Made it to Macon, GA . . . a very easy and uneventful trip so far and my anxieties have settled down completely, which I knew they would. But when I am in the middle of "loosing it" there is no amount of reasoning that is going to calm me down. Maybe a half bottle of Jack Daniels Honey but reason doesn't stand a chance.
Last night I could NOT get to sleep to save my soul. We went to bed at a reasonable hour and I thought I was tired but when the lights went out my brain kicked into over drive. It was not whirling around about the impending trip . . . that would have made too much sense. Rather my brain kicked in thinking about the subject of the novel I am about to write. HA !! It's not half as exciting as it sounds and it all comes down to not being able to say "NO" to my grand daughter Kaelin.
Kaelin is in sixth grade. She has entered a middle school that offers a program for kids who are interested in writing. I guess she takes after her grand ma. She has become very interested in art and literature so when one of her teachers offered her class an opportunity to join NANOWRIMO Kaelin sucked in the hook and ran with it. I had never heard of this group but if you google it you can get an idea of what it's all about. Very interesting ! Each year they offer a challenge of writing a 5,000 word novel to anyone who cares to participate. Would my girl turn that down ? NEVER ! The thing that this child loves most in the world is a challenge! Tell her she "can't" do something and you know she is going to prove you wrong. (That too sound a bit like her grand mother. Any time my mom told me I couldn't do something you know damn well it became tops on my "TO DO" list.)
Anyway . . . Kaelin investigated this competition and immediately signed on. Then she challenged me and her Uncle Kent to register to see who will complete the task and possibly win the contest. I have NO idea what the "prize" is for writing the next great American novel and I very much doubt I will have an opportunity to find out because you already know just how silly my writing is. K had offered up this challenge about a week ago and I told her I would check it out, which I did not do as of yesterday. But at 3:00 in yesterday afternoon K and Finn and Keri came over to say good-bye before I left on my adventure, The first words from Kaelin were, "Grand ma, Did you start your novel yet?". I had to admit I had done no such thing and although I had thought about it several times I had no idea what I would write about. She was full of encouragement and helpful suggestions and even gave me the name of a book I should read called, "No Plot? No Problem".
By 10:00 last night I was DONE with a capital "D" thinking about this trip so I figured I might as well check out this NaNoWriMo web site and lo and behold I was sucked in just as much as my girl Kaelin. When we put out the light anticipating a good night's sleep before our journey my brain kicked into hyper drive and I was off and thinking. After laying in bed for an hour building my plot line I finally gave up and went into the other bedroom armed with a pen and paper. I spent the next half hour jotting down ideas for a story and then fell sound asleep for the next five hours without moving an inch.
We left home this morning at 8:15 and began our journey north. The Man always does all the driving so I am left to amuse myself for the next eight hours. I had planned ahead and had my computer charged and ready to write as we barreled down the road at 80 mile and hour. Traffic was light and The Man was in his Indy 500 zone so he didn't care that I was tapping away on the keys of my lap top. In fact he was probably delighted that I wasn't chattering away in his ear. By the time we reach our stop for the night I had gotten myself totally immersed in my writing. I can't wait for tomorrow's drive so I can continue the story. The fun thing is that I have chosen Alaska as the local for my story so as I was writing I was asking The Man all sorts of questions about different areas he has visited in that amazing state. He thinks I am totally nuts for thinking I can write a novel but he was more than willing to contribute lots of facts to help set the story in place.
Do you think I have to include him in the acknowledgments of my book ?
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