Winner!

What a joke! Normally speaking, that is, what with the MS and everything…

But, hey, right now. Just for a day or two, I’m celebrating, because I am a winner… I won the NaNoWriMo challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I did it. I’ve done it. And I feel really chuffed!

Oh yes – for all those who read the last post – against all the odds of MS fatigue and pain, drills and hammers as background accompaniment and the usual familial relationships to contend with (you live alone but suddenly a son decides to stay a couple of days!), I – doggedly and with “Think you can stop me?” determination - stuck to my Word document (on my trusty IBM Thinkpad), kept checking my wordcount and b***** well finished the 50,000, three days early: on Friday 27th November, 5pm! So proud!

The thing is: I haven’t finished the story, so through December I’ll be joining with lots of others in NaNoFiMo – National Novel Finishing Month!

And then there’ll be the rewrites - if I haven’t given up with it by then, the plot holes I see now are getting to me! – and, finally, lots of editing (yep, with NaNoEdMo, in March!).

I’m going to try and make it work though. End up with a proper, bona fide novel in the end. Because, for one reason, I’ve grown fond of my characters (one does have MS!) and need their lives to make sense!

So, onwards…

It’s a Middle Grade children’s novel, by the way, and this is the synopsis I wrote for my NaNo profile:

“It’s an ill wind…”

A brother and sister want their separated parents to get back together again but it’s not going to be easy: their dad's an alcoholic and their mum has a degenerative disease.

“It’s an ill wind… ” describes how each member of the family, with help from the children’s brainy school friend and a ghost from an old windmill, gets to move on with their lives – and come out smiling.

It’s not a bad ending for the friend or ghost either.

P.S. If any of you have/know someone who has MS (or other degenerative disease/problem) - and you’re/they’re not taking it already - I would urge you/them to add turmeric/curcumin (see also here ) to your/their regime. Even T. (my son who works at a herbalist’s), recognizes the improvement in my overall (physical and mental, especially, cognitive) health, since adding it to my own.

P.P.S. NaNoWriMo is well worth the effort (the Winner’s Certificate is going to look great on the wall!) – I have loved every moment (the forums are friendly and fantastically supportive) and it’s been good for me.

God willing, I’ll gladly do it again next year!

See you soon…