Excuse me? What level of hell is this?

We'll here's the thing.

I knew that attending Camp NanoWriMo would be hard with all four of my children home for the summer. But I practiced and practiced for six months completing the daily writing prompts offered each day by DWP. I thought that it would help prepare me for writing every day, help me to create a daily writing habit and carve out the time I would need to write the 1666 words required each day to complete my 50,000 word book on time.  As scheduled I didn't post on The Power of Words on Paper for the month of August until now, because I knew that my attention needed to be focused solely on my book project.  But I could not have foreseen what was to come nor the impact that it would have on my carefully thought out plan.

Just before Camp NanoWriMo started my office was repurposed as a bedroom for some unexpected house guests.  Since I can typically only work when my children are asleep that made it impossible to work from my desktop .  Everyone wants a light shining in their eyes and to hear the annoying tapping of keys when they are trying to sleep... Right?  Yeah, my house guests didn't either.  So until just a few days ago when the house guests vacated the premises and the room magically transformed back into my office I was stuck writing notes on paper and  typing on my annoyingly small cell phone keyboard, which is not exactly the best way to go about writing a book in a month.

Oh how I wish I could tell you these were my only problems, my oldest daughter is pregnant with my first grandchild. It should be a happy occasion, and it is, but unfortunately, some complications have arisen during her pregnancy that have added to my stress level and emotions within the house are running rampant at full throttle which makes it very difficult to immerse myself in my magical world and block out reality.

 Additionally, only days before hearing that a dear friend from childhood had passed on, my grandmother left this world to discover for herself what occurs after death. I couldn't talk about it before now but at her funeral yesterday I found comfort in the knowledge that if there is in fact an afterlife my grandparents are either in it together now or will be at some point in the future.  If it turns out I'm wrong and heaven doesn't exist or there is no afterlife then I am still comforted by the fact that they have both moved on and neither of them are tormented by living life without their soul mate. They were married for 67 years and were a bonded pair if ever I have seen one.  When people ask how she died, I tell them it was of a broken heart, which I truly believe it was.

And now let me not forget Issac, for what month of hell would be complete without what is to become a level two hurricane, promising to inflict it's wrath upon the state of Florida?  We are not set to bare the burden of a direct hit, but in some places in Florida people have already been without power since yesterday morning, and living just seven miles from the Gulf Coast does have tendency to heighten your awareness when someone shouts the word Hurricane. Mostly I think that's because Hurricane never arrives alone, he brings along his buddies Tornado, Water Spout, Storm Serge and Flooding. They are like the unwanted  drunken party guest promising you stress and destruction before running off to some other location leaving you alone to pick up the pieces and suffer the consequences of their fury.

So, because of these things as well as the typical everyday drama that is life, I have failed miserably at my first attempt at NanoWriMo. I am angry and find it difficult to accept that I was not up to the challenge. I was so confident I could accomplish my goal but I know now that any chance I had of that is lost.

All that is left is to decide what to do about it..

I made that decision yesterday while talking to my cousin Maryann at the after-event. I was telling her about my book (my cousin hates fantasy fiction) and she was actually commenting, asking questions for clarity and seemed genuinely interested in how the story would end. I knew if it peaked her interest, the story had potential. I had always thought it did, but with it being my first ever book I have a constant feeling of uncertainty. I'm a perfectionist, with a mild case of OCD so there is no help for me, I always doubt my ability which because I am a perfectionist, I find rather annoying and you should too.

So what's going to happen next?  I'm starting over... The story  is going to shift gears and be written in first person.. This means cutting some scenes that are already written and finding other ways to work in the important bits. There will be No Head Hopping  which means you'll be staying with the MC from start to finish. Also in talking to other people about my potential book I've discovered that Druesilla, although I love the name, triggers thoughts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a lot of people and they immediately think "Evil" so the MC will be getting a new name.  I plan on picking this story back up next week after the hurricane passes and the schools reopen. If everything goes according to plan I'll bring the  ideas for the rewrites with me to November NanoWriMo  for 2012 and have a book ready for a serious review, critique and final edits by December.

So that's the NEW PLAN, what do you think?