Tags
Kate Forsyth, Losing the plot, NaNoWriMo, new novel, Paula Beavan, Raven's Ridge, rewrite, start again, writing
Good morning reader.
Well here we are, day 18 of NaNoWriMo and I’m exhausted. I’ve been sick for a week and a half and have tried to battle on. 
The whole of November has just been hard going so far, and it’s not looking like getting any easier.
I came out of the gates with a bang and was pretty consistently writing 2,500 words or more per day. Except when I was in Sydney for the writing course with Kate Forsyth. I told you about that last week, you can check it out here.
Then I started getting sick, but I persevered and was totting up that word count nicely. The only thing was, I wasn’t getting better. I was progressively feeling worse. I blithely ignored all the advice from family and friends and wrote on. Brave thing that I am. Uh, nope. Stupid, more likely.
After almost a week of sticking my head over a bowl of steaming Vicks Vapour Rub in hot water between word wars, and getting no where. Of sucking on Strepsils and taking decongestant medicine, and plotting my next scene while feeling like each breath was being drawn through wet hessian. On Friday I gave up and I went to the doctor. Of course it wasn’t lungs full of phlegm that was the problem but a strep infection in my lower trachea. No wonder all that head steaming and decongestant did nothing. So, I am on antibiotics.
All this is not the worst of it. The absolute worst is that my story has reflected my decline in health. Slowly creeping down into a miserable place. Not where I wanted it to go at all. So probably the 10,000 words I struggled to force onto the page in the last week were all for naught! I know! It makes me crazy. I could have just rested and recovered and been no worse off. I guess I have no choice but to go back to where it started to go off kilter and rewrite. I may as well just do it now and get it over with.
Have you ever read a book where it seems to change tone mid novel? I know I have, I remember reading a book where the main character started to feel annoying. I later read that the author started to hate her and it reflected in the story.
So, for me, it’s back to the drawing board. I hope your day is sunny and bright. It’s cold a raining here. But that is quite good writing weather.
Might just turn on the heater. It’s hard to write with cold fingers.
paulabeavan 
I’m sorry your sick, and yes, how we feel about our characters shows. You can’t help it. So, read back through the last several chapters and see where it needs a new shift. This sort of stuff is like a dropped stitch in knitting. You go back, pick it up and restore the whole You can do this; it’s just a pain in the patoot.
Hope you feel better quickly. It’s okay not to make the 50K. It’s a goal, not a mandate. Do your best but don’t hate yourself if you don’t make it.
Love you always,
Deb