writing instead of drabbles and shorter stories again, though. I need to read through what I've written up to this point and bring myself back into that universe. Actually, that should be rather fun because I like my characters and their story and want to bring them to the conclusion I've seen for several years and their own satisfying end.

I used a trial of Scrivener a year or so ago and liked it. I'm considering
switching over to this program instead of WriteWay. 

Now on to something shorter and easier, though. I need to cut five words from my latest drabble.... Happy Wednesday, everyone!